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  4. Another New York Authority Considers Flow Control

Another New York Authority Considers Flow Control

Date: March 27, 2013

Source: News Room

A municipal authority in upstate New York is weighing flow control as a means to slow the exodus of waste from its own landfill which is partly the result of its own diversion and recycling efforts. Those programs in turn need additional funding amid lower prices paid for commodities. The Development Authority of the North Country (DANC), which serves the infrastructure needs of three counties, would like to raise tipping fees at its landfill in Rodman, created by a 1986 inter-municipal agreement among the three counties, without losing volume to facilities elsewhere. However, DANC is also a victim of its own success in boosting diversion through recycling. Its landfill volume has declined by 115,062 tons in the last six years, from 354,989 in 2007 to 239,927 in 2012. A flow control law would stabilize volume and boost revenue, especially if tipping fees are raised.

The door to flow control was reopened by the US Supreme Court in April, 2007 when it ruled on United Haulers Association v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, also in upstate New York. There, the court ruled 6-3, amending its earlier 1994 Carbone ruling which outlawed flow control as an imposition on interstate commerce, by making the distinction between a facility that is publicly owned. The court held that a government could show preference for itself if it served a public good.

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