San Gabriel Valley : BKK Won’t Have to Close Landfill

After federal officials balked at the plan, BKK Corp. will no longer be required to close its 583-acre West Covina landfill as part of a deal to sell its interest in a proposed landfill in Elsmere Canyon.

The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal between Browning-Ferris Industries and BKK on Monday after the firms--in response to federal officials’ concerns--dropped a provision of the original agreement that called for the West Covina dump to close, said Arnie Berghoff, a BFI official.

The deal would have required BKK to close it West Covina site when BFI’s Sunshine Canyon landfill near Granada Hills opens as early as next spring. The decision on when to close the West Covina landfill, which takes a quarter of the county’s trash, will now be at the discretion of BKK.

“The closure of this landfill is inevitable. It’s just a matter of how soon,” said Ron Gastelum, chief administrative officer of Torrance-based BKK.

“We were quite surprised by this announcement,” said West Covina City Manager Jim Starbird.

West Covina has sued BKK, alleging the firm reneged on a 1985 agreement to close the dump by this month. BKK, by contrast, maintains that agreement is not legally binding and that it can operate the dump until 2006.

The suit is scheduled for trial Jan. 10.