COUNCIL OKS SELLING GAS FROM LANDFILL.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

With the closure of Lopez Canyon landfill one month away, the Los Angeles City Council awarded a contract Tuesday to sell off the methane gas generated at the facility - but a new fight is brewing over how to spend the profits.

On a 15-0 vote, the council agreed to award a contract to the Lopez Canyon Energy Partners to sell the methane gas, which would be used by the company to generate electricity for sale.

Decaying garbage creates methane gas that can be used to produce energy for decades. Sales of the gas, collected in a piping system that was installed as the landfill was created, will net the city $344,000 to $700,000 a year.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area, proposed spending at least half the money for an environmental education program at Hansen Dam. The other half would go to the Los Angeles Police Department to rent space for substations and other needs citywide.

``I wanted to give something back to the community that has suffered so much,'' Alarcon said. ``And the remaining funds could be used on a citywide basis to allow the police department to rent up to 100,000 square feet of space they need.''

Alarcon said the Hansen Dam facility would include a library on the history of the landfill and on environmental problems facing the nation, as well as meeting space for community groups.

But other council members, noting that the cost of closing the dump is coming from the city's general fund, questioned plans to spend half the methane profits in just one community.

``We've spent $17 million to close Lopez Canyon,'' Councilman Nate Holden said. ``When you pay us back the $17 million to the city, then you can take 50 percent of this. This is a bad idea.''

Alarcon said he was agreeable to studying how the money should be spent but wanted the contract to sell the methane gas to go forward.

``This contract has been in the process for eight years,'' Alarcon said. ``For eight years, they've had to flare off the gas and send those fumes into the community. We've probably lost $2 million by not having a contract like this.''

Alarcon was supported by Councilman Hal Bernson in his bid to keep part of the money in his district.

``The people out there have suffered for years with our garbage,'' Bernson said. ``We ought to be willing to give them something to make up for it.''

The Alarcon proposal will go to the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee for review, with a recommendation to be returned to the full council.