The following are frequently asked questions related to the planned Combined City/County Sunshine Canyon Landfill

Capacity/Lifespan

What is the lifespan of the City/County landfill?

Sunshine Canyon City/County Landfill will provide 25 years of disposal capacity at an average rate of 11,000 tons per day, thereby ensuring that the cities within Los Angeles County will have a place to dispose of their non recyclable waste.

Assuming current disposal rates, what is the remaining life of the existing County Landfill ?

As of December 1, 2004, the existing County Landfill, excluding the 42-acre “bridge” area, has approximately two (2) years of life at 6,000 tons per day.

What is the remaining life of the County Landfill if the 42-acre “bridge” area is also utilized?

As of December 1, 2004, if the “bridge” area is included, the existing County Landfill has approximately 7.2 years of life at 6,000 tons per day.

If the City side of the landfill does not open, or if its operation is curtailed by the City, would BFI accept a County condition banning the acceptance at the County Landfill of waste generated within the City?

Yes. Such a restriction was included in the 1993 CUP (Condition 10d), but the County deleted it in 1996 in a settlement with the City. Reinstatement of this restriction would be considered by the County if the City side does not open or if the City were to curtail its operations.

How does Sunshine Canyon Landfill help LA County meet its daily disposal and AB939 requirements?

There are two primary components of AB939. First, the law required jurisdictions to recycle at increasing levels with a goal of 50 percent diversion by the Year 2000. The second is that long- and short-term disposal capacity be secured to ensure that non-recycled material has a place in which to be disposed.

As to the first requirement, Sunshine Canyon Landfill offers the recycling of materials such as bottles, cans and cardboard, as well as green waste and wood.

Regarding the second component, Sunshine Canyon City/County Landfill will provide 25 years of disposal capacity at an average rate of 11,000 tons per day, thereby ensuring that the cities within Los Angeles County will have a place to dispose of their non recyclable waste.

Operational Safeguards – Environmental Impacts

What steps is Sunshine Canyon Landfill taking to mitigate air quality?

The 1993 Final EIR for the County Landfill Extension and the 1999 Supplemental EIR for the combined City/County Landfill identified numerous mitigation measures to reduce the impacts to air quality from the landfill. These measures, which are now set forth as County and City conditions of approval, include controls of landfill gas, watering and soil sealants to reduce dust from earthmoving and disposal operations, and measures to reduce emissions from the refuse trucks.

How do we know these measures are working ?

To address public concerns about air quality impacts from the landfill, the City required a baseline air monitoring study to measure dust and diesel particulate levels at Van Gogh Elementary School, the closest school to the landfill. The study, which continuously monitored air quality at the school for more than a year, found that the major source of diesel particulates at the school was from the freeway and surface streets, and that the landfill was not creating dust impacts at the school. A separate study, which monitored for landfill gas at the school, found that methane was not detected over naturally occurring baseline levels. Once the City-only landfill begins operation, currently scheduled for May 2005, quarterly monitoring at the school is required. Beginning July 27, 2005, four random sample monitoring events at the school are required at the direction of the City.

What are the environmental benefits of operating a combined City/County Landfill with a single working face, as opposed to operating separate working faces at the respective City and County Landfills ?

A single working face provides a more efficient traffic pattern for trucks, eliminates redundant operations and creates an efficient and environmentally sound waste disposal site. There are numerous enhanced mitigations related to a single working face that will reduce air quality impacts including increased watering, the use of more extensive litter fences, and the limitation on size and locations of the working face under specified wind conditions.

Is the landfill causing an increase in cancer rates or adverse health impacts in the community?

No. This question has been reviewed on several occasions by a number of medical experts, and none of them has found any evidence of increased risk of cancer or an increase in mortality rates, low birth-weight babies, birth defects or infant mortality in the communities surrounding the landfill attributable to landfill operations.

Did the County Department of Health Services’ public health survey find any increase in health impacts attributable to the landfill?

No. The preliminary results of the survey were presented to the public and confirmed previous studies.

Replacement CUP Considerations

Will the proposed replacement CUP add additional capacity to the Sunshine Canyon Landfill?

No. The County capacity identified in the 1993 County approvals (approximately 35 million tons, which included the 17 million ton County-only landfill), and the City capacity identified in the 1999 City approvals (approximately 55 million tons for the City portion of a 90-million ton City/County Landfill) are not increased by the replacement CUP. The proposed CUP simply provides for a single operation within Sunshine Canyon Landfill with a daily capacity of 12,100 tons, as opposed to two separate operations: 6,600 tons per day in the County and 5,500 in the City.

Revenue

Currently, the County gets 10% of the revenue for all waste that is delivered to the County side, but will the County receive revenue when waste is being deposited only on the City side as part of a joint City/County landfill operation?

Yes. The County will receive a share of the revenue collected from operation on either side of the joint City/County Landfill, as determined by a proposed Revenue-sharing Agreement between the two jurisdictions. Respective County and City staffs are currently working on such an agreement, which would have to be approved by both the Board of Supervisors and the City Council.

Traffic

What transportation improvements must the Landfill implement to alleviate the impact of the additional truck traffic on commuter traffic?

BFI has implemented numerous traffic mitigation improvements along the San Fernando Road corridor, including the following:

Roxford Street at the I-5 Freeway Southbound Ramp

Restriping westbound approach on Roxford to provide dual left-turn lanes and one through lane

Roxford Street at the Encinitas/I-5 Freeway Northbound Ramp

Restriping northbound approach on Encinitas Avenue to provide left-turn lane, shared through/left-turn lane and shared through/right-turn lane

Restrinping and resigning from one shared left/right-turn lane and a right-turn lane to two exclusive right-turn lanes

San Fernando Road and Sierra Highway

Installation of a traffic signal and traffic signal interconnect to the Sunshine Canyon Road traffic signal

Restriping the westbound approach on Sierra Highway to provide a separate left-turn lane and shared left/right-turn lane

San Fernando Road and Golden State Freeway (I-5) Southbound Off-ramp

Provided funding in the amount of $125,000 to LADOT for construction of a traffic signal at this location

San Fernando Road and Sunshine Canyon Road

Installed a traffic signal

Contributed $114,591 to LADOT for the design, construction and operation of LADOT ATSAC facilities (City used funding to install traffic signal interconnect to the Balboa Road traffic signal)

Installed additional street lights to improve lighting at the intersection

San Fernando Road along Sunshine Canyon Landfill property frontage (i.e., west side of San Fernando Road ). The following projects are in process:

Widening San Fernando Road to current City street standards

Relocating power poles

Installing a sidewalk

Installing new street lights along the project frontage

San Fernando Road and Balboa Road

Contributed $114,591 to LADOT for the design, construction and operation of LADOT ATSAC facilities

Community Involvement and Contributions

What steps has BFI taken to keep the community informed about landfill operations?

There have been more than 70 public hearings on the City, County and City/County landfill. For the City landfill, community involvement resulted in 34 new or modified City conditions and mitigation measures being implemented.

There are two Citizen Advisory Committees, one for the City landfill and one for the County landfill, that hold regular meetings where the public is invited to attend.

More than 200 tours and programs have been conducted at the Landfill for the public and anyone interested in the landfill can call (818) 833-6500 to schedule a tour.

There is a quarterly newsletter distributed to nearly 5,000 interested persons on the mailing. Anyone wishing to receive a newsletter can sign-up HERE.