Sunshine Canyon Landfill Expansion

* Re “Trash Disposal Methods,” Letters to the Valley Edition, Feb. 21.

Esther Simmons, vice chair, Sunshine Canyon Landfill Advisory Committee, states that the expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill will “result in increased pollution from diesel exhaust, which the EPA has shown increases heart and respiratory disease.” Simmons also states that as a resident of Granada Hills, she does not want this dump in her back yard because no one should have to struggle to breathe. Where was she when they closed Lopez Canyon (because of the NIMBYs), forcing a high percentage of her waste to be transported to the Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley. To Simmons and all others with her “not in my back yard” mentality I’d ask, “Whose back yard should we dispose of it in?”

LARRY NARAMORE

Sun Valley

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* The Valley is about to get the shaft again. City planning is about to put a 500-acre dump in Sunshine Canyon. . . . Browning-Ferris Industries . . . [has] broken promise after promise and as yet has not fulfilled its obligation to reclaim the land for public use from the previous dump. The proposal of a heavy industrial zone change in such close proximity to the community and water treatment plant is hazardous and foolhardy. Over 1,100 trucks will make trips in and out of the dump per day.

We cannot allow this to happen. Modern technology in Europe has eliminated open pit waste. It must be done in this case. As usual, it just boils down to big business getting big dollars and citizens getting the big shaft.

JOHN HENDRICKS

Granada Hills