United Haulers Ass'n v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste
| Decision Date | 01 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | 00-7597,ONEIDA-HERKIMER,00-7595,Docket Nos. 00-7593 |
| Citation | 261 F.3d 245 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2001) UNITED HAULERS ASSOCIATION, INC., TRANSFER SYSTEMS INC., BLISS ENTERPRISES, INC., KEN WITTMAN SANITATION, BRISTOL TRASH REMOVAL, LEVITT'S COMMERCIAL CONTAINERS, INC. and INGERSOLL PICKUP INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v.SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, COUNTY OF ONEIDA and COUNTY OF HERKIMER, Defendants-Appellants |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, Pooler, Circuit Judge sitting by designation, granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs-appellees with respect to defendants-appellants' liability under 42 U.S.C. §1983, enjoining the enforcement of certain local solid waste laws and declaring those laws unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause.
Reversed and remanded.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] MICHAEL J. CAHILL, Hauppauge, NY, for Appellant Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Mgmt. Authority.
RICHARD A. FRYE, Utica, NY (Foley Frye & Foley Law Firm, Utica, NY, of counsel), for Appellant County of Oneida.
Krishna K. Singh, Horigan, Horigan, Lombardo & Kelly, Amsterdam, NY, on the brief, for Appellant County of Herkimer.
KRISTIN CARTER ROWE, Albany, NY (Kevin M. Young, Young, Sommer, Ward, Ritzenberg, Wooley, Baker & Moore, Albany, NY, of counsel), for Appellees United Haulers Ass'n, Transfer Systems, Bliss Enterprises, Ken Wittman Sanitation, Bristol Trash Removal, Levitt's Commercial Containers and Ingersoll Pickup.
MICHAEL D. DIEDERICH, JR., Stony Point, NY, or Amicus Curiae N.Y.S. Ass'n for Solid Waste Management.
Before: MESKILL, LEVAL and CALABRESI, Circuit Judges.
Defendants-appellants Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (Authority) and the Counties of Oneida and Herkimer (Counties) appeal a March 31, 2000 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, Pooler, Circuit Judge sitting by designation, granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs-appellees United Haulers Association, Inc., Transfer Systems, Inc., Bliss Enterprises, Inc., Ken Wittman Sanitation, Bristol Trash Removal, Levitt's Commercial Containers, Inc. and Ingersoll Pickup, Inc. (collectively "United Haulers") with respect to defendants' liability under 42 U.S.C. §1983, enjoining the enforcement of the Counties' solid waste laws and declaring those laws unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause.
We must decide whether the Counties' so-called "flow control" ordinances, which require that all waste generated within the Counties be delivered to one of five publicly owned facilities, are unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. The district court found the flow control laws "virtually indistinguishable from the laws examined and struck down" in C & A Carbone v. Town of Clarkstown, 511 U.S. 383 (1994) (Carbone), and SSC Corp. v. Town of Smithtown, 66 F.3d 502 (2d Cir. 1995), and, therefore, held that the ordinances were unconstitutional.
We hold that because the favored facilities are publicly owned, the ordinances do not discriminate against interstate commerce, and therefore are not subject to the rigorous test set forth in Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 131, 138 (1986). We remand to the district court to consider whether the ordinances impose burdens on interstate commerce that are clearly excessive in relation to the local benefits. See Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137, 142 (1970).
The history of local solid waste regulation in the state of New York and across the country has been well documented. See, e.g., Inc. Vill. of Rockville Ctr. v. Town of Hempstead, 196 F.3d 395, 396-98 (2d Cir. 1999); Harvey & Harvey, Inc. v. County of Chester, 68 F.3d 788, 791-92 (3d Cir. 1995). Thus, we only briefly discuss the events that prompted the Counties to implement their waste management scheme.
Historically, each city, town or village within the Counties was responsible for its own waste management. This balkanization led to the proliferation of waste dumps of all sizes, and with varying degrees of environmental accountability. The environmental risks and liabilities became apparent in the 1980s when over 600 local businesses and several local municipalities and school districts were named as third-party defendants in a federal environmental clean-up action against the Ludlow Landfill in Oneida County. See generally Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675.
This "solid waste crisis," as Oneida County describes it, and the increased environmental risks and exposure to federal and state liability which flowed from it, prompted the Counties to seek a solution. Like many of their municipal neighbors in New York and throughout the country, the Counties devised a comprehensive waste management system in an attempt to provide for the safe and cost effective disposal of their residents' solid waste. Like many of their municipal neighbors, the Counties' plan is now the subject of a constitutional challenge.
Oneida and Herkimer Counties are located in central New York, in the Mohawk Valley, and together encompass over 2,600 square miles with a combined population of approximately 306,000 persons, residing in 78 different cities, towns and villages. Both Counties are municipal corporations of the state of New York, and together constitute a single "planning unit" under the New York State Solid Waste Management Plan and its authorizing legislation. See N.Y. Envtl. Conserv. L. § 27-0107 (1) (a).
In late 1987, the Counties entered into a municipal contract for the purpose of coordinating and consolidating the management of their solid waste. To that end, they hired a consulting firm to prepare an environmental statement and solid waste management plan. The statement and plan contemplate the construction of six facilities collectively to manage the Counties' solid waste: a recycling center, a compost facility, a transfer station, a waste-to-energy plant, an ash landfill and a C & D (construction and demolition) debris landfill. The estimated cost of these facilities was $155-200 million.
The Counties requested that then-Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislative Commission on Solid Waste Management (Commission) create a waste management authority to assume the Counties' joint waste management responsibilities. The Governor and Commission complied by creating the Authority, a public benefit corporation authorized by the Oneida-Herkimer solid waste management authority act of 1988 (Act). See generally N.Y. Pub. Auth. L. § 2049-aa. The Authority has the power, among other things, to collect, process and dispose of solid waste generated in the Counties. Moreover, the Act permits the Counties to contract with the Authority to obligate the Counties to ensure the continued operation and solvency of the Authority. See id. at §§2049-ee and tt. As amended in 1990, the Act prohibits the Authority from accepting solid waste (other than recyclable material) from outside of the Counties. See id. at §§ 2049-ee(4) and (7).
On May 10, 1989, the Authority and the Counties entered into a Solid Waste Management Agreement, in which the Authority agreed to manage and dispose of all solid waste within the Counties. In particular, the Authority agreed to take control of the operation of the Oneida County Energy Recovery Facility and the Oneida-Herkimer Recycling Center (Recycling Center) beginning on January 1, 1990, and to collect "tipping fees" sufficient to pay its operating and maintenance costs. See SSC Corp., 66 F.3d at 505 n.5 (). The Authority assumed the Counties' regulatory powers with regard to private haulers operating within the Counties. For their part, the Counties agreed to direct all recyclables to the Recycling Center and agreed to direct all solid waste generated in the Counties to facilities designated by the Authority.
On December 28, 1989, the Authority and the Counties entered into a second solid waste management agreement. In that agreement, the Authority reaffirmed its obligations under the first agreement and the Counties agreed to pay the Authority's operating costs and debt service to the extent those costs were not recouped through tipping fees and other disposal related charges.
In December 1989, the Oneida County Board of Legislators enacted Local Law No. 1 of 1990, Oneida's flow control law. The law requires that all solid waste generated within the County be picked up by the municipality, a licensed private hauler or the generator, and delivered to certain approved processing sites designated by the Authority.1 Accordingly, private haulers must obtain a permit from the Authority to pick up solid waste in the Counties. Failure to deliver that waste to the designated facilities subjects the private hauler to revocation of its permit, fines and imprisonment.
Two months later, in February 1990, the Herkimer County Legislature enacted Herkimer County Local Law No. 1 of 1990, Herkimer's flow control law, which is substantially similar to the Oneida flow control law.2
Between 1990 and 1992 the Authority issued over $51 million in bonds to finance the designated facilities, to construct the Green Waste Compost Facility and the Utica Transfer Station, and to refinance prior bonds. The Authority owns all five designated facilities and operates all but the Utica Transfer Station.
In 1991, the Authority accepted bids for the operation of the Utica Transfer Station. The bidding process was open to all private waste...
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