San Fernando Valley : Residents Show Opposition to Proposed County Landfill

Anti-dump activists turned out for a public meeting in Santa Clarita on Thursday night, criticizing Los Angeles County trash officials who recently concluded that a dump in Elsmere Canyon is one of the best options for trash disposal into the next century.

Residents attending a meeting at Valencia High School attacked a preliminary report highlighting the proposed 190-million-ton facility that would abut and consume part of the Angeles National Forest on the edge of Santa Clarita.

Santa Clarita city officials encouraged residents to attend the hearing by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and oppose the landfill proposed by BKK Corp. of Torrance.

Earlier hearings have underlined the city’s opposition, and activists such as Marsha McLean of the Santa Clarita Valley Canyons Preservation Committee insist the opposition will not fade.

County officials, she said, “are simply hoping that with all these public meetings, their [proposal for the dump] will just be accepted. . . .” But that will not happen, she said.

Ron Gastelum, chief operating officer of BKK, dismissed the session as “an opportunity for the locals to do a little grandstanding” that would have no affect on the permit process for the dump.

Los Angeles County needs to find a place to take its trash, and cannot depend on other counties to provide room, Gastelum argued.