Coalition Seeks Cap on Dump Operation

On the eve of the county vote on an operating permit, a coalition of environmental, resident and labor groups called Wednesday for a sunset clause to limit trash tonnage or set a closure date for Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

The group Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources said a permit to be voted on today by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission could allow Browning-Ferris Industries to continue operating the landfill for more than a decade beyond what neighboring residents have come to expect.

BFI has a permit for the portion of the landfill operating in the city of Los Angeles and a separate permit for the portion in the unincorporated county area. The new conditional-use permit would apply the same requirements to both operations, allow dumping in an area bridging the two landfill operations and allow the dump to operate as one facility.

An environmental study that was submitted as part of the permit process said the landfill can accommodate 90 million more tons of trash and would therefore probably close after about 26 years, said Jan Chatten-Brown, an attorney for the coalition. “That was relied on by the public and decision-makers,” she said.

But a landfill engineer’s review for the coalition has concluded that the landfill could handle up to 147 million more tons of trash -- 57 million more than the previous environmental study had said.

Engineer J.W. Spear’s review was cited by the labor and environmental activists in calling for the panel to set a tonnage limit or closure date for the dump.

The coalition members include the North Valley Coalition, a group of residents from the Granada Hills area who have opposed expansion of the landfill. North Valley Coalition President Wayde Hunter said Spears’ credentials and analysis were impressive.

The group, Hunter said, “believes his conclusions support our contention that this landfill will be much larger than analyzed in the environmental documentation. Its impacts on the community, indeed the city and county as a whole, have not been adequately addressed.”

POWER also includes the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Law Foundation and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Greg Loughnane, the district manager of Browning-Ferris Industries, said POWER’s contentions were meant to confuse the issue. The permits set parameters for the height and width of the landfill at which the facility must close, he said.

“We are simply asking to combine two landfill” operations “into one, which will have environmental benefits, including the need for fewer trucks to be used,” Loughnane said.