DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250382

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   56 lines

WASTE AGENCY SUES HAULER OVER ALLEGED TRASH FRAUD THE SPSA QUESTIONS THE ORIGIN OF SOME 500 TONS OF GARBAGE DUMPED IN SUFFOLK.

The Southeastern Public Service Authority is suing USA Waste Inc. of Virginia for fraud, alleging that a company driver lied about the origin of tons of garbage in order to get a cheaper disposal rate.

SPSA is seeking $350,000 in punitive damages and more than $22,000 in back fees the agency says are due for dumping at the regional landfill in Suffolk, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Suffolk Circuit Court.

``In plain language, SPSA is not going to be ripped off,'' G. Conoly Phillips, a Norfolk city councilman and chairman of SPSA's board of directors, said of the lawsuit Wednesday.

SPSA handles much of the trash and recycling in South Hampton Roads, serving thousands of homes and businesses in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Franklin, and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.

Because its regional landfill is hosted by Suffolk, SPSA gives the city a break on disposal fees. While other municipalities, except Virginia Beach, pay $48.50 per ton of garbage dumped at the landfill, trash originating in Suffolk can be unloaded for $10.43 per ton.

According to the lawsuit, a USA Waste driver signed certificates at the landfill swearing that 50loads of garbage, or about 500 tons, came from Suffolk when they did not. By doing so, he saved USA Waste $22,080, the lawsuit alleges.

SPSA assigned an investigator in January to follow the driver and found, after six months of surveillance, that many of his loads came from Portsmouth and Chesapeake, said Durwood Curling, SPSA's executive director.

Wesley Rice, a Newport News-based lawyer for USA Waste, said the driver ``misunderstood or did not completely understand what he was signing.''

Rice also said that there ``was no evidence'' that all 50 loads came from outside of Suffolk.

``It was not something that happened every time,'' he said.

Curling said SPSA started requiring drivers to sign certificates in January because the agency noticed that a lot more garbage was allegedly coming from Suffolk than was possible.

``In looking at the quantities of waste generating from Suffolk, it just didn't make sense,'' he said.

The lawsuit comes as SPSA and private waste companies, including USA Waste, a Texas-based conglomerate, battle for control of the lucrative regional trash market.

Phillips took over as SPSA's chairman last month and promised to more aggressively combat private firms and an interest group funded by them, known as Virginians for Effective and Efficient Public Services.

On Wednesday, Phillips talked about the lawsuit at SPSA's monthly meeting, saying it illustrates ongoing abuses of SPSA's waste system - a jab clearly aimed at private waste companies.

``We've filed one lawsuit,'' he said, ``and more are coming if this problem isn't fixed.'' KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SPSA

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