[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 1 (Monday, January 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S42-S43]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         INTERSTATE WASTE BILLS

 Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I rise today to once again address 
the issue of the interstate movement of municipal solid waste. This is 
an issue that I have been working on for over five years, Mr. 
President. In 1994, I proposed legislation (S. 2126) that would have 
authorized localities to impose reasonable limits on imports of 
municipal solid waste from other states. That legislation did not pass, 
and even though most communities now negotiate compensation from 
landfills that imports waste, they negotiate with no real authority to 
power. In 1997, I re-introduced that bill (S. 448). In 1999 during the 
106th Congress, and working with Senator Warner, I introduced new 
language that I had hoped would spur discussion and perhaps some 
creative approaches to solving this problem.
  I have tried, as have many other Members including Senators Warner, 
Baucus, Coats, Specter, Voinovich, Bayh, Conrad, Santorum, of course 
Senator Chafee, to come to grips with this issue in some reasonable 
way. We have all tried to come up with legislation that would provide 
states and localities with some method of refusing the detritus from 
other states when it becomes an imposition, or a hazard. The 
Environment and Public Works Committee did have a hearing last summer 
on this issue, but unfortunately no mark up was held after that 
hearing. All of our efforts, singly and in concert, have had little 
effect.
  As of today Virginia remains the second largest importer of waste in 
the US, with the level of waste imported increasing from approximately 
2.8 million tons in 1997 to 4.6 million tons in 1998. The figures for 
1999 are not in yet but we can safely assume that they are higher 
still. On May 29th 1996, Mayor Giuliani and Governor George Pataki 
announced that in December of 2001 the Fresh Kills landfill will close. 
Fresh Kills remains the point of disposal for much of New York City's 
waste. Let me quote from a 1997 report prepared by the Congressional 
Research Service on this looming closure.

       How the city will replace Fresh Kill's capacity is unclear. 
     At present, there are few options other than an expanded 
     recycling program and out-of-state disposal. A 1996 report 
     for the city's Department of Sanitation concluded that, given 
     current disposal sites, the city would consume virtually all 
     of the available disposal capacity located within a 365-mile 
     radius.


[[Page S43]]


  New York City and the state of New York have done virtually nothing 
since that time to increase in-state capacity. I would pose this 
question to each Senator. Envision the largest city in your state with 
a solid waste disposal problem of this magnitude, can you imagine your 
state government, and the mayor of that city simply ignoring the 
problem and failing to do anything about it? Admittedly, we have some 
tussles in Virginia, but when we have a problem, we try our level best 
to solve it ourselves, before we ask the rest of the Union to carry the 
weight.
  This session it is critical that we get something done on this issue. 
Because when Fresh Kills closes we can expect a lot of additional waste 
to come our way. Each additional 1 million tons of waste that comes to 
Virginia will result in 40,000 additional tractor trailer trips on 
Virginia highways, if the trucks observe the legal weight limit. If 
they don't, we will have fewer, but more dangerous trucks.
  Mr. President, a principle of public health protection embodied in 
the most basic practices of solid waste disposal is that waste should 
move as quickly as possible from point of origin to point of disposal. 
Moving waste over 300 miles through the most congested portion of this 
country makes no sense, but it will continue unless we move to stop it. 
Therefore, Mr. President, I urge that the Environment and Public Works 
committee move to mark up a bill that will help those of us in 
Virginia, and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Connecticut, New 
Hampshire, Maine, and other unwary states to cope with, and put 
reasonable restrictions on waste coming into our states.
  I have proposed an alternative option, but if that can't or won't be 
taken up by the Environment and Public Works Committee, I am ready to 
support any and all legislation aimed at empowering states to have some 
control over waste imports. To that end I ask that I be added as a co-
sponsor to both the Specter and Voinovich bills. I will be willing to 
support any other legislation that serves my stated purpose.
  In 104th Congress we came very close to passing an interstate waste 
bill. Senator Smith of New Hampshire worked tirelessly on that bill, 
and was integral to its passage in the Senate. I hope as chairman, he 
will take up this issue once again, and move a bill through committee 
for consideration by the full Senate.
  We were sent here to tackle complex issues and solve problems. We 
need to work together, and start now, so that an interstate waste bill 
will be one of the accomplishments of this year.

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