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1999 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 598
Memorializing the Congress of the United States to enact legislation giving states and localities the power to control the importation of waste into their jurisdictions.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 8, 1999
Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, Virginia ranks second in the nation in the amount of municipal waste imported from other states and the tonnage imported is likely to increase as other states close landfills; and

WHEREAS, Virginia has ample public and private municipal waste disposal capacity for waste generated in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the negative impacts of truck, rail, and barge traffic and litter, odors, and noise associated with waste imports occur not just at the location of final disposal but also along waste transportation routes, and current landfill technology has the potential to fail, leading to long-term cleanup and other associated costs; and

WHEREAS, the importation of waste runs counter to the repeatedly expressed strong desire of Virginia’s citizens for clean air, land, and water and for the preservation of Virginia’s unique historic and cultural character, and it is essential to promote and preserve these attributes; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has demonstrated the ability to attract good jobs and to promote sound economic development without relying on the importation of garbage; and

WHEREAS, in 1995 23 governors wrote to the Commerce Committee of the United States Congress urging passage of legislation allowing states and localities the power to regulate waste entering their jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, legislation is pending before the Commerce Committee that would provide states and localities with the authority to control the importation of waste, a power that is essential to the public health, safety, and welfare of all citizens of Virginia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be urged to enact legislation giving states and localities the power to control waste imports into their jurisdictions. The study shall include: (i) a ban on waste imports in the absence of specific approval from the disposal site host community and governor of the host state; (ii) authorization for governors to freeze solid waste imports at 1993 levels; (iii) authorization for states to consider whether a disposal facility is needed locally when deciding whether to grant a permit; and (iv) authorization for states to limit the percentage of a disposal facility’s capacity that can be filled with waste from other states; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Congressional Delegation of Virginia in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.