Split in Coalition Gives Landfill Firm Upper Hand

VAL VERDE — In a town without sidewalks, traffic signals or a sewer system, residents banded together three years ago to fight the town’s Goliath: Laidlaw Waste Management, the operator of Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

The uncommon gathering of Anglos, Latinos, African Americans, the poor and middle classes, and Spanish and English speakers stood opposed to Laidlaw’s plans to extend the life of the dump, which residents blame for air and water pollution, illnesses and even the coyotes that occasionally roam the streets of the tiny Santa Clarita Valley canyon town.

But as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decides today whether to grant Laidlaw permission to accept additional garbage at the dump, the grass-roots coalition is on the verge of collapse.

The board of the Val Verde Civic Assn., which has led the fight against the dump, agreed Monday to end its battle with Laidlaw in return for annual payments of up to $280,000 earmarked for community improvements.

Under the plan, the dump would be expanded from its current 3-million-ton capacity to 23 million tons, and its operating permit--scheduled to expire in November--would be extended until 2019.

The garbage company has also promised to no longer accept sludge--chemically treated human waste.

But the members of LACH, a group of Latino activists that the civic association helped organize in 1995, have vowed to continue fighting.

“The life of human beings cannot be bought for money,” said Maria Elvia Vega, a LACH member and the mother of five children. “As long as God gives us life, we will fight.”

Val Verde Civic Assn. board members, who negotiated without the help of an attorney, say the struggle exhausted them. The activists said they got the best deal they could in an unwinnable battle with two of the Santa Clarita Valley’s biggest and most powerful corporations: Laidlaw, and the Newhall Land and Farming Co., which owns the landfill property.

“We are working people, we are just community volunteers, and we were afraid that we might not get any concessions at all,” said Lewis Berti, secretary of the civic group. “At some point, you have to make a rational decision about when to fight and when to make peace.”

But legal and conservation groups that have worked with the Val Verde activists say that if the organizations had presented a united front, the community would have received better health and safety guarantees.

“They don’t understand that they have some power, especially if they stick together,” said Beth Osthimer, an attorney at San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, which has been advising LACH. “They [Laidlaw] are trying to split the community by saying they negotiated with the community when they have really negotiated with” the civic association.

Said Patricia Schifferle, a consultant at Clean Water Action, a Washington, D.C.,-based environmental firm: “I think the lesson here is that big corporations can dangle money in front of communities, particularly in communities without a lot of resources or power, and pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy.”

An aide to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, said the agreement between the trash company and the civic association will likely serve as the basis for an agreement expected to be approved by the board today.

“Our experience is that the Val Verde Civic Assn. represents a large number of people in the community,” said Dave Vannatta, an Antonovich aide. “There are probably a lot of groups that would have liked to be included in the negotiations.”

Laidlaw General Manager Rodney W. Walter II did not return phone calls. But in the past, Walter has maintained that the landfill has been a good neighbor and poses no safety threat to Val Verde’s 1,689 residents.

The company, based in Valencia, opened the dump in a canyon at the edge of town in 1970.

Val Verde, isolated in the Santa Susana Mountains northwest of Santa Clarita, was originally a haven for vacationing African Americans who were shut out elsewhere by segregation.

It has become one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the Santa Clarita Valley, with a population that is about 60% Latino, 20% Anglo and 20% African American. It has a poverty rate higher than 50%.

As Laidlaw began the long process of renewing Chiquita Canyon’s operating permit in the early 1990s, the Val Verde Civic Assn. began raising what money it could to fight the expansion.

The group held bake sales and cleaned out old clothes from garages to use for auctions. Merry Farmer, who became president of Citizens Against Chiquita, converted the garage of her house into an office.

Berti hopped in his car with a 10-watt megaphone and drove down the streets of Val Verde telling residents there was a “landfill alert.” Members placed flyers with a skull-and-crossbones on every telephone pole in the city.

The group held informational meetings about the dump and helped organize LACH. There was not an attorney nor a landfill expert among them.

Eventually, they formed ties with opponents of the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill. Officials in the city of Santa Clarita did not commit themselves to oppose the Chiquita expansion because the city’s business community in particular believed that Chiquita was a better alternative than Elsmere. Also, about 80% of Santa Clarita’s trash goes to Chiquita.

In Val Verde, the activists found more support for their efforts.

“People would come to us and say, ‘Thank you for standing up for this community. It has a history of being kicked,’ ” said Berti.

Last year, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission allowed Chiquita to continue operating for an additional 10 years and increase its capacity to 18.2 million tons.

LACH appealed the decision to the board, but is now faced with a dump that likely will be open twice as long and be one-third larger. The agreement does not require the landfill operators to submit to air- and water-quality studies around the dump to determine the level of pollution prior to the expansion.

“The deal that’s on the table is so bad that [Laidlaw] is basically forcing the community to take them to court,” said Osthimer.

Further, the civic association will receive the payments--which could range from $250,000 to $280,000 annually during the 22-year agreement--only if the dump receives 250,000 tons of garbage or more each year.

If Chiquita gets anything less than 250,000 tons in a particular year, Laidlaw and Newhall--which are each contributing half of the annual payments--will give the civic association an average of only $15,500 annually.

Additionally, Laidlaw has agreed to place additional monitors in the area around the dump to detect methane gas and water contamination, to report to a community advisory committee of primarily Val Verde residents, to plant trees, pick up trash and operate the dump six days a week instead of seven.

Perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow for the Val Verde Civic Assn. will occur at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting when, under terms of the agreement, members will be required to speak in support of the expansion.

Following them to the speaker’s table will be members of LACH, who vow not to follow the example of the group that once mentored them.

“The civic association is negotiating away the life of the community,” said Maria Lopez of LACH. “That makes us very angry.”

“The greatest crime,” concluded Osthimer, “would be if this divides a community that has really been united.”