Federal Appeals Court Rules That Pennsylvania Counties Can Restrict Waste Removal to Local Facilities Even if Cheaper, Out-of-Town Alternatives Exist

  Precedent-setting Ruling in private hauler's challenge to Lebanon County

                                regulations



    LEBANON, Pa., Aug. 14 /EMWNews/ -- In what is being viewed as a

major victory for Pennsylvania local and county governments, a Federal

Appeals Court last week ruled that Lebanon County and its affiliated

Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (GLRA) did not act improperly when they

required a private municipal trash hauler to use the county's landfill even

though there were cheaper disposal alternatives outside the county.



    James J. Kutz, Esq., a Partner in the Harrisburg Office of

Philadelphia-based law firm Post & Schell, P.C., which defended the GLRA in

the complaint brought against it by hauler Lebanon Farms Disposal, Inc., of

Schaefferstown, PA, said the ruling reverses the July 2006 U.S. District

Court decision that found the county's comprehensive solid waste plan

unconstitutional because it discriminated against interstate commerce.



    "The Appeals Court decision constitutes a clear change in Third Circuit

(Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey) precedent," commented Kutz.

"Counties can now require that all waste generated within the county be

disposed of at their municipal landfill. Previously, counties were

prohibited from imposing such a restriction absent compelling

circumstances." Kutz added, "The ruling gives the Commonwealth and its

counties a new, reasonable option with which to finance, monitor, and

enforce environmentally-sound waste disposal practices without running

afoul of the federal Commerce Clause." He noted that the Appeals Court

remanded the matter to the lower court.



    In 2003 Lebanon Farms was fined by the GLRA for violating Lebanon

County's disposal regulations by transporting refuse to a landfill in

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The hauler argued that it was unlawful

under the Commerce Clause for the county to require it to use the

county-owned landfill in North Lebanon Township.



    Kutz said the Appeals court relied heavily on the 2007 U.S. Supreme

Court ruling in a New York case, United Haulers Association Inc. v.

Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, to support its opinion

that the county and refuse authority acted properly and did not

discriminate against the hauler.



    In Pennsylvania, local governments are required under Act

101(Management Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act), to

develop and adopt solid waste flow plans and update them every 10 years.

Lebanon County's 10-year plan was last revised for the period 2001-2010 and

it designated the county-owned facility as the exclusive site for municipal

trash disposal in Lebanon County.

    About The Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (GLRA)



    The GLRA was formed under the guidance of the Regional Planning

Commission in 1957. It is comprised of one representative from each of the

County's 26 municipalities. The facility accepts an average of 250 tons of

regulated municipal solid waste from Lebanon County each day at $53.64 per

ton. The entire 415-acre site owned by the Authority also includes a

composting operation for green waste, a drop-off "Savings Center" for

recycling and a methane recovery system that is used to power twin turbines

to generate electricity.