Landfill Surfaces in L.A. Mayoral Race

Upping the ante for two candidates for mayor, Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs called on City Atty. James Hahn on Thursday to close a controversial dump, and Hahn countered by calling for scrutiny before the facility expands.

The controversial Sunshine Canyon Landfill, operated by Browning-Ferris Industries, emerged as the latest campaign issue, even as Los Angeles County’s top official regulator said the dump does not pose a public health threat.

The Granada Hills landfill operated in the city from 1958 to 1991 and in Los Angeles County since 1996. The Los Angeles City Council, over Wachs’ objections, last year approved expansion back into the city.

In a letter to Hahn, Wachs maintained that “BFI’s record of failure is such that the landfill should be shut down.”

Hahn responded Thursday by urging that the city carefully monitor the dump to ensure it complies with more than 200 conditions that were set by the council in order that operations could resume in the city in June.

BFI appears to have gotten a handle on problems that plagued the dump last year, with only one violation, related to traffic control, in the last three months, according to Richard Hanson, chief of the solid waste management program for the county Health Department.

“The violations exhibited there have not been the kind that cause an effect on the public health and safety,” Hanson said. “They did have problems for an extended period of time, but we believe they have finally turned the corner on that.”

In the 15 months since BFI was bought by Allied Waste Industries, the landfill was cited 26 times by the county for largely administrative problems such as failing to update documentation of operations and not documenting proper training of workers, Hanson said.

Separately, state air quality officials Oct. 6 issued two notices of violation for improper excavation work and four “notices to comply,” telling the dump operator to stop emissions of methane gas that exceed state standards.

Bill Kelly of the South Coast Air Quality Management District said BFI appears to have addressed the methane problem, although the agency has not yet tested BFI’s new system.

Arnie Berghoff, a landfill spokesman, called Wachs’ proposal an irresponsible political stunt.

“All of those [methane] problems have been fixed and won’t happen again,” he said. “Given that, we are at a loss to understand the councilman’s motivations, unless they are political.”