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Oregon Waste Systems V. Department Of Environmental Quality ( 1995 )

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Perhaps the best indication of the Court’s attitude towards the Commerce Clause analysis of environmental cases are its decisions concerning state garbage regulations. Each garbage law that has come under the Court’s review has been invalidated without any consideration for its putative local benefits. This approach is highlighted by the Court acknowledging the states’ legitimate environmental interests yet still negating any measures to protect those, essentially rendering any conservation motives irrelevant. City of Philadelphia is one example of that trend; Oregon Waste Systems v. Department of Environmental Quality (1994) shows another one. Here, Oregon’s intent to reduce the volume of waste before disposing it in the few landfill …show more content…

As a result, the states face a heavy burden of proof to show that absolutely no economic rationale was factored in their legislation, following the Court’s repeated assertions that “[n]o state may attempt to isolate itself from a problem common to the several States by raising barriers to the free flow of interstate trade.”
A close comparison of the Court’s holdings also reveals the expansion of its definition of commerce. In City of Philadelphia, the interstate movement of solid waste was considered a part of commerce even though waste itself presented no commercial value. In Sporhase, despite the judgement of Nebraska’s own highest court, the Court found water to be an article of commerce that represents a national interest and is thus subject to federal regulation. The constant shifting between natural resources as natural resources and natural resources as market commodities depending on whether the government relies on affirmative of negative Commerce Clause only reinforces the Court’s hostility towards environmental cases and frustrates both federal and state efforts to protect the environment.
The case factually closest to Maine v. Taylor is probably Hughes v. Oklahoma (1979), which also revolved around fishery preservation. Here, Oklahoma had enacted a statutory scheme governing the acquisition, transportation, and sale

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