L.A., A.V. TALKING TRASH PROPOSAL WOULD TRUCK GARBAGE NORTH.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Trash from Los Angeles could be trucked to the Lancaster and Palmdale landfills if Los Angeles officials follow through on a promise to stop using a San Fernando Valley landfill opposed by neighbors.

Contained in one of five bids from private companies offering to haul away Los Angeles' household trash, the proposal to send Los Angeles trash to the Antelope Valley was criticized by local officials, who said the Antelope Valley shouldn't be regarded as Los Angeles' dumping grounds.

``Why ever have a landfill if you're going to assume the responsibility for the entire L.A. Basin? I don't know why a host community would feel good about that prospect,'' Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said.

``Are we going to see benefits from the trash coming for the Antelope Valley? I doubt it,'' added Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster.

Los Angeles officials are trying to find a place to get rid of 4,700 tons of trash daily - trash from all the city's single-family homes - which now goes to Sunshine Canyon Landfill off Interstate 5 north of Foothill Boulevard.

With landfills a hot issue in the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral race and the 2002 San Fernando Valley secession effort, Mayor James Hahn has promised to stop using Sunshine Canyon, which is owned by trash company Browning Ferris Industries.

In response, other companies have offered to haul Los Angeles' trash to dumps in Riverside, San Juan Capistrano, the Antelope Valley, even San Diego or Arizona.

``Unfortunately, it's not in his back yard, but it's in the rest of the county's back yard,'' Runner said of Hahn's promise.

Los Angeles' Bureau of Sanitation officials received five proposals on July 29, but have refused to release details until they go before the Board of Public Works in late October. However, the trash companies spoke with the Daily News about their submissions.

Waste Management's proposal to haul Los Angeles trash to its Antelope Valley landfills is actually its second. The company was the sole legitimate bidder on an earlier request for proposals to alternatives to Sunshine Canyon Landfill, but Los Angeles officials never took action.

The other current bids include one from BLT Enterprises, which hauls Sacramento trash to Reno, Nev., and has offered a similar system for 10 potential landfills throughout Southern California and even Arizona.

Not all the reaction from Antelope Valley leaders was negative.

Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts said he was confident Waste Management would protect the Antelope Valley environment and local residents if it wins a contract to bring Los Angeles trash to its Lancaster landfill.

``I trust Waste Manager will do what is right. ... I think they will protect our sensitive environment,'' Roberts said.

But he acknowledged that dumping Los Angeles trash in the Antelope Valley would likely prove unpopular with Antelope Valley residents.

``The feeling of the valley will be: not in my backyard,'' Roberts said.

Other major cities already ship their trash dozens, even hundreds of miles, to giant dumps in rural or suburban communities. San Francisco ships waste 50 miles to Livermore. Sacramento trucks trash 140 miles to Reno. And Seattle rubbish rides the rails 300 miles to a dump in Oregon.

Both Antelope Valley landfills started in the 1950s and were approved for expansions in the 1990s, after the valley went through the 1980s population boom. Local environmentalists warned at the time that letting the local landfills expand would lead to importing trash.

In 1994, two Antelope Valley environmental groups backed a lawsuit seeking to stop El Cajon from sending its trash to the Lancaster landfill after San Diego County raised its dump fees. A San Diego County judge rejected the suit, saying that 12 additional trucks traveling the roads did not warrant an environmental impact report.

The Palmdale landfill rises in terraces beside a brush-covered ridge overlooking the new 5,200-home Anaverde master-planned community west of the Antelope Valley Freeway.

It is expected to be full in about two years, city officials say. But Waste Management already has permits to start a second, larger phase next to it and is seeking city permission to link the two landfills, enlarging capacity even more.

An environmental impact report is being prepared on the latest expansion proposal and should be released later this year, city officials said.

Lancaster's landfill is a mound rising out of the desert just outside city limits and thus outside Lancaster officials' authority. The Lancaster landfill was given state permission to expand in 2000, more than doubling its total size to 276 acres. The landfill could cover up to 209 acres, state records show.

The local landfills' state permits limit them to taking in 4,900 tons of trash a day, including the amount allowed under the approved Palmdale expansion.

``Waste Management has always talked about expansion; they want, more, more, more,'' Ledford said last week. ``I want guarantees for my residents' trash disposal capacity.''

If Los Angeles trash is hauled in to the Palmdale landfill, he said, ``You're going to fill it pretty darn quick. It adds congestion to the roads. It impacts air quality.''

Staff Writer Kerry Cavanaugh contributed to this report.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Two trash trucks pass at a landfill in Lancaster, one going to discharge its load as another leaves empty.

(2) This Antelope Valley landfill in Palmdale is the subject of debate as Los Angeles authorities seek to truck the city's daily tons of trash there.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer