Court Voids Indiana Curbs on Out-of-State Trash

INDIANAPOLIS — Key provisions of a new Indiana law regulating out-of-state trash are unconstitutional because they inhibit commerce among states, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

One provision struck down Thursday required a trash hauler to certify where the largest part of the waste in a shipment was generated. Another required an out-of-state hauler to receive a health officer’s certification that the shipment contained no hazardous or infectious waste. A third provision imposed a dumping fee equal to the fee charged at the landfill closest to the shipment’s point of origin.

U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder issued his ruling five months after the end of a trial on a lawsuit filed by two Pennsylvania trash haulers. They challenged the law shortly after Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh signed it last spring.

“The same protection that the commerce clause (in the Constitution) gives to the citizens of other states who feel the need to import waste into Indiana protects Indiana citizens when they export hazardous waste to other states,” Tinder wrote in the opinion. “Those provisions will protect future generations of Hoosiers should they find the need to export even solid municipal waste to another state.”

Bayh, vacationing in South Carolina, issued a statement saying that he will meet with the state’s congressional delegation and contact other governors to solicit help in getting federal law changed.

Bayh said he has instructed the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to provide more inspections and tougher enforcement to stop illegal hazardous or infectious waste from entering Indiana.

He said he will also meet with legislative leaders and consult with volunteer legal experts to consider new laws to stem the flow of out-of-state trash.

The Indiana law was enacted with bipartisan support after Bayh and state legislators expressed alarm that their state had become a dumping ground for trash from Eastern states.