Stop Unregulated Solid Waste Transfer Stations

Although many people are unaware of an organized effort by some within the railroad industry to de-regulate solid waste activities along railroad lines, the message is getting out. Whether one has a railroad going through their community or not, we should all be extremely concerned about this effort to de-regulate the solid waste handling industry. Currently, a loophole in federal preemption law regarding railroads and interstate commerce prevents state and local governments from regulating these solid waste handling facilities and enforcing environmental, health and safety regulations if the activities are part of so-called railroad operations. Imagine going back to the days of open dumps with no regulatory oversight? This has already occurred in New Jersey and New York. If allowed this will also occur in Massachusetts and other states. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this effort is being supported by the President of the United States. We need action now! We the people will not allow the days of open dumps and unregulated solid waste handling to return. We all deserve better!

These exempt activities include processing of construction and demolition debris and municipal solid waste. Regulatory oversight of the siting and operation of solid waste processing facilities has historically been within the jurisdiction of local and state government. For good reason. This is the best way to protect public health and the environment. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Think again. Right now in Massachusetts and New Jersey a battle has ensued over who has the right to regulate these facilities. In Wilmington Massachusetts a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), New England Transrail (NET), filed a petition for exemption with the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB), meaning the state and local governments would have no jurisdiction over their operations and those operations fall under the STB’s jurisdiction. The STB is a three member board appointed by the President of the United States. This board has no funds or ability to regulate these facilities. In the case of New Jersey, this has resulted in open dumps piled as high as a two story building.

Most notably, the Wilmington, MA NET proposal has been proposed on a recently designated Superfund site, in a groundwater recharge area that is responsible for the contamination of a public water supply. Common sense tells you this site is not appropriate for such an activity, yet the community and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are being told they have no say. This will just add insult to injury to a community that has already suffered immensely from past environmental degradation related to this site.

According to a press release issued September 11, 2007 by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office, an appeal was filed with the United States Appeals Court for the First Circuit, challenging a decision issued by the STB concerning the construction of a solid waste facility in Wilmington and Woburn. The appeal challenges the STB’s decision issued on July 10, 2007, which ruled that a federal law, the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA), preempts state and local regulation of solid waste management. In the proceeding before the STB, a New Jersey-based company, New England Transrail, LLC, (NET) d/b/a Wilmington & Woburn Terminal Railway, sought to avoid complying with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) regulations by locating their solid waste operations at a railroad, arguing that the operation is a transloading facility instead of a solid waste facility.

Regulation of solid waste management and disposal is traditionally a state function and is the primary responsibility of states, said Attorney General Coakley. NET should not escape regulation that aims to protect public health and safety and the environment simply because it proposes to locate its solid waste operations at a railroad.

New Jersey's U.S. Senators, Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine, along with Massachusetts Senators Kerry and Kennedy as co-sponsors, filed legislation (H.R. 1248: Clean Railroads Act of 2007) to amend section 10501 of title 49, United States Code, to exclude solid waste disposal from the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board. According to Lautenberg’s press release on September 13, 2007: “the Senate passed a temporary measure authored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to allow New Jersey to regulate some solid waste processing facilities on railroads. The measure was included in a one-year spending bill for transportation and housing programs which expires after one year. New Jersey wants to regulate these facilities after finding fire hazards, groundwater contamination and debris in local neighborhoods.
President Bush sided with the railroad companies, but ultimately the Senate approved my measure to protect the health and safety of New Jersey’s communities. We need to be able to protect ourselves from the environmental and safety hazards caused by the piles of waste sitting on these sites. New Jersey residents deserve better than to have potential health hazards in their backyards”.

In response to the Senate action, the White House issued a statement threatening to veto the bill and objected specifically to the Lautenberg provision: “The Administration also objects to allowing States to regulate solid waste stored along rail property, preempting authority granted to the Surface Transportation Board. A multiplicity of standards across States would create confusion for stakeholders and potentially create an undue burden on interstate commerce.”

This is unacceptable!

Whether an environmentalist or not, whether you support railroads or not, this is not about interstate commerce and the supporting infrastructure. This about protecting the rights of our states and local communities to protect their health and environment, a basic human right. This effort has far reaching implications. If a state cannot regulate solid waste handled along railroads then who does? The STB does not. The EPA can not. State and local communities are being told they do not. This could be only the beginning and could have ramifications to environmental regulations across the nation risking not only public health and the environment but water supplies, public or private, that have a zone of contribution near one of these facilities. When dealing with contamination from the “old days” one often hears, “We just didn’t know any better back then”. We can not use this excuse now. We know better. This effort to deregulate solid waste activities along railroads has nothing to do with anything other than getting a competitive edge over regulated solid waste handling facilities, for profit at the expense of people and the environment. Close the loophole and stop these unregulated solid waste facilities! Unregulated solid waste activities for profit are not acceptable to the American people.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/262702064