SB 190-"Instant Landfill," now "Sudden Landfill."

Posted Monday, March 21, 2005

E-mail this page Printer-friendly page

CALL YOUR STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBERS TODAY!!!

The House Natural Resources Committee has now given a "Do Pass"
recommendation to SB 190, after amending in both subcommittee and again in
the full committee to weaken its anti-environmental intensity. These
amendments have caused the joke noted in the headline: no longer will
landfill permits be instant, they are now to be delayed 90 days for a
hearing before becoming effective, so the trash piles will suddenly, instead
of instantly appear in neighborhoods. The obviously draconian character of
this legislation, its plain abuse of the property rights of ordinary
citizens, has struck even the least environmentally concerned of the members
of the Natural Resources Committee, ordinarily a home court for industrial
polluters.

The main visible cheerleaders for SB 190 have been the Chamber of Commerce
crowd, led by Georgia Power Company, whose spokesman Ronnie Just, told the
House Committee that "We just want certainty in our business." This from a
company which has a guaranteed income for its monopoly on sales of the vital
product, electric power, and legal assurance than no one can compete with
them in their line of business. It would look like maybe Georgia Power has
quite enough certainty already.

Invisible, but salivating at the opportunities SB 190 offers, is the Solid
Waste Industry. Speaker Glenn Richardson has imposed a test on legislation
that asks if bills will strengthen traditional families; SB 190 will
strengthen traditional Crime Families, a group always prominent in the solid
waste industry in certain cities such as New York City. Today 11 % of the
waste in Georgia landfills every day comes from out-of-state sources;
Georgia is now number four among the states in out-of-state waste.

SB 190 can easily put Georgia at Number One in Out of State Waste-the "New
Georgia" with its "economic development opportunities" is becoming clearer,
and anyone who wondered why the state government was so interested in
keeping the facts about this stuff a secret (in HB 218, dead in the Senate)
need wonder no longer.

The anti-property rights program of the New Georgia legislative leadership
is collapsing in this session. Already SB 5 and HB 218 have gone down in
flames. SB 26 is in trouble, see below, and only SB 190 and SB 277
(indemnifying subsequent purchasers of abandoned gas stations from liability
lawsuits) are still moving. Public protest has succeeded so far in killing
off these terrible ideas, but until the legislators go home for the year,
there is a danger that they will succeed in one of their attacks on property
rights, and the natural environment in which those rights are enjoyed by our
citizens.

Call Your State Representative and Insist that he or she Protect Property
Rights and Reject SB 190. The vote of the full State House of
Representatives could come as early as Tuesday, March 22.

Find out more about SB 190 at http://georgia.sierraclub.org/tracker/

For help finding your State House Member go to
http://georgia.sierraclub.org/poldir.asp

Bryan Hager, Director
Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club
1401 Peachtree Street, Suite 345
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-607-1262 x226
Bryan.Hager@sierraclub.org
www.georgia.sierraclub.org