Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Dump Operator Is Eager to Accept More Ventura County Trash : Waste: Chiquita Canyon Landfill is willing to take 3,000 tons a day, but politics may thwart expansion.

SANTA CLARITA VALLEY —  Chiquita Canyon Landfill near Magic Mountain could easily handle all of western Ventura County’s trash if its expansion plans are approved, but importing additional trash is a volatile issue in Los Angeles County, the dump’s operator said.

“It’s a hot issue in Los Angeles,” Rodney W. Walter, general manager of Chiquita, told representatives of the newly formed Western Ventura County Waste Authority on Monday.

“We’re a private company, and we’re willing to accept refuse from anyone who wants to bring it to us,” Walter said. “But the importation issue kind of transcends us a little bit.”

Ventura County and the cities of Ventura, Ojai and Fillmore formed the waste authority in December to search for ways to dispose of west county trash after Bailard Landfill in Oxnard closes in 1996 or 1997.

Officials turned to Chiquita as a potential dump for most west county trash after construction of a Weldon Canyon landfill near Ojai was stopped cold--first by political opponents and then by a lawsuit.

Laidlaw Waste Systems, which operates Chiquita, already receives 100 to 200 tons of trash per day from Ventura County and is hoping to increase that amount to as much as 3,000 tons. Chiquita now takes in a total of 2,000 tons per day.

During Monday’s meeting, Fillmore City Councilman Roger Campbell, who represents his city on the waste authority, asked Walter to assess the amount of opposition Laidlaw is facing in getting its expansion plans approved by Los Angeles County.

But Walter declined, saying only that Laidlaw was making every effort to address concerns about increased traffic and other issues expressed by Los Angeles County residents and environmentalists.

A spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the Santa Clarita area where Chiquita is located, said Monday that the supervisor is opposed to increasing the amount of imported trash at the dump.

“We don’t have a problem with what’s already coming in,” said Dave Vannatta, an Antonovich assistant. “But we don’t want to expand just to import more trash.”

Vannatta said that the importation issue has been a major concern with Antonovich ever since a Lancaster dump negotiated a deal to accept trash from El Cajon in San Diego County.

Still, members of the west county waste authority said Chiquita’s proposal is different.

For one thing, they argued that Chiquita, which is located just six miles east of the Ventura County line off California 126, has been accepting trash from the Ojai Valley and the cities of Fillmore and Santa Paula for years. Moreover, Campbell said that the landfill shares the same watershed and airshed as Ventura County.

Walter asked the authority for any help it could provide in winning approval for the dump’s expansion.

“If you’ve got any ideas or any thoughts that can help us smooth the road to getting our Board of Supervisors to be acceptable to our proposition, we welcome the input,” he said.

If its expansion plans were to be approved, Walter said that Laidlaw would probably be able to offer Ventura County a discount rate based on the amount of trash it could guarantee on a daily basis.

Without committing to an actual price per ton, Walter said that the discount rate could range from $25 to $27 a ton, compared with the $32 tipping fee it now charges. Bailard charges $38 a ton and at the smaller Toland Landfill near Santa Paula, the rate is $33.

Walter said that the draft environmental impact report on Laidlaw’s expansion will probably be completed next month or in early April. If all goes well, the document could be certified by September, he said.

Even then, Walter said it could take up to two years to get the regulatory permits for the expansion. Chiquita’s current permit expires in 1997.