Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003102693
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Medium
The legislation crafted by Boucher and Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke, was apparently prompted by problems stemming from the privately operated Kim-Stan landfill operation in Alleghany County. For more than a year, citizens there have protested the truckloads of garbage coming in daily from Northeastern states.
"I want to ensure that Virginia does not become a dumping ground for garbage generated in the more populous states," Boucher said. Under current federal law, he said, states cannot discriminate against commerce from any other state, and movement of garbage is defined as commerce.
"If we are to protect Southwest Virginia's rural counties, it is essential that federal law be changed and our legislation is designed to effect that change," Boucher said.
The legislation is pending before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials, of which Boucher is a member. Boucher aide Larry Clinton said the measure was introduced about two months ago.
"We will be bringing our legislation before the subcommittee for consideration on March 21 and I am expecting a favorable vote," Boucher said. He said the legislation has the enthusiastic backing of at least 15 state governors and general support elsewhere, and he anticipates no problem with its passage.
Boucher said the Kim-Stan landfill is taking more than 100 tractor-trailer loads of garbage a day from other states for burial there. "The residents of Alleghany County want the landfill closed, and the state of Virginia wants the landfill closed, but neither authority has the power to terminate these operations."
Kim-Stan owners are planning to develop similar landfills in his district, Boucher said, in places like Lee County, to take outside garbage. "While we do not have facilities such as Kim-Stan in the 9th Congressional District today, our counties are clearly vulnerable to this type of activity in the absence of appropriate federal legislation," he said.
Boucher said the proposed legislation, if passed, would stimulate recycling of solid waste in states now trying to export their garbage. He said as much as half of what is buried in landfills could be recycled.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB