OFFICIALS WARY OF DISTANT DUMP RED FLAGS RAISED ABOUT AVENAL'S OFFER TO L.A.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

The San Joaquin Valley hamlet of Avenal has promised Los Angeles it would accept the city's trash for just $8 million more than hauling Angelenos' garbage to Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills - but city sanitation officials raised red flags on the offer Monday.

Avenal's proposal comes as the Los Angeles City Council considers whether to renew a contract for Sunshine Canyon or sign on with a landfill outside city limits. The council is expected to consider the disposal contract on Feb. 10.

While Los Angeles communities have fought - and politicians have promised - to close almost all local urban landfills, Avenal officials say they'd welcome the roughly $4 million in fees their city would garner each year from truckloads of household garbage hauled from Los Angeles.

``Economically, it would be a big help for the city. We're a farming community. This could bring the jobs in,'' said Sid Craighead, mayor of the town of 16,000, who drove about 200 miles on Monday to promote the city's plan to the Board of Public Works.

He said Avenal, together with a partner, MDSI of LA, could accept all 3,600 tons of trash collected each day by the Bureau of Sanitation for $37 million - or $8 million more than the city now pays to Browning Ferris Industries, which owns Sunshine Canyon.

``We could cover you from the prospect of risk. We could reduce the cost differential to $8 million, and we could move 100 percent of the waste out of the city of Los Angeles,'' attorney Jerold Neuman of Avenal told the Board of Public Works.

But Bureau of Sanitation officials have figured that Avenal Landfill would cost city government much more in transportation and logistical costs. Sanitation officials also say the Avenal dump is being expanded and might not be ready for Los Angeles trash in July, when the current contract with Sunshine Canyon ends.

The sanitation officials also say Los Angeles would have to buy new trucks and hire more drivers to handle trash pickup in the city, and drivers heading to Avenal would have to face the steep Grapevine and icy, windy and foggy driving conditions that could affect disposal in the winter.

``We are not going to absorb that kind of risk in our recommendation to you,'' Sanitation Assistant Director Enrique Zaldivar told the board.

Former Mayor James Hahn and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have said they oppose the city's use of urban landfills - which put trash and diesel garbage trucks too close to homes and schools.

Villaraigosa and some council members, however, have been reluctant to end the city's contract with Sunshine Canyon and fear it will cost $15 million to $30 million more per year to take garbage outside city limits.

Avenal Landfill is one of three disposal options being considered. The council also will consider using Waste Management Inc.'s El Sobrante Landfill in Riverside County or continuing to use Sunshine Canyon.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com