Oregon Waste Systems, Inc., et al. v. Department of Environmental Quality of the State of Oregon et al. (511 U.S. 93)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 4, 1994 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 511 U.S. 93 · 114 S. Ct. 1345
- Decided
- April 4, 1994
- Term
- October Term 1993
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. Two Terms ago, in Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U. S. 334 (1992), we held that the negative Commerce Clause prohibited Alabama from imposing a higher fee on the disposal in Alabama landfills of hazardous waste from other States than on the disposal of identical waste from Alabama. In reaching that conclusion, however, we left open the possibility that such a differential surcharge might be valid if based on the costs of disposing of waste from other States. Id., at 346, n. 9. Today, we must decide whether Oregon’s purportedly cost-based surcharge on the in-state disposal of solid waste generated in other States violates the Commerce Clause. I Like other States, Oregon comprehensively regulates the disposal of solid wastes within its borders. Respondent Oregon Department of Environmental Quality oversees the State’s regulatory scheme by developing and executing plans for the management, reduction, and recycling of solid wastes. To fund these and related activities, Oregon levies a wide range of fees on landfill operators. See, e. g., Ore. Rev. Stat. §§459.235(3), 459.310 (1991). In 1989, the Oregon Legislature imposed an additional fee, called a “surcharge,” on “every person who disposes of solid waste generated out-of-state in a disposal site or regional disposal site.” § 459.297(1) (effective Jan. 1, 1991).…
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