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LOCAL NEWS
Editorials
Don't dump on Alabama: State wants no more waste (see fourth paragraph)
In our opinion
01-28-2008
Federal courts have consistently ruled that states cannot prohibit agencies and companies from bringing in waste from other states. Only Congress can regulate interstate commerce, which is what the courts say this is.
Thus, it is up to Congress to pass a law that would let states keep out what they don't want from other states. But Congress hasn't done it, and isn't likely to do so.
Why?
Because the garbage industry has lobbied against it. Those companies exist to move trash about, and they oppose anything that will limit their ability to do so. Large waste-producing states like New York and New Jersey also are against it because they have trash to dump and need a place to dump it.
That's why two bills that would allow state regulation have been stuck in a House subcommittee for more than a year. It is likely they will stay there.
At first glance you might think Alabama in general and Calhoun County in particular would have little interest in the matter. Alabama ranks at the bottom of states that export garbage; the last time anyone collected information (way back in 2003) our state sent about 95,000 tons of waste to Mississippi. That same analysis showed that the 415,400 tons brought in to our state ranked Alabama 18th in the nation, but that was small potatoes compared to the 9.5 million tons that went to Pennsylvania.
However, it is not the amount that's a concern. It is the content.
With the chemical weapons incinerator in Calhoun County rapidly and effectively disposing of the Cold War-era ordnance, it sometimes is easy to forget that the agreement and legislation that OKed the facility requires that the massive installation will not burn other states' waste or ordnance. That way, the county would not become a destination for hazardous waste from other states.
At the time it was built, some skeptics believed that there was no way the federal government would invest so much money in a facility and then tear it down. The law, they noted, could be changed, and in their opinion it would be — which, of course, it hasn't, and there's no indication whatsoever that it will.
Nevertheless, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, and the rest of Alabama's congressional delegation should pay close attention to this issue. It may be on the back burner now, but before long it will have to be dealt with..
This is one promise Washington must keep.
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