Court Upholds South Carolina County Flow Control Law

Date: January 4, 2013

Source: News Room

A US District Court has upheld a waste flow control law in South Carolina against a challenge from private haulers. The haulers, Sandlands C&D and Express Disposal Services, say their business was adversely affected by the Horry County Solid Waste Authority's law, passed in 2009, that directed all waste generated in the county to its own landfill in Conway, SC or one designated by the authority. The haulers took their case to federal court after the state's Supreme Court affirmed the county's law in September 2011. The county has argued that the law is necessary to protect itself and its citizens from liability that could occur with its waste being disposed in out-of-county landfills, according to court records. Notwithstanding the flimsy logic or the fact that it is the only county in the state to have such a law, the county can point to a US Supreme Court decision that paves the way for local flow control. In its 2007 ruling on United Haulers Association v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, the high 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.

See also "South Carolina High Court Affirms County's Flow Control," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20110920D.htm), September 19, 2011.

See also: "Horry County, SC Weighs Flow Control Measure," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20090120C.htm), January 19, 2009.

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