The Dump
Map of the Proposed Dump area (from Dames & Moore, 1995, Draft Environmental Report/Environmental Impact Statement: Proposed Elsmere Solid Waste Management Facility - Two facing pages pasted together)
Introduction
A landfill in Elsmere Canyon was first proposed in the 1980's. It would cover 1500 acres and eventually contain 190 million tons of dump. It would operate for 50 years. It would be the world's largest dump. When filled, the top of it would be visible from everywhere in the Santa Clarita Valley. The following is a rather simplified account of what happened. To include all the details would require a book.
City and county officials said the new dump would be essential to solving the local trash crisis. Dump space would shortly run out unless some action was taken.
Opponents claimed that the dump would harm the underground water supply, damage air quality, ruin a pristine canyon and wildlife corridor and cause thousands of garbage trucks to travel through the valley. Also, the Whitney Canyon fault would run through it.
A dump in Elsmere Canyon would require a complex land-exchange deal that would include the Forest Service, landfill developer BKK Corp., and the city and county of Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy got involved. They got into a pact with the dump developer in a plan to get land in the Santa Monica Mountains. Private developer Ray Watts got involved. He wanted to build houses in Mission Canyon (one of the potential dump sites besides Elsmere) in the Santa Monica Mountains and wanted to swap his Whitney Canyon (the next canyon north of Elsmere) land for Mission Canyon land.
The newly formed (12/1987) Santa Clarita City Council refused to take a stand until the Environmental Impact Report was done (although some individual members of the council stated their opposition). At first it seemed that the dump was a sure thing - all the city and county polititians seemed to support it (including Mike Antonovich, the county supervisor whose district contains Elsmere Canyon). The question seemed to be what could the City of Santa Clarita get in exchange for not opposing the dump.
In 1989 the public began to get involved, probably sensing that the polititions were going to screw them unless they acted. By 1993 some polititions began to realize that their jobs may in jeopardy if they did not oppose the dump. Senator Barbara Boxer and Assemblyman Pete Knight announced their opposition to the dump. The Valencia Industrial Association also announced their opposition. The City of Santa Clarita finally took a stand and hired a consultant to fight the dump. The battle was on.
In 1996, after years of wheeling and dealing, the U.S. Senate adapted a provision inserted by Rep. Buck McKeon that prohibited the secretary of agriculture from transferring any part of the Angeles National Forest out of federal ownership for use as a solid waste landfill. The language was secretly inserted into the bill and passed without the knowledge of BKK. That effectively killed the dump.
Public outcry more than likely saved Elsmere Canyon. Today, the dump company (BFI) is apparently trying to donate the land it owns in Elsmere Canyon to the Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority. They are a partner of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, rather ironic since the Santa Monica Conservancy at one time was willing to sacrifice the canyon so that they could get some land in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The one benefit for me is the over 2000 page Environmental Impact Report for the dump. It contains a huge amount of valuable information about Elsmere Canyon that would otherwise be very difficult to get.
The following timetable contains summaries of various newspaper articles concerning the dump in date order. It is, of course, not all inclusive.
Approximate dump timetable:
5/1987 - The plan to dump trash in Elsmere Canyon near the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways came to light at Wednesday's meeting of the Los Angeles City Council. The council voted to study the Santa Clarita Valley proposal, unveiled by Councilmen Hal Bernson and Marvin Braude. Opening the Elsmere Canyon site would remove pressure to dump trash at Mission Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains and Sunshine Canyon in the San Fernando Valley, Braude said. Jan Heidt said she is upset about the Los Angeles City Council's action. "What kind of hypocrisy is this?" she said. "It's their garbage, not ours." Heidt said other cities besides Los Angeles dump their garbage at Sunshine Canyon, making it a regional facility. "I think a better alternative would be to expand that," she said. "There are other options here."
2/1988 - A land war between the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Clarita over control of Elsmere Canyon, the site of a proposed garbage dump, was averted Wednesday when county officials decided that the area should remain under their jurisdiction. The Local Agency Formation Commission voted to leave the canyon north of the San Fernando Valley under Los Angeles County control, denying requests from both cities to include the site within their spheres of influence. Neither Los Angeles nor Santa Clarita officials opposed the LAFCO action, saying their requests to LAFCO were made merely to protect their city's interests.
6/1988 - Elsmere Canyon near Santa Clarita has emerged as the prime candidate for a landfill now that three county supervisors have expressed reservations about building the dump in three verdant canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains. Breaking with their longstanding position that the three canyons should be developed as a landfill, Los Angeles County Supervisors Deane Dana, Mike Antonovich and Ed Edelman say they either oppose such a move or would consider it only as a last resort. With development of the canyons now highly questionable, both city and county officials say the prime site for a landfill is secluded Elsmere Canyon, 4 miles south of Santa Clarita and just east of the junction of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways. The Santa Clarita City Council has not endorsed or opposed Elsmere Canyon as a landfill site, but Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon has said he fears the dump could threaten the city's water supply.
9/1988 - At the urging of Councilman Carl Boyer III, the council voted 4 to 1 Thursday night to ask landowners in Towsley and Elsmere canyons if they would be willing to sell their land to the city. If the city cannot purchase large tracts, Boyer said, it might be able to buy land that would surround entrances to the dumps. Elsmere Canyon is southeast of the city; Towsley is west.
11/1988 - The Santa Clarita City Council appears to be leaning toward endorsing the expansion of a garbage dump that neighboring Granada Hills residents want shut down. McKeon said that he and other Santa Clarita city officials are leaning toward supporting expansion of the facility, being sought by the company that operates the landfill. Santa Clarita officials hope to eliminate the need for development of other dumps in canyons near their city if they back the Sunshine Canyon project. Los Angeles County has identified Elsmere and Towsley canyons, both in the Santa Clarita Valley, as prime candidates for dump sites.
12/1988 - A private landfill company hopes to begin work on a municipal and commercial dump in Elsmere Canyon, just outside the Santa Clarita city limits, by the middle of 1991, the company's president said Tuesday. Ken Kazarian, president of BKK, said the West Covina company already has applied for a conditional-use permit from Los Angeles County and hopes to complete an environmental impact report within 12 to 14 months. If all goes as planned, Kazarian said, the company could obtain permits to operate the landfill from Los Angeles County and the state within 3 years.
3/1989 - The Santa Clarita City Council is struggling, so far unsuccessfully, to become a player in a high-stakes game to determine whether a dump is opened just outside the city's limits. The council, which has slowly started taking steps to enter that game, last week authorized Councilmen Carl Boyer III and Howard P. (Buck) McKeon to develop a strategy on how to deal with plans to put a landfill in Elsmere Canyon. The council's discussion centered on legislation by Berman that would transfer 900 acres from the Forest Service to Los Angeles to provide a dump site in Elsmere Canyon. In return, the Forest Service would receive 756 acres of city-owned property for parks. The proposed trade is part of a large, complicated land swap involving 8,767 acres.
4/1989 - Executives of a private landfill firm said Tuesday they expect to receive permits by early next year to open a dump in Elsmere Canyon just outside Santa Clarita, and hope to have it operating by 1991. Kenneth B. Kazarian, president of BKK Corp., said the dump could operate for at least 50 years and accommodate up to 165 million tons of trash. It would cover 400 to 600 acres of secluded Elsmere Canyon, which is about a mile east of the Antelope Valley Freeway.
7/1989 - A complex land swap that could help meet Los Angeles' pressing needs for a new landfill and more electrical power, transform dilapidated Hansen Dam into a major recreation area and preserve scenic canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains is under serious (behind-the-scenes) negotiation by federal, city, county and private interests. The outlines of the sweeping plan were contained in a bill introduced in Congress by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) in February. For months, Berman and city and county officials have quietly been trying to hammer out the details of a broader agreement. One part of the plan would provide a new 200-million ton landfill in Elsmere Canyon, west of Santa Clarita, for Los Angeles city and county. In Santa Clarita, the proposed Elsmere Canyon landill already has prompted formation of an anti-dump citizens' group. Mayor Jan Heidt said she personally is opposed to the landfill, but most of the City Council feels "this is a done deal and we might as well get what we can out of it."
7/1989 - The president of BKK Corp., which hopes to open a landfill in Elsmere Canyon by 1991, said Tuesday that he was stunned that an environmental impact report on the proposed expansion of the nearby Sunshine Canyon Landfill declared Elsmere a poor choice for a dump. Kenneth B. Kazarian said he is confident that geological and environmental studies will conclude that Elsmere is an ideal landfill site.
8/1989 - A Santa Clarita citizens group gathered more than 250 signatures in 1 1/2 hours Saturday in launching a petition drive against a proposed landfill in Elsmere Canyon. Council members have said they will take no formal position on the landfill until the report is completed. But Mayor Jan Heidt said she opposes the dump.
9/1989 - The Santa Clarita City Council is eyeing a 520-acre parcel of land in Saugus as a home for a civic center, which may entail complicated dealings involving the young city, the county and city of Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service and a dump. Under a proposed swap, the city would get the abandoned Saugus Rehabilitation Center for alcoholics by agreeing not to oppose county plans to open a landfill in Elsmere Canyon, just south of Santa Clarita. The Santa Clarita City Council discussed the trade Thursday night, a day after it ordered city staff to study the feasibility of obtaining the property either through purchase or the swap, which was proposed this month by Supervisor Mike Antonovich. Councilwoman Jan Heidt said Antonovich made the proposal in an Aug. 12 meeting with her and Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon. The details of the swap have to be worked out, Heidt said.
9/1989 - A complex land-swap bill that could address Los Angeles' pressing need for a new garbage dump will not be passed by Congress this year because city, county and federal officials have failed to reach agreement, the measure's sponsor Howard Berman (D-Panorama City).
9/1989 - The Santa Clarita City Council is considering buying land in nearby canyons to prevent Los Angeles County from using them for landfills. "We don't want to be known as the city of the dumps," said Councilwoman Jan Heidt, referring to county studies that have identified Towsley and Elsmere canyons as possible dump sites. The council voted to consider the purchases against the advice of City Manager George Caravalho, who favored a milder approach. Caravalho suggested that the city invite county officials to explain their plans for future landfills. Two weeks ago, the council began studying a proposal by Antonovich that would let the city have an abandoned 520-acre alcohol rehabilitation center in return for not opposing Elsmere Canyon as a dump site. The old Saugus Rehabilitation Center is centrally located, and council members have said the site would be ideal for a city hall. The council has not formally responded to the proposal.
10/1989 - The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has boldly injected itself into negotiations over a proposed county landfill north of Sylmar in an effort to acquire three canyons in the Santa Monicas that the agency wants preserved. The conservancy has become a player by allying itself with a private firm to get control of land that the county needs to develop the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill. Control of that land gives the conservancy a bargaining chip that it will try to exchange for the three canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains-Sullivan, Rustic and Mission-that could otherwise be developed. The agreement with the conservancy may also elevate BKK's bargaining power. The county and independent County Sanitation Districts insist that the landfill must be publicly owned. BKK faces possible condemnation of the land if it cannot agree with the county and city on a sale price. The Torrance-based waste disposal firm has rejected an initial offer of more than $50 million. But the land would essentially become condemnation-proof in the hands of the conservancy because one public agency cannot condemn land held by another. Also, politically powerful developer Ray Watt is pushing for the county and city to grant him land and permits in Mission Canyon for a major housing development in exchange for land that he owns near Elsmere and rights to other holdings.
11/1989 - Los Angeles County officials are pushing the city to approve expansion of the Sunshine Canyon landfill above Granada Hills as a price for granting city trash trucks access to the proposed new Elsmere Canyon garbage dump near Santa Clarita.
11/1989 - During the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of activity on the land-swap proposal, which was initiated last February in legislation written by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City). The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, in a bid to have environmental interests play a larger role in negotiations, made an independent pact with BKK Corp., the waste management firm that has rights to some of the land near Elsmere Canyon. Part of that pact called for BKK to turn Elsmere Canyon over to the conservancy to prevent the county from using its eminent domain powers to acquire it. In return, BKK vowed to help the conservancy gain three canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains as parkland. But the pact between the conservancy and BKK fell apart last Thursday when the county and BKK reached a separate agreement. Under the new tentative agreement between BKK and the county, the county will pay BKK $125 million for its land interests and will reimburse some expenses after the company obtains the permits it needs for the Elsmere dump. That tentative agreement, presented to individual supervisors Wednesday, must be ratified by the Board of Supervisors before it becomes official.
11/1989 - Meeting behind closed doors, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday tentatively approved a complex agreement calling for Los Angeles city and county to develop and run a major regional trash dump in Elsmere Canyon. In return for not opposing the new landfill, which is in an unincorporated area a mile and a half from its boundary, Santa Clarita would receive a fee for each ton of refuse in an amount to be determined by city and county negotiators. This was apparently a concession to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who reportedly pushed for a larger tipping fee than the nickel per ton included in earlier drafts of the agreement.
11/1989 - The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday directed its staff to study a proposed agreement with the county to develop Elsmere Canyon as a 1,500-acre regional dump. The agreement, which took five months to negotiate, was hailed as a "historic breakthrough" by Deputy Mayor Mike Gage. County spokesmen predict that the canyon will solve the region's trash crunch for decades. Before the tentative agreement arrived at City Hall, several council members expressed doubt about how committed county supervisors were to the pact. Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky cited news reports that three of the five supervisors had voted for the pact in closed session late Tuesday. Council president John Ferraro said the three-Mike Antonovich, Deane Dana and Edmund D. Edelman-had signed a letter Wednesday affirming their support.
11/1989 - Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana on Monday hailed a tentative agreement to open a dump in Elsmere Canyon as a solution to the region's garbage disposal problem. Under the agreement, in return for not opposing the dump, Santa Clarita would receive the land and money. The city of Los Angeles would give Santa Clarita a portion of the defunct Saugus Rehabilitation Center, 520 acres located within the heart of the city, and a fee, still to be negotiated, for each ton of garbage dumped in Elsmere. Dana declared that "The garbage crisis in Los Angeles County is almost over . . before it began." Santa Clarita Mayor Jan Heidt asked whether a promise not to oppose the dump would prevent her city from commenting on the project's environmental impact report. "If that's the case, that's just blackmail," Heidt said.
12/1989 - After a sharp debate over past unequal treatment of rich and poor areas in the selection of landfill sites, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday tentatively approved a pact with the county to jointly develop a regional garbage dump in Elsmere Canyon.
1/1990 - Should Santa Clarita try to block the city and county of Los Angeles from opening a garbage dump just outside the city limits in Elsmere Canyon? Or should it endorse the dump in exchange for money, land and the right to annex most of the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley? Those are the questions the Santa Clarita City Council, which has remained neutral on Elsmere Canyon so far, wants to put before citizens at a public forum later this month. For more than a year, council members have refused to oppose or endorse the Elsmere dump, saying they would not comment until an environmental impact report on the project is completed, possibly this spring. However, council members have said repeatedly that they will not support the dump if it endangers the city's ground water. They also have said that if a dump is opened in Elsmere, they want to win concessions from the city and county of Los Angeles.
3/1990 - Billing it as a historic moment, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to end its long garbage-disposal feud with the city of Los Angeles by forming a partnership to confront the region's growing garbage problem together. Under the agreement, the city and county, operating under a joint powers authority, would create a huge dump in Elsmere Canyon. The city of Los Angeles would be entitled to dump a large portion of its garbage there. Rustic and Sullivan canyons would be turned over to a public agency for recreational purposes. The agreement would permit the county to sell its Mission Canyon property, which at one time was a county landfill. Also, under the agreement, the city-owned Lopez Canyon landfill will close within a year after the Elsmere Canyon Landfill opens.
4/1990 - The Los Angeles City Council approved a complex garbage disposal agreement with the county. The pact creates a city-county partnership to begin preparing a huge trash dump in Elsmere Canyon. It also prevents three scenic canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains, once listed as future garbage dumps, from becoming landfills. BKK Inc., a private waste management firm that owns the Elsmere site, stands to earn a $125-million profit after covering its costs of buying about 2,000 acres in Elsmere Canyon, obtaining environmental clearances and preparing the site to receive garbage.
6/1990 - Andy Martin, an unsuccessful candidate for the Santa Clarita City Council, has launched a recall drive against Councilman Howard (Buck) McKeon, charging that McKeon bowed to the wishes of the Los Angeles City and County officials. Martin said that McKeon was willing to let the dump be opened in exchange for land and money for Santa Clarita.
6/1990 - Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) probably will not pursue legislation this year to trade Elsmere Canyon to the city and county of Los Angeles to use as a dump, but still intends to do so in the future. Berman's bill had included a swap under which the U.S. Forest Service would trade Elsmere Canyon for lands in the Santa Monica Mountains and non-federal land in Angeles National Forest. The measure called for preserving as parkland Mission, Rustic and Sullivan canyons in Los Angeles, county-owned sites that had also been earmarked as prospective landfills. Berman, however, has said that he will proceed with legislation to ensure that the city and county provide sufficient environmental compensation elsewhere for the filling-in of Elsmere Canyon. He has expressed particular concern about the role of politically well-connected developer Ray Watt, who has sought to build hundreds of luxury homes in Mission Canyon in exchange for property adjoining Elsmere to which he has the rights.
6/1990 - Santa Clarita has launched a campaign urging residents to lobby state legislators to support Senate Bill 2139 by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) which would make it more difficult for the city and county of Los Angeles to build a dump in Elsmere Canyon. The Santa Clarita council had refused to oppose the dump for more than a year saying it did not want to jeopardize its legal standing before the EIR was completed. After the Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council tentatively approved the dump agreement in the winter, the Council voted Feb. 13 to oppose the plan. Mayor Jo Anne Darcy opposes the dump while her boss, Supervisor Mike Antonovich, supports the landfill.
7/1990 - The California State Assembly Natural Resources Committee revived legislation by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) that would guarantee that the city and county of Los Angeles comply with a new state law regulating dump locations. They voted it down last week. It would take effect only if another more sweeping proposal by Assemblyman Dominic Cortese (D-San JOse) applying to the location of all new dumps in the states fails to be signed into law.
7/1990 - The Los Angeles County Sanitation districts plan to create at least two big landfills from among four prospective sites. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would preserve them as parkland. The conservancy did not try to snap up the Elsmere site, but insisted that the destruction of Elsmere be mitigated by the transfer to conservancy ownership of the three canyons in the Santa Monicas, which are owned by the county and the districts. They joined forces with BKK in an effort to enhance each party's bargaining strength.
8/1990 - A county environmental impact report which has been in the works for nearly a year and a half endorses four canyons in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys as landfills. The landfill report deemed Towsley Canyon, Blind Canyon, Mission-Rustic-Sullivan Canyons, and Elsmere Canyon as environmentally suitable. An Elsmere landfill has the backing of the Los Angeles City Council and the County Board of Supervisors. BKK Corp., a private waste disposal firm, is seeking approval for the Elsmere dump, with the understanding that the county and city will buy out its interest and operate the landfill once permits are obtained.
9/1990 - The long process of assessing the potential hazards and benefits of the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill officially begins today with a public meeting in Santa Clarita which could establish some of the issues that will be covered in the environmental review of the controversial project. The Santa Clarita City Council has repeatedly said a garbage dump in Elsmere Canyon would pollute air and local water supplies, create visual blight and traffic congestion. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Council have heralded Elsmere Canyon as an ideal site for a landfill.
3/1991 - A "Save the Canyon Day" in Placerita Canyon State Park attracted more than 200 people to launch a compaign to oppose the proposed development of a huge public trash dump in Elsmere Canyon.
4/1992 - Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) has suggested that the council outline some mitigation measures to make the landfill easier to accept. These measures Berman would include in legislation he is considering drafting to allow the dump to be built on nearby federal forest land.
11/1992 - In a Newhall Signal article of November 15, 1992, Santa Clarita Historian Jerry Reynolds claimed that he accidentally found a map that would put a "screeching halt" to the proposed dump. The 1880 map of Rancho San Francisco, drawn for H.M. Newhall, supposedly showed the El Camino Real trail passing directly through Elsmere Canyon. Reynolds either couldn't read maps or was lying, because the map, like other maps of Rancho San Francisco, showed La Puerta on the southeast corner of the ranch on the road through the San Fernando Pass, about 1 1/4 miles from the mouth of Elsmere Canyon. Here is the map that he was looking at (found at the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society) and here is a reverse image of it (making it easier to read). In the lower right you can read "False Puerta" and a little below that "Oak tree" and "Puerta". These are same labels of all the other old maps of Rancho San Francisco. Nothing came out of this claim of his. It would have nothing to do with the eventual failure of the dump proposal.
7/1993 - Senator Barbara Boxer opposes landfill in Elsmere Canyon.
8/1993 - Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) announced his opposition to the 190-million-ton Elsmere Canyon landfill.
7/1993 - The Valencia Industrial Assn. announced its opposition to the landfill. The association represents 250 businesses. The decision echoes votes taken earlier this month by the Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce. Neither of the decisions by the Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce was unanimous.
11/1993 - Santa Clarita hires a consultant to fight the Elsmere Canyon landfill.
4/1994 - More than 200 Santa Clarita residents packed the Ranch House Inn to voice their opposition to the proposed dump in a meeting sponsored by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department.
7/1994 - Congressman Howard (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) announced that he would try to block the plan by introducing a bill in the House of Representatives next week prohibiting the trade of Forest Service land for use as a landfill.
10/1994 - Over the opposition of Supervisor Antonovich, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to give BKK permission to start designing a freeway ramp to the Antelope Valley Freeway for the dump the board has yet to approve. County officials acknowledged that by getting a head start on the design work, BKK could be in a position to start construction of the off ramp immediately if the board approves the landfill.
1/1995 - Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement released.
6/1995 - A Los Angeles County Planning Commission meeting at a local high school attracted 3000 local residents who voiced their opposition. An official of Elsmere Corp., a division of BKK, said that "no amount of political posturing and emotion is going to break this project."
8/1995 - Santa Clarita handed county and federal officials an 800-page report saying the design of the 190-million-ton garbage dump was "fatally flawed" and a threat to public health.
9/1995 - BFI (Browning-Ferris Industries) will purchase the site of the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill from BKK Corporation. The sale is contingent on reopening Sunshine Canyon and closing BKK's landfill in West Covina.
10/1995 (from World Wastes. Atlanta: Oct 1995. Vol. 38, Iss. 10; pg. 93) - The City of Santa Clarita reportedly has already spent more than $1 million to fight the proposed Elsmere Canyon Landfill. The Walt Disney Co., which owns a 700-acre film ranch in Placerita Canyon, has joined with Santa Clarita in lobbying county and federal officials to halt the project.
11/1995 - House passes a bill that would prevent the transfer of U.S. Forest Service Land in Elsmere Canyon for use as a dump.
4/1996 - Anti-dump activists turned out for a public meeting in Santa Clarita to oppose the dump. An offical for BKK dismissed the session as "an opportunity for the locals to do a little grandstanding" that would have no affect on the permit process for the dump.
4/1996 - BKK hired a former senator, two former members of the House of Representatives, a congressman's wife, and the former college roommate of a former secretary of agriculture as lobyists.
6/1997 - Elsmere Canyon included on list of potensial landfill sites by Los Angeles County waste officials, although that does not mean that the county will recommend a landfill there.
10/1996 - U.S. Senate adapted a provision inserted by Rep. McKeon that prohibits the secretary of agriculture from transferring any part of the Angeles National Forest out of federal ownership for use as a solid waste landfill. This was a key part of the Elsmere Canyon plan. The language was inserted in the bill and passed without the knowledge of BKK.
9/2003 - Board of Supervisors instructed Public Works to take the necessary steps to remove Elsmere Canyon from list of future landfill sites.
3/2004 - The City was informed recently that plans for a landfill in Elsmere Canyon are no longer on the table, signaling major advancement on a two-decade long battle to preserve the canyon. In a letter from BFI (Browning Ferris Industries) to the County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, District Manager Greg Loughnane informs the County that BFI has re-evaluated their options for the Elsmere Canyon site and has determined that their solid waste disposal goals could be accomplished through other alternatives. BFI further requests that L.A. County Department of Regional Planning withdraw their Conditional Use Permit application for the Elsmere Canyon landfill project and remove the Elsmere Canyon project from the Countywide Siting Element.
3/2007 - Elsmere Canyon would be preserved as parkland. County Supervisor Antonovic anounced that Allied Waste (parent company of BFI) will donate 400 acres to the Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority pending final approval by the conservation authority's board.
8/2007 - 400 acres donated by Allied Waste Industries to the Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority for open space were dedicated today. However, Allied still wants to sell another 800 acres (located south of the 400 acres) to a developer. This land contains the Los Pinetos undercrossing used as a corridor for wildlife.
Test holes were drilled here on the canyon bottom by the dump company. Many more were drilled throughout the canyon. (Photo taken on 12/2/2006)
1993 April fools joke. From the Newhall Signal of March 31, 1993.