New Hampshire to study its inbound out-of-state waste

Both chambers of the New Hampshire legislature have approved a version of Senate Bill 159 (SB 159), which if signed by the governor, will lead to a study on how much waste is arriving in New Hampshire from other states.

SB 159 is an act establishing a committee to study unlimited service area permits for landfills and out-of-state waste coming into New Hampshire.

Members of that committee, according to the bill’s text, should include one member of the New Hampshire Senate, appointed by the president of the Senate and three members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house.

The act says the committee should hold its first meeting within 45 days of the law taking effect. After that, “The committee shall report its findings and any recommendations for proposed legislation to the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate clerk, the House clerk, the governor and the state library on or before Nov. 1, 2023.”

A report from the New Hampshire Bulletin says the bill targets unlimited service area landfills because they are the ones permitted to accept waste from across state lines.

The report says New Hampshire has three such landfills. “We are seeing New Hampshire slowly become a dumping ground for trash from other states," a state official told the Bulletin.

The same report also cites a WM employee involved in operating one of the three landfills as saying, “We’re getting requests to take more out-of-state waste.

“There’s a need south of the border,” the WM staff member adds, likely in reference to Massachusetts.

Sen. Donovan Fenton reportedly cites a similar effort in Maine as worth emulating in New Hampshire. Maine took action as recently as last year to stem the flow of inbound waste across its borders.

The Bulletin also cites a critic of SB 159, who points to the federal Commerce Clause as a potential barrier for the law meeting subsequent judicial challenges.

The article quotes New Hampshire Rep. Nicholas Germana as saying, “If you have a landfill closer to you, and it is filling up with almost half of the trash being brought in from out of state, then the result is ultimately that your local trash then has to be shipped further. You’re talking about tipping fees going up, and increased costs.”

The text of SB 159 can be viewed here.