LOWVILLE — Lewis County legislators are considering legislation that would once again force waste haulers to take all county garbage to the Development Authority of the North Country's regional landfill in Rodman.
Legislators on June 3 will hold a public hearing on a proposed law that, effective July 1, would reinstate flow control in the county.
"The Board of Legislators finds and declares that establishing an integrated system of solid waste collection, transportation and disposal that directs all of the nonrecyclable waste generated in Lewis County to the public facilities established for this system is the most effective means of achieving the goals of its Solid Waste Management Plan," states the proposed legislation, introduced at last Tuesday's legislators meeting.
While flow control was instituted at the Rodman landfill's inception in 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994 ruled that the practice violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. The court clarified its ruling in subsequent decisions, including one last April that determined that governments can force private haulers to use government-owned facilities even if dumping trash locally costs more than hauling it elsewhere.
The intent of reinstating flow control would be "to protect ourselves as time goes on," said Legislature Chairman Jack T. Bush, R-Brantingham. "We don't want to hurt the taxpayers. We don't want to hurt the haulers. We just want to be fair."
The proposed law, by promoting a steady flow of trash to the Rodman landfill, would ensure DANC can cover operating expenses and the debt of creating the facility, he said.
"We just want to run a landfill and not lose money," Mr. Bush said.
The guaranteed trash flow also could help "when it comes time to negotiate contracts," the chairman said.
The nearest landfill outside the county — the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority facility in the town of Ava — accepts trash only from those two counties. Private landfills in Central and Western New York do take outside waste, however. The nearest is Seneca Meadows near Seneca Falls, about 100 miles from the Lewis County line.
"To the best of my knowledge, I'm going to say the lion's share of garbage produced in Lewis County goes to Rodman," Mr. Bush said.
While some have expressed concern that flow control laws could lead to higher tipping fees, Mr. Bush, who was in his first of three stints on the county Legislature when the regional landfill was developed, suggested that officials from DANC and its partnering municipalities would keep that from happening unless the move was absolutely necessary.
"We've got some good folks at the DANC level," he said.
Robert S. Juravich, DANC's executive director, attended Tuesday's county legislators meeting but did not publicly address the board. He could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment.
DANC brought together representatives of its landfill partners — the city of Watertown and Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties — to discuss flow control earlier this year. St. Lawrence County legislators in late March listened to a presentation on the topic by several people, including Mr. Juravich, but took no action.
