SUNSHINE `HOT SPOTS' CITATIONS UP SEVENFOLD SINCE CITY COUNCIL OK'D LANDFILL EXPANSION.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Authorities have hit the Sunshine Canyon Landfill with an unprecedented number of citations, including for emission of high levels of gas laced with trace amounts of carcinogens, less than a year after Granada Hills residents futilely begged City Hall to block its expansion.

The number of violations has jumped sevenfold under Allied Waste Industries of Scottsdale, Ariz., which operates the landfill through its subsidiary Browning Ferris Industries. The citations include gas emission problems, among them ``hot spots'' of up to 1,000 times the state standard, a football field-sized area reading nine times too high for gas, and failure to disclose for weeks a possible off-site gas migration in the soil, regulators said.

While regulators said they don't believe residents' health and safety have been risked, they took steps last week that could lead to tougher enforcement actions, including possibly seeking a court order.

``I've taken this up the chain of command,'' Richard Lange, the Los Angeles County environmental health specialist who oversees the landfill, said in an interview.

Landfill officials acknowledged that they have had significant problems at the dump, including a breakdown of a vacuum, gas collection system, but denied misleading the council or imperiling neighbors' health. The problems occurred both at the county portion that is operating and a city portion that was closed nine years ago. Work on reopening the city area starts next year.

``These are important issues that need to be resolved, and they will be resolved. But there is no threat to the public here,'' said BFI California General Manager James Ambroso.

Allied Waste bought Browning Ferris Industries in July 1999, but BFI of California continues to run the landfill.

Nearby residents who have been fighting the dump's expansion said the 36 violations undermine the claims BFI made to the council that it could be trusted to expand the dump to 415 acres and 90 million tons of refuse.

The council voted 8-7 in December to grant the expansion, without fully exploring recycling and long-haul alternatives, as residents had implored.

BFI spent more than $450,000 to influence the vote.

The majority of the violations and notices to comply - 26 of 36 - have been issued since the council vote, regulators said.

``Isn't this terrible?'' said North Valley Coalition President Wayde Hunter. ``We issued these warnings. Now there's no doubt we were betrayed by the city. They had other options and they didn't take them.''

The coalition has sued the city, claiming its environmental reviews were inadequate. A court date is scheduled Oct. 31.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area and lives near the dump, which he has long opposed, did not return calls seeking comment.

Studio City Councilman Joel Wachs, who opposed the expansion, agreed that the city let its residents down, saying leaders took the easy way out at the residents' expense.

``The city never honestly evaluated the cost of the alternatives, but rather took the bird in hand,'' said Wachs, a candidate for mayor.

Now, he said, residents are paying the price.

``The burden shouldn't be on the people to complain, to demand the city do what it is supposed to do.''

Los Angles Unified School District board member Julie Korenstein, who represents schools near the dump, said the enforcement actions against the landfill underscore the city's failure to listen to residents and take the risks of urban landfills seriously.

``This is a very, very serious warning sign,'' Korenstein said. ``There are already all these problems before they've even started the city expansion.''

LAUSD environmental assessment coordinator Bill Piazza said the district will monitor the landfill and launch an investigation if the problems persist.

Mayor Richard Riordan, who approved the expansion although the council lacked the votes to override a veto, continues to trust BFI, his spokesman Peter Hidalgo said.

``The mayor is confident BFI is responsibly operating Sunshine Canyon and will continue to do so, and that they are cooperating with all regulatory agencies on this issue,'' Hidalgo said.

Extent of the risk

No one knows for certain how much of the gas, if any, has escaped from the landfill, regulators acknowledge. Readings topped out regulators' instruments in a number of cases.

Most of the gas seeping to the surface of the landfill and then into the air is methane, but it does contain traces of several cancer-causing chemicals, experts said.

``You don't want to let something like that go on,'' said Dr. Deborah Oudiz, a senior toxicologist with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. ``In terms of health effects, you'd probably have to go on for a longer time. But you don't want a system you can't control.''

A South Coast Air Quality Management District inspector on Oct. 6 took particular note of a football field-sized area in the old city portion of the landfill that was emitting gas at a rate nine times the standard. The violation carries a possible fine of up to $50,000 per day.

``This is a more serious emission because it is over a large area,'' said AQMD air quality inspector Laurance Israel.

Air monitoring is not done off the site to see whether high concentrations of gas are escaping, however, he said.

``When you have high emissions, it's always a concern. You have emissions into the atmosphere and one can infer from that what they want,'' Israel said.

Anne Ziliak, a community member who toured the dump's problem areas last week, said her concerns were heightened.

``I'm a little afraid,'' she said, noting some of the hot spots. ``If the maximum is 500 parts per million, and they're past the machine's capability of 10,000 parts per million, that shows it's a serious issue. And I don't know if it's getting off site, because there's no monitors on the city side that will catch it.''

BFI's Ambrose said the company's environmental studies showed landfill gases would disburse in the atmosphere before reaching homes and schools in harmful concentrations.

He said the problem stemmed from the failure of a gas collection system, which is being repaired. He added such problems are unavoidable until the old city dump is permanently capped sometime in the next year.

It was closed to trash dumping in 1991, with Ambrose blaming the delay on sealing it on a lengthy permit process.

Gas migration

BFI failed to report a high reading at a county boundary point, a possible indicator that gas was migrating through the soil out of the landfill, said Lange, the county inspector.

August and September readings reached a gas concentration 55 percent higher than the allowable standard, but BFI didn't report it as required for two months, he said.

``Basically, they kind of shrugged it off to a contractor who does the work,'' Lange said.

BFI consultant James Aidukas said the gas detected at the boundary point since has been tested and found to be natural gas, unrelated to the dump. He acknowledged there was a failure to report it on time.

The gas ``hot spots,'' meanwhile, have been found both on the old city dump, and throughout the active county side. BFI has been given notice to fix the problems within 20 days, or face more extensive mandatory repairs of its system. It has said it will comply.

Some of the highest gas readings on the county side - up to 320 times more than the standard - were taken where BFI was forced to excavate into old trash to install a new liner, Ambroso said. Workers were protected, he said.

``The operators were all trained; they were wearing respirators,'' he said. ``We were taking precautions.''

BFI officials said the excavation was done in a very confined area, about a mile and a half from the dump's border.

Lange, the county inspector, said BFI has promised to comply in the past without success. He said company officials attended a March administrative hearing called to discuss the dump's troubles, and that BFI officials ascribed them to ``difficulty'' with the change of ownership.

Since the March meeting, a dozen more citations have been issued, he said.

BFI spokesman Arnie Berghoff said the company has shaken up its top management and implemented new procedures to deal with all the violations identified by regulators. He promised all the problems will be fixed.

``No one will make an excuse for a violation; there is none,'' Berghoff said. ``There won't be any violations from here on out.''

Hunter, the residents' representative, said there is little credibility left either with BFI or the city.

``They tell people nothing can go wrong,'' Hunter said. ``Then we see disasters.''

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Map: Sunshine Canyon Landfill

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