[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2284-S2285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROBB (for himself and Mr. Warner):
  S. 533. A bill to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize 
local governments and Governors to restrict receipt of out-of-State 
municipal solid waste, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.


     interstate transportation of municipal solid waste control act

  Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I rise today, as I have done on two previous 
occasions, to introduce legislation to stem the flow--actually flood--
of trash into Virginia and other States that have been affected. I am 
pleased to be joined, in doing so, by my senior colleague from 
Virginia, who will be joining us very shortly, Senator Warner.
  We have witnessed a virtual explosion in legislation in Congress 
focussed on rights. In recent months, Congress focused on the Patients' 
Bill of Rights, the Soldiers' Bill of Rights and the Taxpayer Bill of 
Rights. These are just a few recent examples.
  The bill I am introducing today, along with my colleague, Senator 
Warner, could be called a Bill of Responsibilities. It recognizes the 
responsibilities of the various levels of government to manage the huge 
volumes of trash we are generating.
  The primary responsibility for taking care of trash lies with local 
governments. They are responsible for picking up the trash and they are 
responsible for finding a place to put it down. Local governments are 
also charged with the responsibility of making local land-use decisions 
and should be allowed to decide for themselves whether a community 
should be subjected to a large landfill that takes garbage from out of 
State. Recognizing the responsibilities vested in local governments, 
the legislation we are introducing today allows localities to ban 
unwanted out-of-State trash.
  States have a responsibility for ensuring that the State's 
environment is protected and that its highways and waterways are safe. 
This legislation recognizes that responsibility, allowing States to 
override local government approval of out-of-State imports if local 
decisions on trash affect the State as a whole. To help States fund 
this responsibility, the bill allows States to assess up to a $3 per 
ton fee on out-of-State trash. This fee is similar to the out-of-State 
tuition that States charge students to come to their States to take 
advantage of host State's colleges and universities.
  In addition, the legislation allows States to cap the amount of trash 
that can accumulate in landfills that have local approval. By allowing 
States to impose such a cap, this legislation strikes what we believe 
is the right balance between localities' desires to generate revenues 
by accepting waste and States's responsibilities to protect State 
resources, to provide a safe network of highways, and to ensure that 
State regulatory agencies are not overwhelmed by the influx of new 
waste.
  This legislation also addresses the responsibilities of States that 
have refused to face the obligations of siting their own refuse. States 
that export huge amounts of waste are imposing a burden on those States 
that have created new capacity. The bill we are introducing sends a 
very strong message to States that ship more than 6 million tons a year 
to other States, although no State yet meets that threshold. The bill 
allows importing States to ban the garbage coming from such 
superexporting States. If the importing State chooses not to exercise 
this prohibition, the bill allows the State to impose large and 
escalating fees on those superexporting States that have not had the 
political will to site their own excess capacity.
  While large regional landfills are becoming more common because of 
the expense of building modern and environmentally sound facilities, 
those landfills should accept waste on the basis of a region's 
cooperation rather than on the basis of a single State's abdication of 
its responsibilities.
  Finally, this legislation recognizes the responsibility of the 
Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Because the Supreme Court has 
determined the garbage is commerce, like any other commodity, States 
and localities have been powerless to halt the disposal of out-of-State 
waste within their borders. While some States have attempted to limit 
out-of-State trash on their own, unless Congress acts to grant States 
and localities the ability to ban or limit out-of-State trash, those 
State laws are likely to be struck down as unconstitutional.
  This legislation overcomes that constitutional hurdle by granting 
States and localities the right to restrict interstate trash disposal. 
If we again fail to pass legislation that protects localities from 
being buried under out-of-State garbage, we are abdicating our own 
responsibility to protect the quality of life of communities in each of 
our States.
  The bills I have introduced in past Congresses focused on protecting 
localities from unwanted garbage. The bill Senator Warner and I 
introduce today builds on that foundation. It reflects Virginia's most 
recent experience with importing garbage and addresses both the 
problems we have seen and the lessons we have learned. We now have 
enough history to examine the benefits and the possible burdens of host 
community agreements, and how they can best be used to develop state-
of-the-art landfills. We also understand better the hardships that 
trash traffic can impose on communities that do not benefit from 
another community's decision to host a large landfill. Finally, it 
addresses a problem that has festered for too long, the inability of 
States to summon the political will to site their own capacity. I 
encourage the Senate to move quickly to consider this particular 
legislation.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce today, along 
with my colleague, Senator Robb, legislation to give our States and 
local governments authority to ensure that they can effectively manage 
the disposal of municipal waste within their borders.
  For several years, the Committee on Environment and Public Works, on 
which I serve, has considered many legislative proposals to convey 
authorities to States and localities to begin to address this serious 
problem. Unfortunately, no legislation has been enacted since this 
serious problem first surfaced in the early 1990s.
  Mr. President, in past years, Senator Robb and I have introduced 
legislation individually to allow localities to have the ability to 
decide when and under what circumstances waste generated from out-of-
state sources came into their communities for disposal. Today, I am 
pleased that we are renewing our commitment to solving this serious 
problem by working together to introduce this legislation.
  Today, large volumes of waste are traveling from Northeastern states 
to Mid-west and Mid-Atlantic states. Over the past few years, the 
amount of waste traveling across state lines has greatly increased and 
projections are that interstate waste shipments from certain states 
will continue to grow.

[[Page S2285]]

  Most States and localities are responsible in ensuring that adequate 
capacity exists to accommodate municipal waste generated within each 
community. I regret, however, that the evidence available today shows 
that there are specific situations where State and local governments 
are neglecting responsible environmental stewardship.
  The result of this neglect is that other States are bearing the 
burden of disposing of their waste. These State and local governments 
currently have no authority to refuse this waste or even to control the 
amount of waste that is sent for disposal on a daily basis.
  Our legislation recognizes that in the normal course of business is 
it necessary for some amount of waste to travel across State lines, 
particularly in circumstances where there are large urban areas located 
at state borders. Our legislation will not close down State borders or 
prevent any waste shipments.
  States will have, however, for the first time, the ability to 
effectively manage and plan for the disposal out-of-State waste along 
with waste generated within their borders.
  Specifically, our legislation will allow States who are today 
receiving 1 million tons of waste or more to control the growth of 
these waste shipments.
  These States would be permitted to freeze at current levels the 
amount of waste they are receiving or, if they decided, they could 
determine the amount of out-of-State waste they can safely handle. 
Today, they have no voice, but this legislation will give all citizens 
the right to participate in these important waste disposal decisions.
  For all States and localities, protections would be provided to 
ensure that all interstate waste must be handled pursuant to a host 
community agreement. These voluntary agreements between the local 
community receiving the waste and the industry disposing of the waste 
have allowed some local governments to determine waste disposal 
activities within their borders.
  Mr. President, I look forward to working with my colleagues to 
develop a fair and equitable resolution to this problem.
  I encourage my colleagues to carefully review our legislation and I 
welcome their comments.
                                 ______