SPSA will stop accepting other states' garbage

CHESAPEAKE

SPSA has stopped accepting out-of-state trash and has no plans to pursue handling imported garbage again.

Bucky Taylor, the new executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority, said in an interview Wednesday that SPSA will not renew contracts that in recent years had brought thousands of tons of out-of-state wastes to South Hampton Roads for disposal.

SPSA's board of directors voted last summer to kill the contracts once they expired June 30, but members left the door open for possible future negotiations.

On Wednesday, Taylor said that door has closed.

On the job for two weeks, Taylor, the former city manager of Franklin, described waste shipments as "one of those bugaboos" that had upset plenty of citizens, environmentalists and local leaders concerned about the region becoming a dumping ground.

"We're not doing that anymore," Taylor said.

SPSA began accepting imported trash in 2001, mostly because the authority needed the money.

Prior to 2001, agency leaders had pledged that SPSA would not take out-of-state waste shipments but started doing so quietly seven years ago amid rising debts and increasing competition from private companies.

Last year, the agency, which serves eight cities and counties in South Hampton Roads, imported more than 73,000 tons of trash from New York, North Carolina and Connecticut.

The waste was mostly burned and converted to steam and electricity at a power plant in Portsmouth. They netted $1.1 million in revenues, according to agency statistics.

SPSA still remains in financial hock, with about $240 million in debts, but it expects to capture more local trash - and money - once "flow control" begins in February, Taylor said.

The phrase refers to a legal power that allows localities to dictate where garbage generated within their borders must go - in this case, to a SPSA disposal facility.

Jim Sharp, executive director of Campaign Virginia, a group opposed to imported waste, said Wednesday that SPSA's action, while expected, is important.

The next big issue, Sharp said, is legislation pending in Congress that would allow states to better control how much garbage can be imported. The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st.

News that SPSA was stepping away from out-of-state wastes was applauded by several environmentalists and local officials who have been pushing for such a move for years.

That is especially true in Chesapeake, which nearly quit SPSA two years ago, in part because the city was opposed to accepting more out-of-state trash.

The move also comes as Virginia saw its garbage imports dip slightly in 2007 to 7.1 million tons of municipal wastes and construction debris, compared to 7.3 million tons in 2006.

Still, Virginia remains the second-biggest garbage importer in the nation, behind Pennsylvania.

SPSA's largest out-of-state customer by far has been New York, with 53,000 tons arriving last year in South Hampton Roads from the Empire State, according to agency figures.

That number would have increased dramatically if a trash port had been built in Portsmouth, as planned under a partnership between SPSA and a New Jersey company.

The deal fell apart, however, amid much criticism from neighbors and environmentalists.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com