Schabarum Out to Derail L.A. Plan to Bury Sewer Sludge

Plans to bury sewage sludge that Los Angeles cannot burn because of failures in a $350-million co-generation plant ran into political trouble Tuesday, raising the possibility that Mayor Tom Bradley and other officials may be forced to violate federal orders and dump sludge in the ocean.

The biggest obstacle to arise Tuesday was county Supervisor Pete Schabarum, an old nemesis of the city who objects to any Los Angeles waste coming to a final resting place in his San Gabriel Valley district.

Schabarum said in a letter to 35,000 supporters that he will try to stop Los Angeles from trucking wet cake sludge, a partially treated form of sewage, to the BKK landfill in West Covina. The BKK landfill takes about 1,000 tons of the sludge a day, and there is no other nearby landfill that can handle so much.

Access Blocked

Schabarum has already been influential in closing landfills run by county sanitation districts to Los Angeles refuse. His insistence that city officials ignore residents’ wishes and reopen the Mission Canyon landfill in the Santa Monica Mountains has also delayed efforts to find new landfills that Los Angeles can use outside the city limits.

“I am adamantly opposed to this sludge being dumped in this (BKK) landfill. . . ,” Schabarum said in the letter dated Dec. 23. It was reported to Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday. A Schabarum aide, Tom Hageman, said Tuesday that the supervisor will try to persuade West Covina officials to block sludge from going to the privately owned landfill.

Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said Tuesday that the city was not concerned by Schabarum’s opposition. “This is nothing new for Mr. Schabarum,” Gage said. “We disagree with Mr. Schabarum on a number of items.”

Relied on BKK

But Los Angeles has relied on BKK to take more than 90% of the sludge since the city stopped dumping in the ocean from its Hyperion sewage treatment plant on Nov. 2. The landfill is the only one nearby with the drainage controls needed to accept wet cake sludge without special treatment.

The landfill’s owners, who welcome the business, said Tuesday that Schabarum should back off.

“We’re open to the public,” said BKK Corp. President Ken Kazarian. “In fact, our operating permit requires that we don’t discriminate with our customers.”

Meanwhile, the search by Los Angeles sanitation officials for alternate places to dispose of the sludge has grown more intense. A federal order that took effect Jan. 1 forbids discharging the sludge into Santa Monica Bay, but the city has limited alternatives.

The private Chiquita Canyon landfill in Valencia recently stopped taking all but a small amount of the 1,100 tons of wet cake sludge generated daily. The sludge that goes into Chiquita Canyon requires special treatment to remove more water from the black, gooey, mud-like sludge, and the landfill operator has objected to having the processing done there, sanitation officials said.

The city has only about five days of sludge storage at the Hyperion plant near El Segundo, some in storage bins and some in the hydraulic workings of the plant. But using up all five days of storage can force operators to lessen the thoroughness of treatment given to waste water before it is disposed of in the ocean.

Louisiana Firm’s Plan

Last week the city Board of Public Works approved a deal that would pay a Louisiana firm, Chemfix Technologies Inc., to process some of the sludge on unused land at Los Angeles International Airport, which is adjacent to Hyperion. The company would add chemicals to the sludge to reduce bacteria and convert the goo into a silt-like clay eligible for burial in ordinary landfills.

Chemfix executives are expected to apply for a permit from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board that would let the clay be sold for use as fill soil at landfills and on landscaping for the Century Freeway under construction in Los Angeles County. The Ventura County Regional Sanitation District on Thursday will consider a proposal to purchase up to 600 tons daily from Chemfix for cover at an Oxnard landfill.

City officials are hunting with some desperation for other places to put the sludge. Landfills such as BKK will only accept wet cake during dry weather, and during rainstorms in December operators at Hyperion came close to recommending that excess sludge be put back in the ocean. As a last-ditch measure, an area of the Hyperion property was paved over so that wet cake can simply be dumped out on the ground if needed to avoid putting it in the ocean.

Sanitation officials want permission to dispose of the sludge in the Lopez Canyon landfill near San Fernando in an emergency. But the idea has aroused opposition among neighbors and two City Council members from the area, Ernani Bernardi and Joel Wachs. A motion that would block any sludge from Lopez Canyon was introduced Tuesday and sent to committee.

Negotiating With Nursery

Sanitation officials are negotiating with H. K. Kellog Inc., a nursery firm, to process about 150 tons a day of sludge by composting on Terminal Island. The company already processes a larger amount of sludge produced in Los Angeles County and sells the product in nurseries.

There would be no sludge problem if the Hyperion Energy Recovery System, an experimental co-generation process, had been completed on time. The system was due to be finished in July, 1985, but has suffered from design problems and a series of fires and failures.

The system was conceived to dry the sludge into a powder, then burn the powder to make steam to drive a power-generating station. It was designed to generate enough electricity for 40,000 homes.

Times staff writer Richard Simon contributed to this article.