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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In response to these concerns, the National Solid Wastes Management Association <br />provided the Falcon Heights commissioners with a memo from the association's general <br />council David Biderman that offered the following points: <br />. Residential households were not originally exempted from Superfund liability but <br />have been since the law was amended in 2002. <br />. Since 1989 it has been the policy of the EP A not to nanle residential generators as <br />potentially responsible parties <br />. There was a case in Connecticut in which 47 homeowners were named as PRPs. <br />(Presumably this was before 1989.) <br />. The 2002 exclusion does not apply if the waste "has contributed significantly or could <br />contribute significantly either individually or in the aggregate to the cost" of cleaning <br />up the site. <br />. Mr. Biderman is not aware of any Superfund cases since 2002 in which a homeowner <br />has been identified as liable. <br />. He also not aware of any Subtitle D landfills that have been identified as Superfund <br />sites since 1993. <br />. Since Subtitle D facilities do not accept industrial waste and are carefully monitored, <br />they are unlikely to become Superfund sites. (11) <br /> <br />The memo did not address potential liability not related to the Superfund law. <br /> <br />A 1991 study prepared for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (made available to <br />the Commission by the haulers) compared toxic pollution risks associated with all <br />methods of solid waste management, including recycling and compo sting. The study <br />found the "regardless of the MSW management alternative chosen, certain levels of risk <br />are involved," even in composting and recycling, which are popularly regarded as safer <br />methods of management. The study noted that the information base is skewed and driven <br />by public controversy and regulatory pressure and hindered by lack of data. It ended with <br />only the broadest and most generic of conclusions, rating waste combustion (incineration) <br />slightly worse than land disposal and compo sting worse than both. (12) <br /> <br />Industry Competition and the Public Interest <br /> <br />Since 1993, the solid waste industry has sought to become vertically integrated, with the <br />large corporations buying up transfer stations, landfills and recycling processing centers <br />in order to control each part of the waste stream. The landfills available to the smaller <br />local hauling businesses are owned by their large, national competitors. <br /> <br />On the other hand, every hauler pays the same tipping rates at the resource recovery <br />plants as these are not (yet) controlled by the major companies. If Falcon Heights could <br />specify that all of its municipal solid waste go to Newport, it would level at least the <br />tipping fee part of the playing field between national and local companies. The only way <br />for the City or for individual residents to set tIns requirement, and to enforce it, is through <br />an organized collection contract; it cannot be done through licensing. <br /> <br />City of Falcon Heights Final Report on Organized Collection <br />October 13, 2004 <br /> <br />21 <br />