Santa Clarita Council Vows to Fight Berman Landfill Legislation : Elsmere Canyon: The lawmaker has suggested steps to facilitate a land swap that would allow a dump.

The Santa Clarita City Council, reacting angrily to a suggestion by Rep. Howard L. Berman to negotiate on a proposed massive landfill near the city limits, vowed to continue its fervent opposition to the dump.

Berman (D-Panorama City) had suggested that the council outline some mitigation measures to make the landfill easier to accept--measures that Berman would include in legislation he is considering drafting to allow the dump to be built on nearby federal forest land.

The legislation would help facilitate a complex land-exchange deal of federal forest land and private holdings that would allow the 190-million-ton landfill to be built in Elsmere Canyon.

The U.S. Forest Service has the power to complete the land swap administratively. Berman, however, said he believes that taking the legislative route will guarantee that environmental mitigation measures will be required to make the dump easier to live with.

“I’m talking to people and trying to weigh the likelihood that it would happen anyway under an administrative land transfer versus the benefits of the legislative land-transfer approach,” Berman said in an interview from Washington.

Still, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose any such legislation, saying the proposed dump would destroy pristine wildlife habitat, reduce property values in Santa Clarita and possibly pollute ground water.

Council members and several residents opposed to the dump took verbal shots at Berman, some suggesting that all city voters support his rival in his June reelection bid.

“He is risking his environmental reputation with this legislation,” said Karen Pearson-Hall, chairwoman of the Santa Clarita Valley Sierra Club.

“I think the Berman bill is morally bankrupt and I don’t want anything to do with it,” Councilman Carl Boyer said. His council colleagues agreed and decided to reject Berman’s suggestion that they seek concessions through the legislation.

The 1,500-acre landfill, proposed on a site just two miles outside the city, would be built as part of a complex land-exchange deal that would include the Forest Service, landfill developer BKK Corp., and the city and county of Los Angeles.

Under the proposed terms of the deal, the federal government would give up Elsmere Canyon in exchange for private holdings inside Angeles National Forest that would become parkland. Torrance-based BKK Corp.--which owns one-third of the landfill site and has agreements to buy the remaining property--would get $125 million after the firm hands over a fully licensed landfill to the city and county, which would operate the dump.

Before voting to oppose the proposed legislation, the City Council watched a videotape that showed gurgling brooks, waterfalls, birds, frogs and other wildlife that inhabits Elsmere Canyon.

“I suggest we send that tape to Mr. Berman,” Mayor Jill Klajic said.

An aide to Berman said the Forest Service is already in the process of arranging the land swap. Berman must make a decision within the next couple of weeks if he expects Congress to consider the bill during the current session.

“If there’s any viability to doing anything this year, we’d better move quickly,” Berman said. “If I’m going to do anything, I better move quickly.”