Political Quotes

“today, I am introducing the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1997. It seeks to correct the May 1994 Supreme Court Decision in the matter of Carbone versus Town of Clarkstown which has had a devastating impact on Connecticut and States around the country. This bill is very similar to the proposal that overwhelmingly passed the Senate in the last Congress by a vote of 94 to 6. It protects communities and taxpayers that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to build economical and environmentally clean solid waste facilities --only to see those dollars now potentially lost because of the Carbone decision. Carbone held that towns and cities cannot control the flow of solid waste to facilities it has built or operated. In this bill, flow control authority, would remain with those communities that were operating or constructing disposal facilities or had contracted for such disposal prior to the Carbone decision. There is no prospective flow control; in fact, the authority would cease 30 years after enactment of the legislation. Approximately 35 States were adversely affected by the Carbone decision, which invalidated local flow control authority an issue that is vital to the fiscal soundness and public safety of States and localities. The Justices left it to Congress to reinstate flow control, and it is my belief that if Congress does not enact this legislation, States will continue to suffer environmentally and financially.”