THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507140204
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion/Guest columnist
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The recent article authored by Robert K. Dean, a member of the Virginia Beach City Council, related to the Southeastern Public Service Authority and ``flow control authority'' (The Clipper, June 9) requires a response. Mr. Dean is certainly entitled to his opinion, but his article fails to disclose a number of essential facts.
In the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, Southeastern Virginia was faced with a serious problem of how to dispose of solid waste. Environmental laws enacted by Congress were requiring the closure of many of our local landfills. The cities of Chesapeake, franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach and the counties of Isle of Wight and Southampton joined together to solve this solid waste problem when no other option was available. Each of these jurisdictions entered into a contract committing the jurisdiction to deliver or cause to be delivered to SPSA at least 95 percent of the solid waste generated within the jurisdiction. This was in 1984. Surely Mr. Dean is not suggesting that the localities renege on their contracts to deliver waste to SPSA. Based on these contracts, SPSA developed a state-of-the-art, comprehensive solid waste management system. This system was financed by bonds issued in reliance upon the contractual commitments of the local jurisdictions and there are currently outstanding bonds in the amount of $270 million.
Flow control was an integral part of the Virginia state law at the time SPSA was created and remains so today.
Until the Supreme Court struck down flow control in 1994, SPSA's member jurisdictions were paying $34 a ton to dispose of their waste. This was a comprehensive charge which included not only the management of solid waste, but both the curbside and drop-off recycling programs, the collection of yard waste, special programs such as the disposal of oil and household hazardous waste, and the use of solid waste to produce steam and electricity for the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. It would be noted that for the same period, the city of Richmond was paying $50 a ton for private disposal of waste only. Curbside recycling and other programs required an additional charge.
SPSA's fee for the disposal of municipal waste is being increased from $34 a ton to $48.20 a ton for only one reason. The large multinational private haulers are taking the commercial waste from the SPSA jurisdictions to their own landfills.
When this happens, the waste is not subjected to any recycling process. Until the early 1990s these landfills did not exist and the haulers were happy to take advantage of the public investment for their disposal needs. In the last three or four years, Virginia has become one of the major importers of garbage in the country. These large haulers now want to use their own landfills for their own profit and leave the debt to the region's homeowners.
In seeking congressional authority to require flow control, SPSA desires only to protect the public investment, which was made when other choices were not available. Unless everyone shares the burden of repaying that investment, it will necessarily fall on the homeowners or general tax funds of local governments. The bonds must be paid or, with question, it will affect the financial integrity of all the member communities. Flow control is the right way to ensure that the burden is shared equitably while maintaining the comprehensive waste management system which we have all grown to appreciate. MEMO: This column was signed by members of the board of directors of the
Southeastern Public Service Authority: Malcolm T. Cofer, chairman of the
Board of Supervisors of Isle of Wight County; S. Chris Jones, mayor of
Suffolk; A.M. Felts, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Southampton
County; Peter P. Duda Jr., Chesapeake city councilman; W. Norwood Boyd,
Franklin city councilman; Paul R. Riddick, Norfolk city councilman; and
C.W. McCoy, Portsmouth deputy city manager. by CNB