CREEK PART OF STRATEGY.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Seeking to halt the expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill into the city, Mayor James Hahn on Wednesday asked the Army Corps of Engineers to scrutinize and, if appropriate, deny a request to bulldoze a creek on the new dump site.

Browning Ferris Industries got City Council approval in 1999 to expand its Sunshine Canyon Landfill from unincorporated Los Angeles County into Granada Hills. Hahn was city attorney at the time and worked on getting the application approved, but he is now is trying to block the project.

In order to open the 55-million-ton dump in the city, BFI must obtain several environmental clearances, including permission from the Army Corps to bulldoze 3.4 acres of Bull Creek tributaries and wetlands.

To compensate for filling in the willow-covered riparian corridor, BFI has proposed improving 11 acres of wetlands at Chatsworth Reservoir.

In his letter to the Army Corps, Hahn said it is ``incongruous'' to expand wetlands outside the project area to mitigate the elimination of wetlands on the site.

He also said BFI had been cited several times by the state water board - a claim the company said is untrue.

``It is imperative that we address both of the threats, the filling of these waters and wetlands, as well as the possible contamination and Clean Water Act violations in future years,'' Hahn wrote.

BFI District Manager Greg Loughnane said there is no evidence of groundwater contamination at the landfill. He also said the Chatsworth Reservoir project would more than compensate for the loss of wetlands at Bull Creek.

Also on Wednesday, Hahn asked the Environmental Affairs Department to review potential water quality problems on the county side of the landfill to see if there is any basis to withdraw BFI's expansion application.