January 20, 2007

Los Angeles Council Votes for Waste-to-Energy Policy

Councilmember Greig Smith's loud and popular campaign against the continuance of Sunshine Canyon landfill contract in his district and his bold R.E.N.E.W. LA proposal is finally getting traction in Los Angeles politics.

Within the current week (February 12-18, 2006) the L.A. Times has reported L.A. Could Divert Trash From Dump, that the L.A. Council is considering diverting a substantial portion of waste to other landfills. Instead of renewing the decades-old current Sunshine landfill contract for another 5 years ($29 million/year), waste would be shipped to Riverside County (for an additional $15 million) and/or the San Joaquim Valley (for an additional $30 million). While the current landfill has capacity for another 15 years, Smith contends that environmental justice to his district obligates the Council to enact an alternative that would equalize processing waste between all the districts of Los Angeles.

According to this release, the Council has taken a serious step toward accepting a policy of developing a waste-to-energy plant solution to Los Angeles' landfill problem.

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Council Postpones Vote on Trash Contract
From Los Angeles Times Staff and Wire Reports

The City Council on Friday postponed its vote on renewing a five-year contract to dump trash at the Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills.

The council has until the end of the month to decide the issue and is looking at alternatives that involve taking some or all the city's trash to two distant landfills, at a cost increase of between about $4 million and $30 million each year.

Also on Friday, the council voted to embrace a policy of eventually using high-tech trash-to-energy plants to get rid of the city's trash

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