Ruling Expected Today on Lopez Landfill Operations

The fate of a state order limiting operations at Lopez Canyon Landfill is to be decided by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge today.

The order, issued in July by the California Waste Management Board, calls for cutting back the number of trash trucks allowed to unload daily at the northeast San Fernando Valley dump, as well as reducing the height of the garbage mounds there and limiting dumping to a smaller area of the site.

Those restrictions were included in a 1978 operating permit. But in its lawsuit against the state, the city maintains that that permit was updated with larger numbers in 1983, when an engineering report was submitted to the state.

City officials frequently have accused the state board--which state legislators have criticized for being ineffective--of playing politics at Los Angeles’ expense. The state board members have responded that the crackdown on Los Angeles is just the beginning of a statewide effort to make dump permits more closely reflect dump operations.

Temporary Order

City attorneys won a temporary restraining order against the state in early August and later in the month extended that to a preliminary injunction.

At the second hearing, Judge Dzintra I. Janavs indicated that she was leaning strongly in the city’s favor. Citing Los Angeles’ mounting garbage disposal problems, Janavs said she did not want to take any action that would cause garbage to be left on the streets.

She said that unless the state provided new information at today’s hearing, she would probably side with the city and rule the state order invalid.

Residents of Valley communities near the dump long have complained about odors, litter and traffic from the dump. They had hoped to join the lawsuit on the state’s behalf, but the court ruled that their testimony would complicate the suit and instructed them to file a separate lawsuit if they wanted their concerns aired.