County, company to keep funding dump for hazardous waste

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, July 22, 2008.

By JAMES RUFUS KOREN
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Los Angeles County and Waste Management will continue funding a special dump for hazardous materials for at least another year, but further funding from Waste Management may be tied to the company's request to bring more trash to its Lancaster landfill, officials announced Tuesday.

County supervisors voted unanimously and without discussion Tuesday to fund the Antelope Valley Environmental Collection Center - a special landfill for solvents, chemicals and other material not suited for normal landfill disposal - until Aug. 31, 2009.

The AVECC opened in 2005 and was funded by an initial three-year agreement between the county and Waste Management, which splits the cost of operating the special dump with the county.

But this time around, Waste Management wanted to fund the AVECC for a single year while it continues negotiations about an updated permit for its Lancaster landfill.

"Waste Management has agreed to continue funding the center until Aug. 31, 2009, or until the effective date of a revised conditional use permit," according to a county report.

"This would allow time for negotiating the terms of a new agreement concurrent with the processing of the landfill's (permit) application."

Waste Management has proposed increasing the amount of garbage brought to the Lancaster landfill every day from 1,700 tons to 3,000 tons.

The additional trash would come into the Valley from the Los Angeles basin.

Public hearings on the proposal have been delayed numerous times.

Fred Rubin, assistant deputy director of the county Public Works department, said Waste Management wants to consider its dealings with the county "in total."

"Waste Management is saying, 'We have business decisions to make … so why don't we enter into an extension agreement,' " Rubin said. "This is a fair deal."

Waste Management spokeswoman Kit Cole agreed.

Rubin also said a new permit at the Lancaster landfill might include another facility like AVECC, which is at Waste Management's Palmdale landfill.

"Because AVECC is well serving the community out there, there could be another center or fees to fund collections and continued operations," Rubin said. "This gives us another year to figure all that out."

jkoren@avpress.com