Vote Delayed on Expansion of Landfill

In a surprise move, the Los Angeles City Council postponed its vote Tuesday on a controversial expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill into Granada Hills, giving opponents of the project more time to gather support for their cause.

Even die-hard opponents of expanding the landfill, which owner Browning-Ferris Industries wants to enlarge from its current 216 to 710 acres, had expected the project to be approved overwhelmingly by the council to meet waste needs for the future. A planning committee had already rejected major modifications to the project proposed by opponents, and the council’s only clear dissident on the issue was Hal Bernson, whose district includes Granada Hills.

But after an hour of hearing emotional testimony from residents, several of whom raised the specter of the Belmont Learning Center--a hugely expensive construction project near downtown that was recently halted while the possible health risks of waste buried underneath it are assessed--a few council members spoke out in favor of further studying and possibly putting additional restrictions on the expansion.

After City Council President John Ferraro announced without opposition that the vote would be postponed until Oct. 26, Bernson was elated. “This buys us time to get more support,” he said, maintaining that the project should not go forward in any form. “Maybe we have more of a chance than I thought.”

Officials from BFI did not speak at the meeting, but the company has lobbied hard behind the scenes for the expansion. Records show that the company spent nearly $350,000 over the last 18 months to fund City Hall lobbyists.

Councilman Mike Feuer told the council that he would propose three conditions be added to the city’s contract with BFI:

* That BFI purchase air conditioners for all rooms in Van Gogh Street Elementary School in Granada Hills, so that students are protected from particulate pollution. The company would also be required to install a pollution monitor at the school.

* BFI would guarantee the city a yearly minimum of $6 million in fees to operate the expanded landfill.

* All diesel-powered vehicles would be banned at the site.

In an interview after the meeting, BFI lobbyist Arnie Berghoff rejected two of these proposals outright.

“Evidence clearly shows that there would be no impact whatsoever on the school,” Berghoff said of the expansion. As for the fees, he said they were still being negotiated, but that the industry norm was 10%. “At that rate the fee would probably come closer to $4 million than $6 million a year,” he said.

Berghoff did agree that diesel trucks should be eliminated, but said that technology to make that feasible had not yet been developed.

The group of about 50 opponents of the expansion at the council meeting were also unhappy with Feuer’s suggestions because they feel the project should not go forward at all. In their testimony, they said they believe adequate studies have not been done on the possible health effects of the project. They also said they feared it would bring increased odors, dust and traffic.

Councilman Joel Wachs agreed that the expansion asked Granada Hills residents to shoulder an unfair burden in the struggle to deal with the city’s waste. He called for a study of the feasibility of alternatives, such as the transport of waste by rail or high-tech waste processing, but admitted that they are more costly.

Wachs said that a question all Angelenos had to consider regarding waste dumps was, “If you are not willing to have them, are you willing to pay the price of alternatives?”