Opinion ID: 3009773
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the harvey case

Text: Harvey is a Delaware corporation operating in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware as an interstate collector, hauler and processor, inter alia, of municipal solid waste. Harvey is a licensed hauler of municipal solid waste in Chester County, Pennsylvania. On May 30, 1989, the Chester County Board of Commissioners appointed the Chester County Act 101 Municipal Waste Advisory Committee. The Committee evaluated six potential waste management methods in order to select the components that 11 would constitute the Chester County solid waste management system: waste reduction, recycling, waste-to-energy technology, a trash-for-ash exchange, transfer stations and landfilling. In addition, the Committee participated in four day-long site inspections of existing waste disposal and processing facilities located in Baltimore, Maryland and Chester County, Montgomery County, Philadelphia, and York, Pennsylvania. The Committee also attended a presentation on the Westinghouse resource recovery facility located in the City of Chester, Pennsylvania. The Committee held 13 meetings between July 11, 1989, and March 20, 1990, to discuss the elements of the County's waste management plan. Although these meetings were open to the public, they were advertised only in the Daily Local News, a Westchester paper with a circulation of approximately 45,000. The Committee then prepared a draft plan, and on May 29 and May 31, 1990, conducted public hearings to entertain public comment on the draft plan. The record does not reveal how these public meetings were advertised or how many people attended. The Committee approved revisions based on that public comment. Harvey did not participate in the process, either as an advocate of an alternative site or as a commenter. The record does not contain any explanation for Harvey's absence, but it appears that Harvey did not have significant business in the County prior to 1990. The County Commissioners adopted the updated Plan on September 25, 1990, and the DER granted its final approval on April 11, 1991. The Plan contained key components of the committee's draft plan, including the decision to designate the 12 Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority Sanitary Landfill (the SECCRA Landfill) and the Chester County Solid Waste Authority Lanchester Sanitary Landfill (Lanchester Landfill) as the primary disposal sites for the County. The County selected these two sites from among those considered because the haulers of trash in the County had established a historical pattern of disposal at these landfills. County Br. at 11. In fact, the County had played a role in financing the Lanchester landfill. In 1984, the County purchased it and turned its operation over to the Authority. The County financed the purchase with $42.55 million in Authority revenue bonds which carry a County guarantee. After the purchase, the County guaranteed an additional $41.5 million in Authority debt, secured a $9.2 million letter of credit, and agreed to provide the Authority with an additional $9.5 million for landfill projects. In response to concerns voiced by Committee members that the northern tier of the County might be adversely affected by the system proposed by the Committee (i.e., designating only the SECCRA and Lanchester landfills), the Committee voted to recommend that the Pottstown Landfill, a privately owned facility located in adjacent Montgomery County, be included in the Plan as a disposal option.0 Initially, the 1990 Plan did not mandate the adoption of flow control. The DER informed Chester County during its 0 The Pottstown facility was approved to receive waste only from certain areas within the county, and the amount of waste it could receive was capped at the amount deposited by the county at the facility in 1989. 13 review process, however, that it would not approve the Plan unless the County flow controlled its waste. DER letters of 3/12/91; 4/11/91; committee notes. Consequently, the County commissioners enacted a flow control ordinance on April 2, 1992. The ordinance divides the County into two service areas: the SECCRA Landfill service area and the Lanchester Landfill Service Area. Municipal waste generated in these service areas must be disposed of at the facility designated by the County to receive the waste. A certain amount of waste may also be taken to the Pottstown landfill. The terms of the ordinance permit amendment to designate other facilities and do not prohibit out-of-state facilities from applying.0 However, the indentures of the revenue bonds and administrative agreements between the County and the Authority stipulate that the County will oppose the construction, acquisition, operation or designation of any facility that might divert revenue from Lanchester. (Committee letters to DER seeking permission not to consider additional sites for designation).
0 The Ordinance defines a Designated facility as follows: the Lanchester Sanitary Landfill owned and operated by the Chester County Solid Waste Authority, located in Honeybrook Township, Chester County and Caernarvon and Salisbury Townships, Lancaster County; the Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority Sanitary Landfill, located in London Grove Township, Chester County; the Pottstown Landfill owned and operated by SCA Services of Pennsylvania, Inc., located in West Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery County; or any other County designated Municipal Waste processing or disposal facility. 14 Harvey filed its complaint in the district court on June 15, 1994, challenging Chester County's flow control plan under the Federal Constitution's Commerce Clause, Art. I, § 8, Cl. 3. Harvey alleged that the regulations isolate the County from the interstate solid waste market by prohibiting the export of locally generated waste to out-of-state disposal and by similarly prohibiting the import of waste processing and disposal services from out of state. On June 27, 1994, Harvey moved for a preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of the relevant regulations adopted pursuant to the ordinance. After a hearing, the district court denied the motion on the grounds that Harvey had made an insufficient showing of immediate and irreparable harm. A trial date was set for September 12, 1994. Prior to trial, the parties filed cross motions to determine the standard of review and, thus, who would bear the burden of proof. The district court granted the defendants' motion to apply the Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137, 90 S. Ct. 844 (1970) balancing test since it found that the Chester County Ordinance did not discriminate on its face or in purpose or effect against interstate commerce. September 8, 1994 Order. Harvey conceded that it could not prove its case under the Pike standard and therefore stipulated to an order of final judgment Harvey appealed.