SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Riordan Rejects Proposal to Temporarily Reopen Dump

As Los Angeles sanitation officials study the possibility of hauling trash to Utah, Mayor Richard Riordan has rejected a proposal to temporarily reopen a controversial landfill north of Granada Hills to accept earthquake rubble.

Riordan’s office notified operators of the closed Sunshine Canyon Landfill Tuesday that there is no immediate need to reopen the dump because adequate landfill space exists for the debris created by the Jan. 17 quake.

A spokesman for the landfill’s operator, Browning Ferris Industries, called the decision “preposterous,” saying that BFI is willing to take rubble for free from public agencies for 30 days; the Utah landfill will charge $45 per ton. “If they say they can take it to Utah for $45 per ton, then we can do it for $45 cheaper,” said BFI spokesman Arnie Berghoff.

But city officials said the Utah trash-hauling idea is only being considered as a long-term landfill alternative and that landfills serving Los Angeles have enough capacity to meet the immediate needs following the quake. However, if the city decides to implement the Utah dumping proposal to accept earthquake rubble, federal emergency funding may be available to subsidize the cost, said Lillian Kawasaki, general manager of the city’s Environmental Affairs Department, which regulates landfills.