Lawyers association cautions Supreme Court that waste disposal case jeopardizes bonds.

WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Bond Lawyers has warned the Supreme Court that the security of billions of dollars of solid waste, water, and sewage facilities bonds could be undermined unless the justices uphold a New York locality's waste disposal law.

At issue in the dispute, C&A Carbone Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown, N.Y., is a local ordinance that requires all waste generated within Clarkstown's borders to be taken to a designated facility.

Such laws, generally known as flow-control ordinances, are popular nationally as a means of ensuring that sufficient levels of waste and the fees they generate -- are available to pay off bonds issued to construct solid waste, water, and sewage facilities.

The court accepted the case for review on May 24.

The case centers on whether the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause, which gives Congress authority to regulate interstate trade, prohibits local enactment of flow-control ordinances.

In their recently filed brief, the bond lawyers argue that the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act specifically authorizes localities to enact now-control laws. Consequently, there is no commerce clause problem with the Clarkstown law, they say.

Moreover, the bond lawyers argue that waste disposal has been a local concern since the 17th century. "The commerce clause was not intended to usurp this traditional power to provide or to procure exclusive public services in areas affecting public health," the group said in its brief.

The friend-of-the-court brief is the first ever filed by the group, which is about to enter its 12th year of operation.

Amy K. Dunbar, government affairs director for the group, said there was no "great philosophical reason for not having filed briefs previously. it's more a question of coming of age [as an association] and stepping up to the plate."

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