State Waste Board Affirms Curbs on Dumping at Lopez Canyon

SACRAMENTO — Despite Los Angeles city officials’ claims that the action could shut down their only city-owned trash dump, the California Waste Management Board voted Friday to affirm a staff order calling for stricter limits on dumping at the Lopez Canyon landfill.

Appearing before the state board, Los Angeles officials reiterated their warnings that they will be forced to close Lopez Canyon landfill within days if the state restrictions are enforced.

“The city is faced with a real crisis if it is forced to comply with this order,” said Assistant City Atty. John Haggerty. “The Bureau of Sanitation has indicated they would only have a few more days of operation left.”

“Chicken Little”

Opponents and neighborhood critics of the dump above Lake View Terrace, however, cast doubt on the city’s claim, saying it is tantamount to city officials playing “Chicken Little” by issuing alarmist proclamations.

In fact, outside the boardroom, Haggerty and other officials conceded that the closure would last three months at the most--until the city could prepare another area of the city-operated landfill for dumping. After that, the landfill would be able to accept trash for another year.

“It’s hogwash, and it’s an irresponsible act on the part of the Bureau of Sanitation to try to create panic and mold the public point of view,” said Rob Zapple, who lives near the northeast San Fernando Valley landfill and is a frequent critic of it. “It’s just infuriating all of us.”

The board’s staff on Aug. 2 rejected a more lenient order issued by Los Angeles County and directly imposed state restrictions on trash dumping at Lopez Canyon. The order called for cutting back the height of its garbage mounds from 1,760 feet to 1,725 feet and limiting the number of trucks that dump there daily from 600 to 400.

Lawsuit Filed

City officials are challenging that order in a lawsuit filed against the state in Los Angeles Superior Court. Because the city has won a temporary restraining order against the state, there is no chance that Lopez Canyon would be closed before the next court hearing, scheduled for Aug. 31, Bureau of Sanitation officials said Friday.

Chris Peck, the California Waste Management Board’s spokesman, said Friday that state board members have been aware of discrepancies in the city’s assessment of the impact of the enforcement order. He noted that the city never has offered any proof that limiting operations at Lopez Canyon would result in forced closure.

City officials defended their statements, saying they have merely tried to prepare the public for the worst possible scenario. Plans to move into the new area of Lopez Canyon--a ravine that is currently unused--still need approval from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Haggerty said.

“We can’t assume that will happen,” he said.

Mounting Trash Crisis

The section of the state’s order that reduces the height of garbage mounds is precisely what would force closure of Lopez Canyon Landfill and exacerbate the city’s mounting trash crisis, city officials maintain.

Because the trash heaps in Lopez Canyon are already higher than the state height limits, the city would have to shut down the landfill to abide by the order while they prepare the adjoining area for dumping.

Even after the new dumping area is ready, it too will fill up and result in the dump’s closure two years earlier than anticipated--in 1990 instead of 1992, city officials said.

They have estimated that rerouting the trash to private and public landfills after that time would cost at least $26 million a year in disposal fees. Some of that cost would have to be passed on to consumers.

Lopez Canyon accepts two-thirds of the city’s residential trash. For years neighbors have complained about odors, noise and dust at the site. But the state’s intense scrutiny of the dump began March 8, when two workers fainted after unearthing a pocket of toxic gas produced by decaying trash.

On Thursday, the board threatened after 30 days to strip the county Department of Health Services of its responsibility for enforcing health and safety regulations at 83 dumps and trash transfer stations, partly because of the county’s unwillingness to crack down on Lopez Canyon.

Discussions of why the city is nearing a trash crisis always include mention of the City Council’s rejection of LANCER--a waste-to-energy plant--the slow start-up of recycling programs and early closure of the politically unpopular Mission Canyon, located in the Santa Monica mountains.

Peck said the waste board’s intention is not to shut down Lopez Canyon but rather to force the city to prepare for the future.

“It really comes down to long-term planning in Los Angeles, and they really have not done that successfully,” he said.