State Authority to Control Waste Importation

Number: 1994-01

 

WHEREAS, the unrestricted freedom to export waste to other states and nations is a disincentive to waste minimization and environmentally-sound waste management; and

WHEREAS, a receiving state/nation normally bears the ultimate responsibility and, therefore, the financial burden of mitigating any problems that may occur due to mismanagement or failure of waste disposal/handling/treatment facilities within its borders; and

WHEREAS, the importation of waste can threaten the air and water quality, human health and other natural resources of receiving states/nations and present hazards to resources and communities along transportation routes; and

WHEREAS, one state’s/nation’s citizens, businesses and government can avoid the responsibility of proper waste control and management if their waste can simply be transported to another state/nation; and

WHEREAS, citizens and governments of receiving states are unable to restrict the importation of waste from other states/nations because the United States Supreme Court has defined waste as an article of commerce and has determined that states cannot statutorily prohibit the interstate transport of waste because such statutes inhibit the interstate movement of articles of commerce, which is in violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, U.S. Const., Art. I, Sec. 8, Cl. 3, and Congress has not yet seen fit to enact exceptions for interstate transport of waste; and

WHEREAS, the United States Constitution grants to states police powers to protect public health, safety, and welfare; and

WHEREAS, waste-generating states should develop capacity assurance plans to share the burden of ensuring that waste generated within their borders is safely and equitably disposed of; and

WHEREAS, some states have in good faith adopted capacity assurance plans in accordance with EPA guidance pursuant to the 1986 SARA amendments which required states to assume responsibility for wastes generated within their borders or risk losing federal Superfund money; and

WHEREAS, states that have demonstrated their responsibility by adopting capacity assurance plans should have a right to control waste importation; and

WHEREAS, such states should also have a right to charge reasonable “out of state” fees on waste importation as long as funds so generated are dedicated to the regulation and long-term monitoring, management and cleanup of the imported wastes;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 4-6, 1994, in Austin, Texas, supports federal legislation to provide exceptions to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution so that states with approved capacity assurance plans that maintain a hierarchy of source reduction, recycling, and reuse can ban, enter into interstate compacts or otherwise restrict the waste that enters their borders and charge reasonable waste importation fees dedicated to the regulation and long-term monitoring, management and cleanup of imported wastes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out the original mandate of the 1986 SARA Amendments, which required states to assume responsibility for waste generated within their borders.