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Tommy Trash

Resolution before the General Assembly would urge Congress to pass legislation allowing Virginia to regulate trash imports

Date published: 2/9/2004

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY is not allowed to enforce trash-import regulations because of the Constitution's commerce clause, but it is free to ask Congress to give it that authority. Thus, Del. Allen Louderback has introduced a resolution that urges Congress to pass First District Rep. Jo Ann Davis' State Waste Empowerment and Enforcement Provision Act. You would think the Louderback motion would sail through the legislature. Huh-uh.

Mr. Louderback, R-Page County, knows something about trash. His county is home to relatively small Battle Creek landfill, which the state has cited for accepting out-of-state trash in excess of its 250-ton-per-day limit. The citation, issued last summer, noted one three-day period during which Battle Creek took in over 5,000 tons.

Battle Creek is one reason why Virginia imports more refuse every year and retains its No. 2 ranking, behind Pennsylvania, as a recipient of out-of-state trash. Waste Management Inc., the largest hauler of such trash into Virginia, is preparing to bring still more of the stuff by barge up the James River for transport to the huge landfill in Charles City County, which is asking to double its daily trash ceiling to 6,000 tons. Waste Management also has permission to float trash up the Rappahannock and York rivers.

Closer to home, the King George landfill has long received alien trash. This business activity helps keep county taxes low, but it also fuels a controversy over the lingering stench. Welcoming others' trash is hardly a reputation Virginia, which boasts of its beaches and Blue Ridge, should foster. State officials can't regulate trash imports on their own: The U.S. Supreme Court already has struck down one such attempt. So Virginia must wait for Congress to act on its behalf. Mrs. Davis' bill would do precisely what is needed.

Back in Richmond, Mr. Louderback's resolution has already won approval by the House Rules Committee. The problem lies in the Senate, where an identical resolution is slated to go before a subcommittee headed by Sen. Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg. He has promised to kill all such measures, which he labels a waste of time. Well, lawmakers have their reasons for what they do, and they don't have to make sense.

Thus, it's up to Mr. Norment's colleagues to change his mind. Maybe they could all just start using his office trash can to make the point that superdump status is not desirable. Unless Virginia says "Enough!" with one loud voice, what chance is there that Congress will give it the right to stem its trash influx?

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Date published: 2/9/2004