Groups Seek Time to Study Lopez Canyon Report

Representatives of two northeast San Fernando Valley community groups on Tuesday demanded more time to review the environmental impact of proposals to expand the Lopez Canyon Landfill.

Plans call for spending $16 million to nearly double the capacity of the landfill, where about 400 trucks a day dump about half of Los Angeles’ garbage. Written public comment on the environmental impact report is due by Tuesday.

But Rob Zapple, board member of the Kagel Canyon Civic Assn., said that his group first saw about 2,000 pages of appendixes to the original inch-thick environmental impact report less than two weeks ago.

Zapple said the association found discrepancies between the appendixes and the original report, including differences in the hours that garbage can be dumped at the landfill. “We need more time to review this stuff--at least another month,” he said.

The Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn., whose members plan to participate in a sit-in at the dump this afternoon, needs time to research the effectiveness of liners proposed to prevent seepage from the dump into ground water and to review potential air-quality problems, said Phyllis Hines, association member.

Luther Derian, a senior city sanitary engineer, said the public has already been given 90 days to respond, twice the standard amount of time. He said the appendixes have been available for public viewing at City Hall and at the landfill office since November.

“We will try our best to extend as far as possible, but we’re running out of space,” Derian said.

Derian estimated that the landfill, which was opened in 1975 when the property belonged to Los Angeles County, will be full within six months.

The extension from 45 to 90 days for comments had been requested by Councilman Ernani Bernardi. Greg Jackson, Bernardi’s planning deputy, said the councilman is considering asking for the additional extension requested by the community groups.

“The city attorney tells us that under special circumstances, it can be extended beyond the 90 days,” Jackson said.

On Tuesday afternoon, one of Bernardi’s council challengers in the April election, Jules S. Bagneris III, criticized Bernardi for not working hard enough to find alternatives to the landfill.

Bagneris, an investment consultant and minister who lives in Lake View Terrace, said he would support mandatory citywide recycling to cut down on the amount of garbage produced in Los Angeles, thus reducing the need for landfills.

“Some people may think that separating their trash is too much trouble,” Bagneris said. “Some people may not vote for me because I say that. . . . But I’d rather go to mandatory recycling now than come back in 20 years and say we’ve got cancer here because of the toxic chemicals they’ve been dumping.”

Bagneris said that Bernardi has not attacked the landfill issue more aggressively because he has “received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from waste haulers and refuse companies.”

Jackson denied that Bernardi has received significant financial support from such sources and said that even if he had, the contributions would have had no impact on decisions concerning a city-run landfill.

Bernardi supported a citywide expansion of a pilot recycling program approved by the council last year, Jackson said, although the city Bureau of Sanitation does not have enough trucks to begin the program. Bernardi supported a waste-incineration process later rejected because of environmental concerns, Jackson said.

Lopez Canyon was to have been “one of a chain of landfills to dispose of the city’s trash,” Jackson said. “Councilman Bernardi has always said taking all of the city’s trash is an unfair burden for the residents of Lake View Terrace and Pacoima.”