FROM SEWER TO FARMLAND: DOES THE DORMANT COMMERCE CLAUSE REQUIRE A FARMING COMMUNITY TO ACCEPT BIG CITY SLUDGE AS A FERTILIZER FOR CROPS?

摘要

Most people in the United States ("U.S.") do not think twice about what they flush down the toilet or send down the drain. They would be surprised and possibly horrified to know that much of that waste ends up on American farmland, used as a fertilizer to grow crops. Residents of rural communities, like Kern County, California, are upset that big cities use their land to dump sewage, along with the chemicals and pathogens that it contains. Part H of this Comment will explain the events leading to thecurrent legal conflict between urban Southern California cities including Los Angeles, and their agriculturally based neighbor Kerri County. Part El will discuss the debate over the safety of using sewage sludge as a fertilizer. Part IV and V will examine the applicable laws associated with the application of sewage sludge to land, including federal regulations, which encourage this type of disposal, an ordinance passed by Kern County that restricted the use of sewage sludge within the County s jurisdiction, a more recent Kern County ordinance that banned the practice outright, and the August 2007 federal court decision that invalidated the sewage sludge ban based in part on a holding that the ordinance violated the Commerce Clause. Part VI will discuss Kern County's potential liability for Los Angeles' attorney fees based on the Commerce Clause violation. Part VII will analyze whether the decision of the federal court regarding the Commerce Clause claim was correct. Finally, Parts VIE and DC will discuss a possible policy mistake in past Commerce Clause jurisprudence that may have exacerbated the current problems associated with waste disposal.