REPORT SOUGHT ON L.A. REFUSE GOING TO LANDFILL ANTELOPE VALLEY SHOWING CONCERN.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writers

Los Angeles County supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to call for a report to determine how much trash the city of Los Angeles is sending to Lancaster Landfill.

The report was requested by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who has proposed barring Los Angeles from dumping its trash at the Lancaster Landfill - a move that could block Mayor James Hahn's plan to haul garbage outside the city limits.

Antonovich's motion is designed to head off an attempt by Los Angeles to ship any of the 4,700 tons of trash it generates daily to the Lancaster Landfill.

The city's trash currently goes to Sunshine Canyon Landfill, which has long generated controversy in the San Fernando Valley by residents concerned about health risks and quality-of-life issues.

Antonovich asked for the report because it appeared the city's discussions about diverting its trash to the Antelope Valley had ``escalated to the point'' where it appeared a decision was close to being made, said Bob Haueter, senior deputy to Antonovich.

``Residents in the Antelope Valley are concerned, with good reason, about local landfills accepting trash from outside of the Antelope Valley,'' Antonovich said. ``In addition to the fundamental question of fairness, trucks driving from Los Angeles to the Antelope Valley increase traffic congestion and worsen air quality.

Hahn's spokeswoman Sahar Moridani said the city dumps its trash in the Lancaster Landfill three or four times a year, when its trash trucks can't get into the Sunshine Canyon Landfill because of bad weather. She estimated the city dumps about 1,000 of the 1 million tons of trash it disposes of each year at the Lancaster Landfill.

``We're in the beginning of the process to figure out what is going to happen next with the trash,'' Moridani said. ``But this is definitely something that has to be studied in conjunction with the county.''

Officials for Waste Management Inc., which owns the Lancaster Landfill and the Antelope Valley Landfill in Palmdale, said they would compile information on how much Los Angeles trash ends up in their two dumps.

``We have serious concerns about the legality of the county restricting the flow of waste into our privately held landfills,'' said Kit Cole, director of community relations at Waste Management. ``We feel it's a business decision on our part.''

The two dumps currently take trash from private haulers who pick up from apartments and businesses in the city of Los Angeles. The city's Bureau of Sanitation hauls refuse from single-family homes and some small apartment complexes to Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills.

The motion calls on the county's public works director to compile data on the origin of trash going to the Lancaster Landfill in the last 12 months and to look into the legal issues and steps necessary to institute a landfill waste-shed, the area around the landfill from which trash can be dumped. The creation of a waste-shed would prevent the city of Los Angeles from sending its trash to the landfill.

As a solution to the problems, Antonovich has asked Los Angeles officials to enter into serious talks about hauling the region's trash by train to a remote desert property in Imperial County that the county has purchased for development into a large landfill.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com