Photo by Jay Sevidal
NACo President-elect Randy Johnson, commissioner, Hennepin
County, Minn., testifies on flow control legislation before the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee March 18.
Testifying before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, NACo President-elect and Hennepin County (Minn.) Commissioner Randy Johnson urged senators to "not change the rules in the middle of the game" on authority to enforce waste flow control.
Johnson told the committee that there is more than $2.3 billion in total outstanding solid waste debt that has been either downgraded or put on a credit watch for potential downgrading by the bond rating agencies since the Supreme Court decision in theCarbone case.
Johnson also stated that Congress' lack of flow control action has caused other detrimental and expensive effects - such as a $154 million damages lawsuit in Hennepin County, increased property taxes and fees in dozens of counties and cities, and cutbacks in recycling programs.
"The debate over flow control has never been a disagreement between the public sector and the private sector," Johnson said. "Local governments acted in good faith under the laws that our states adopted. We built or, in most cases, entered into competitively-bid public/private partnerships to build facilities that are being undercut by temporarily cheap landfill prices."
The hearing was contentious, with anti-flow control witnesses arguing that the "free market" should determine solid waste management.
Sen. Robert Smith (R-N.H.), chair of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over solid waste, expressed skepticism about NACo's concerns, indicating that the lack of any bond defaults to date showed that there really is no problem.
Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.), chair of the committee, was less judgmental,
but indicated little enthusiasm for interfering with the waste market.