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Mr. Chairman and
members of this committee, thank you for holding this hearing today on
interstate waste, and I assure you that this is a very important and worthy
topic for the subcommittee to address.
The importation of
interstate waste is a critical issue facing Virginia’s citizens, and the issue
disproportionately affects the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals recently ruled that Virginia does not have authority to limit
the trash crossing its borders. As you know, since waste transportation is
deemed interstate commerce it falls under Congress' authority and congressional
action is needed.
Mr. Chairman, this
is not a Republican or Democrat issue - it is a Virginia quality of life issue
that transcends party lines. Constituents in my district are tired of dirty
trash trucks shedding litter along the sides of the roads, and clogging routes
that were not built for such large vehicle traffic.
In the year 2000,
Virginia received 3.9 million tons of garbage from outside the state, the
second-highest amount in the nation. Being the second largest importer of trash
in the nation is not consistent with my image and vision of Virginia.
As we all know,
Congressman Greenwood has introduced H.R. 1213 to address the issue of
interstate waste, however, adjustments will be required in this bill to ensure
that Virginia is not harmed. If Virginia does not benefit from federal
legislation that other states do, this puts us at a tremendous disadvantage and
make the Commonwealth vulnerable to receiving even more out-of-state waste. I
propose the following changes:
First, ensuring that
Virginia can impose volume caps on existing landfills. H.R. 1213 currently
exempts landfills from state-imposed restrictions if their permits establish a
higher limit or do not establish any limit on the amount of out-of-State waste
received at the facility annually. Most permits in Virginia currently state that
landfills can take waste from any source and do not establish any limits.
Similarly, H.R. 1213
allows state restrictions to be circumvented if a host community, in its
so-called host community agreement with the landfill operators, does not
establish any limit on out-of-state waste, or if future host community
agreements authorize specific levels of out-of-state waste. Waste traveling into
and through Virginia impacts many more communities than the "host"
community, so state regulation is appropriate under these circumstances.
H.R. 1213 would
currently allow states to cap out-of-state trash at 1993 volumes. The Charles
City landfill received its greatest volume of out-of-state trash in calendar
year 1993, so Virginia is not provided much protection by this provision. The
bill would be improved by allowing states to choose a calendar year from 1993 to
the present as representing its volume cap.
Finally, H.R. 1213
only regulates the flow of municipal solid waste. The bill should also include
other exportable waste substances such as sewage sludge or commercial waste. If
substances such as sludge are excluded from the bill’s coverage, it will only
increase the levels that Virginia will receive.
I urge the
subcommittee to take up Mr. Greenwood’s bill this year, and I just as strongly
urge that these recommendations be incorporated into a manager’s amendment
before H.R.1213 is marked up in committee. Without these necessary changes, the
bill will be largely ineffective for Virginia, and possibly negatively impact
the Commonwealth.
Before I close, I
would like to publicly acknowledge the assistance my office has received on this
issue from Campaign Virginia, a citizens' environmental group dedicated to
stemming the flood of out-of-state garbage into Virginia. The transport of
interstate waste into Virginia is an issue that we must be able to control, and
I urge that the subcommittee address this issue very soon.
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