TRASH TRAFFIC AND POLLUTION WORRY COUNTY FIRM PROPOSES TO HAUL 3,500 TONS A DAY OUTSIDE CITY LIMITS.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Los Angeles County supervisors have raised concerns about worsening traffic congestion and air pollution in their districts that might be caused by Los Angeles city efforts to haul its trash outside city limits.

City leaders on Wednesday cleared the Bureau of Sanitation to negotiate by mid-January a final offer with Waste Management Inc., which has proposed trucking some 3,500 tons per day of Los Angeles residential trash to landfills in Lancaster, Palmdale and Corona.

Waste Management's was the cheapest and most realistic proposal to take L.A. trash outside city limits - a key part of Mayor James Hahn's pledge to stop using urban landfills and end the city's contract with Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who represents the Antelope Valley, portions of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, introduced a motion Tuesday saying the city is ignoring communities that would be affected by long-distance hauling. It added that the plan would create further congestion on the Antelope Valley, San Bernardino, Pomona and Pasadena freeways.

``The issue of taking trash and dumping it in another landfill isn't solving your long-term problem,'' said Bob Hauter, a deputy to Antonovich. ``What we're saying is, even as a short-term basis, you're impacting freeways and other communities. The supervisors represent those areas and don't want to see those communities impacted.''

Waste Management officials said they would make every effort to address the supervisors' concerns.

Councilman Greig Smith's office suggested the county leaders should consider where their districts' trash is dumped before restricting the city.

``If the county wants to make the determination that all 88 cities in the county can't dump outside their own city limits, we'll fully support that,'' said Mitch Englander, Smith's chief of staff.

The supervisors' concerns, as well as community opposition in the Antelope Valley and Riverside County, will raise the stakes as the city considers whether to continue dumping in Granada Hills in the north San Fernando Valley or truck trash to the high desert or Inland Empire.

The city has to make a decision by June on whether to cancel or renew the city's existing contract with Sunshine operators, Browning Ferris Industries.

The current contract costs the city about $35 million per year. Waste Management's proposal is $46 million if a transfer station is built at Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley and $56 million if it's not built.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com