More Counties Consider Flow Control in Upstate New York

Date: February 4, 2008

Source: News Room

The upstate New York counties of Lewis and St. Lawrence are said to be considering flow control as a means to guarantee coverage of the $21 million in debt held jointly on their Development Authority of the North Country's landfill at Rodman. So far, Jefferson County, which is home to the landfill and a joint owner, is not considering the measure. The development authority itself lacks any municipal policing powers that would enable them to enact flow control directly. The move comes in response to recent action by the Supreme Court which reversed course on its 1994 ruling by saying that governments can force haulers operating within their jurisdictions to use their government-owned facility. The move would essentially revive a preexisting 1992 flow control measure that had been set aside after the 1994 decision. Flow control would do little to change the status quo since most waste generated in the region ends up at the DANC facility, hauled there by Casella Waste Systems which currently holds a contract to collect waste in Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

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