Supreme Court of the United States
Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of the State of Oregon
April 4, 1994511 U.S. 93
Summary
Justice Thomas, writing for seven Justices, held that Oregon's higher surcharge on disposal of out-of-state solid waste facially discriminated against interstate commerce and violated the negative Commerce Clause. A cost-recovery purpose did not eliminate that discrimination, and Oregon failed to justify the surcharge as a compensatory tax or as permissible cost spreading or resource conservation. The Court reversed the Oregon Supreme Court and remanded. Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justice Blackmun, dissented, arguing that the modest, cost-based surcharge permissibly required nonresidents to share the costs of Oregon's waste-management system and protected scarce landfill capacity, public health, and the environment.
Holding
- Whether the cost-based surcharge facially discriminates against interstate commerce.. The surcharge facially discriminates against interstate commerce because it imposes a higher charge based on the waste's out-of-state origin, and it is subject to the virtually per se rule of invalidity rather than Pike balancing.
- Whether the surcharge qualifies as a compensatory tax or user fee.. The surcharge is not a valid compensatory tax, and the user-fee doctrine does not sustain it.
- Whether cost spreading or conservation of landfill capacity justifies the surcharge.. Neither subsidizing disposal of Oregon waste through general taxation nor reserving landfill capacity for Oregon waste justifies the discriminatory surcharge.
Docket 93-70
Cited authorities
- 26 U.S.C. § 4682
- 26 U.S.C. §§ 4681
- 26 U.S.C. § 4064
- 56 FR 50980
- 56 FR 50980
- 42 U.S.C. § 6901
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