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Davis proposes trash list

Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis offers new legislation to regulate interstate trash

By RUTH FINCH

Date published: 6/26/2003

State could track imported waste

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis has introduced legislation to make it easier for Virginia officials to know exactly what sort of trash is being brought into the state.

Her proposed Safe Waste Disposal Act, introduced in the House yesterday, would require those who haul trash across state lines to carry an itemized list of what they are hauling and the state where it originated. Landfill workers would use the list to verify whether a load contains any prohibited waste.

Virginia passed a state law requiring such a list in 1999, but a federal judge ruled it violated a provision in the U.S. Constitution giving Congress sole power to regulate interstate commerce. The law was challenged by Waste Management Inc., which runs five of the seven major commercial landfills in Virginia, including the one in King George County.

Waste Management spokeswoman Lisa Kardell said yesterday that she couldn't comment on Davis' new bill because she hadn't read it yet.

Davis, a Republican whose 1st District includes King George, said her bill is an answer to the court's ruling that Congress is the only legislative body authorized to require such a list.

Davis introduced another trash bill earlier this year for the same reason. House Resolution 1123 would enable Virginia legislators to set limits on the amount of waste imported into the state.

"With millions of tons of waste crossing state borders each year, it is time to get serious about enforcement of laws concerning hazardous and unauthorized waste," Davis said.

Davis said it is often difficult to determine who is responsible for violations when unauthorized waste is found, because haulers often blame the households, businesses or other institutions that generated the trash. They claim they were complying with the state law where the trash was generated, and didn't know the trash would be sent to a state with a different law.

"There is no national uniform definition of what constitutes 'unauthorized waste' for purposes of landfill disposal," Davis said. "Definitions vary from state to state. With this manifest, the transporter will assure the landfill that the laws are being followed."

Davis' bill also would impose fines of up to $25,000 a day for violators and require landfills to prepare a yearly aggregate list from haulers' data and submit it to the governor.

A separate section of her bill would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate within 60 days of state or local governments' presenting the federal agency with evidence that someone improperly disposed of hazardous waste.

The EPA is now allowed to investigate those charges at its leisure, and most of the time the burden for complicated and costly investigations falls on the state or local government, Davis spokesman Chris Connelly said.

"Since the federal government claims they have jurisdiction over importation of interstate waste, then the federal government needs to also help out with these investigations," Connelly said.

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Date published: 6/26/2003