Legislation placing a two-year moratorium on landfill expansion and construction could face a steep uphill battle in the Pennsylvania Senate, supporters said Tuesday. The legislation passed the state House 196-0 this week. Lawmakers crafted it after the commonwealth, with its 51 municipal waste landfills, was named the nation's No. 1 importer of out-of-state trash. In addition to the moratoriums, the law would require landfill owners to negotiate legal agreements with municipalities where facilities are located, as well as any municipality within one mile of the facility. Such agreements would be a condition of continued operation or approval for new or expanded facilities. A second bill that also passed unanimously provided a framework for the registration and regulation of municipal waste haulers. Safety issues became a priority with lawmakers during the summer after a state crackdown revealed thousands of trucks with safety shortcomings were hauling garbage on state streets and highways. The bills that promised to put the brakes on truck safety violations and landfill development got high marks from the environmental community, but mixed reviews from the waste industry. "We believe for the first time in a long time the state is moving toward good policies on landfills with these bills, and we'd encourage the Senate to pass them," said Jeff Schmidt, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Sierra Club. Mary Webber, executive director of the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association, said her group supports truck registration and regulation but is concerned about other provisions. "We're always concerned with moratoriums. They tend to have an uneven effect across the Commonwealth. As supply goes down, rates go up," Webber said. Webber said industry officials also fear that failure to place clear regulations on host community agreement negotiations could spell trouble. "We're OK with the notion that there will be no permits without host community agreements. ... But there needs to be some process to bring host community negotiations to closure," Webber said. Environmental attorney Robert Ging of Somerset County disagreed. He said the House reforms would help level the playing field between grassroots community groups and well-heeled corporate waste industry interests. "It gives host communities a right to say no ... But the concern I share with a lot of legislators is if this goes to the Senate it will never get out of committee," Ging said. Like Ging, lawmakers who lobbied to give communities more clout in the House bill said they are afraid Webber's sentiments will prevail in the Senate. They say a current Senate bill introduced last spring by Sen. Jeffrey Piccola of Dauphin County could overturn the House's effort to vest influence in host communities. Rep. David Levdansky of Allegheny County, an outspoken critic of waste industry operations in Pennsylvania, said the House reforms likely will die in the Senate. "The industry knows the bill is bottled up in the Senate. It's going nowhere. But if that's the case, the people of Pennsylvania ought to understand it's what the Republican leaders in the Legislature wanted to happen," said the Elizabeth Democrat. Rep. James Casorio, an Irwin Democrat, said he's encouraged with the House vote and hopes increasing public pressure for reform will have some bearing on Senate action. "I hope the Senate will see fit to pass it. ... It's certainly a hot-button issue in my district," Casorio said. State Sen. Allen G. Kukovich, a Manor Democrat, said both chambers seem in agreement on the need for truck safety regulation and a moratorium on new construction. Kukovich said he has prepared amendments that would take binding arbitration provisions out of the host community agreement process. "But whether I have the votes for that, I'm not sure at this point," Kukovich said. He predicted the Senate will pass some version of the reform bill. "Then it will be up to the Republican leaders of the Senate and the House (to reach an agreement)," Kukovich said. "The pressure is on," he said. "One of the effects of the fight on terrorism is a lot of other issues have been placed on the back burner. But there are still enough complaints about certain issues to keep the pressure on, and this is one of those issues."

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