Panel Directs Trash to 2 Landfills in L.A.

A Los Angeles City Council panel recommended Monday that the city haul its trash to two San Fernando Valley landfills after the city’s main dump, Lopez Canyon Landfill in Lake View Terrace, closes June 30.

The Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee recommended that the 820,000 tons of trash that the city dumps annually go to the Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills and the Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley.

Under the recommendation of the Bureau of Sanitation, Bradley Landfill would get 63% of the trash while Sunshine Canyon would get the rest.

The recommendation to send trash to Sunshine Canyon generated criticism from Granada Hills neighbors and is likely to prompt opposition from several Valley council members who have fought for years to keep that dump closed.

“A landfill should not be where people are,” said Mary Edwards, spokeswoman for the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens, a group of residents opposed to the dump.

Sunshine Canyon, a 215-acres facility that straddles the city and county border north of Granada Hills, has been closed for years but is about to reopen after settlement of a long legal battle with the city of Los Angeles.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the neighborhoods closest to Sunshine Canyon and has vehemently opposed the dump, was out of town Monday and could not comment. But in the past, he has vowed to keep the city from using the landfill because he says it will create traffic and other problems for neighbors.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose northeast Valley district includes the Lopez Canyon and Bradley landfills, said he too opposes using Sunshine Canyon because he worries about the impact on neighbors. But he said he will follow Bernson’s lead on the matter.

Alarcon said he would like the Bradley Landfill closed too. But because that landfill is scheduled to close in 2001, he said the best strategy is to send city trash to Bradley so that it will fill up and close sooner.

“The best way to get rid of a landfill is to fill it up,” Alarcon said.

But it was Alarcon’s continued pressure and cajoling that got the council to vote in December to close Lopez Canyon, arguing that it created noise, traffic and odors for landfill neighbors.

Lopez Canyon is the last city-owned landfill and has accepted about 80% of the city’s trash. After the council voted to close Lopez Canyon, it instructed sanitation officials to negotiate with other landfill operators to take the city’s trash.

Sunshine Canyon, which is operated by Browning-Ferris Industries, became one of the top choices because of its location just outside the city and because it has committed to giving the city a low trash rate under a settlement agreement.

After the city closed the portion of Sunshine Canyon within city limits in 1991, Browning-Ferris began to expand the dump on the county side. But the city challenged the expansion, prompting a lengthy legal battle that ended several months ago in a settlement agreement that will allow the dump to open.

Under the settlement, the council agreed to allow Browning-Ferris to haul trash along a city road, and in exchange Browning-Ferris agreed to dismiss the lawsuit, provide at least $550,000 for “environmental programs” and agree to accept city trash for $19 per ton, according to city records.

Browning-Ferris’ $19 rate is slightly higher than the rate offered at Bradley Landfill but much lower than rates offered by landfills in Riverside County and West Covina. Because of the location of the two landfills, sanitation officials recommended contracts to dump in Sunshine Canyon and Bradley landfills. The full council will consider the matter May 1.