Borough of St. Clair
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Ordinance No. 2006-
AN ORDINANCE OF ST. CLAIR BOROUGH, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, PROHIBITING PERSONS FROM USING CORPORATIONS OR SYNDICATES TO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN WASTE HAULING AND DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES; PROHIBITING CERTAIN CORPORATIONS FROM CLAIMING LEGAL RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS; AND PROVIDING FOR ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF THIS ORDINANCE.
Section 1. Name. The name of this Ordinance shall be the “St. Clair Borough Corporate Waste and Local Control Ordinance.”
Section 2. Authority. This Ordinance is adopted and enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the Borough by all relevant state and federal laws including, but not limited to the following:
§ The Declaration of Independence, which declares that governments are instituted to secure people’s rights, and that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed;
§ The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, §2, which declares that “all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness”;
§ The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, §27, which declares that “the people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment”;
§ The Borough Code, Article XII, §1202(6), which establishes the authority of Borough governments in the Commonwealth to adopt Ordinances “as may be necessary for the health, safety, morals, general welfare and cleanliness, and the beauty, convenience, comfort and safety of the borough”;
§ The Borough Code, Article XII, §1202(28), which establishes the authority of Borough governments in the Commonwealth to adopt Ordinances “to prohibit, within the borough, the carrying on of any manufacture, art, trade, or business which may be noxious or offensive to the inhabitants”;
§ The Borough Code, Article XII, §1202(74), which establishes the general power of Borough governments in the Commonwealth to make and adopt Ordinances that “may be expedient or necessary for the proper management, care and control of the borough and its finances, and the maintenance of peace, good government, safety and welfare of the borough and its trade, commerce and manufactures.”
Section 3. Purpose. The general purpose of this Ordinance is to recognize that corporations engaged in certain types of waste hauling and disposal within the Borough constitute a threat to the health, safety, welfare, and rights of the residents of St. Clair Borough due to the limited liability of those corporation, which may prevent full recovery for damages in the event of injuries caused to Borough residents. That limited liability privilege shields and protects the individuals operating the corporation, and thus serves to thwart any deterrent effect from lawsuits brought to remedy injuries caused by those persons using the corporation to engage in waste hauling and disposal. The Borough of St. Clair declares that persons using corporations to haul construction and demolition (C&D) waste, radioactive material, and other waste deemed by the Borough to be hazardous, toxic, or dangerous, place the residents of the Borough at increasing risk, due to the harmful and dangerous composition of those wastes. The Borough of St. Clair also declares that corporations, engaging in hauling and waste disposal in any neighboring municipality that causes harm to residents of the Borough of St. Clair, shall be held strictly liable for the migration of toxic and hazardous contaminants across municipal borders. The Borough of St. Clair also declares that waste management, waste hauling, and waste disposal corporations increasingly determine waste policy in the Commonwealth, and that the Borough must take affirmative steps to subordinate the powers of those corporations to the will of the majority within the Borough of St. Clair.
Section 4. Statement of Law. No person may use a corporation or syndicate to engage in the hauling and/or disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, chemotherapeutic waste, infectious waste, hazardous waste, residual waste, dredged material, PCB-containing waste, or radioactive material as those terms are defined within Title 25, Chapter 271 et seq., of the Pennsylvania Code and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, within the Borough of St. Clair.
Section 5. Definitions.
“Chemotherapeutic waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which results from the production or use of antineoplastic agents used for the purpose of inhibiting or stopping the growth of malignant cells or killing malignant cells.
“Construction and demolition waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which results from the construction or demolition of buildings and other structures, including, but not limited to, wood, plaster, metals, asphaltic surfaces, bricks, block and unsegregated concrete.
“Corporation” - any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country, and any organization recognized under state law as possessing limited liability attributes.
“Dredged material” – material, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which is dredged or excavated from waters for the direct or indirect purpose of establishing or increasing water depth, or increasing the surface or cross-sectional area of a waterway and which includes sediment, soil, mud, shells, gravel, or other aggregate.
“Engage in the hauling and/or disposal” – a phrase that includes, but is not limited to, the trucking or other transportation of wastes identified in this Ordinance within, and across, the jurisdictional boundaries of the Borough of St. Clair, and any activities associated with the transportation and/or disposal of those wastes within the Borough of St. Clair.
“Hazardous waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which includes garbage, refuse, or sludge from an industrial or other waste water treatment plant; sludge from a water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility; and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from municipal, commercial, industrial, institutional, mining, or agricultural operations, and from community activities; or a combination of the above, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may (1) cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or increase in morbidity in either an individual or the total population; or (2) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
“Infectious waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, immunization or autopsy of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, in the preparation of human or animal remains for interment or cremation, or in the production or testing of biologicals.
“PCB-containing waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which contains polychlorinated biphenyls in any measurable concentration.
“Person” - a natural person.
“Radioactive material” – materials, as defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which spontaneously emit alpha or beta particles or photons (gamma radiation) in the process of decay or transformation of the atom’s nucleus. This term shall include, but not be limited to, source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
“Residual waste” – waste, defined under Title 25, §271.1 of the Pennsylvania Code, which includes solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, mining, and agricultural operations; and sludge from an industrial, mining or agricultural water supply treatment facility, waste water treatment facility or air pollution control facility, if not hazardous.
“Syndicate” - any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country. A syndicate shall not include general partnerships, except general partnerships in which corporations or other limited liability business entities are partners.
Section 6. Statement of Law - Limited Liability. Persons violating §4 of this Ordinance shall be personally liable for damages resulting from that violation, and for penalties assessed for that violation. Any corporation engaging in hauling and/or disposal of waste in violation of §4 of this Ordinance shall not possess limited liability within the Borough of St. Clair for the purposes of the enforcement of this Ordinance.
Section 7. Statement of Law – Strict Liability.. Persons using corporations to engage in the types of waste hauling and/or disposal addressed by this Ordinance in a neighboring municipality shall be strictly liable for all harms caused to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of St. Clair Borough from those activities, and for all harms caused to the natural environment within St. Clair Borough.
Section 8. Statement of Law - Corporate Powers. No corporation doing business within the Borough of St. Clair shall be recognized as a “person” under the United States or Pennsylvania Constitutions, or laws of the United States or Pennsylvania; and no corporation shall be afforded the protections of the Contracts Clause or Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, or similar provisions found within the Pennsylvania Constitution, within the Borough of St. Clair.
Section 9. Enforcement. Any corporation or syndicate that engages in waste hauling and/or disposal activities within the Borough of St. Clair is required to report information necessary for the enforcement of this Ordinance to either the Borough’s Code Enforcement Officer or to the Borough Council, on an annual basis, on forms provided by the Borough pursuant to this Ordinance. The Borough shall monitor such reports and notify the Code Enforcement Officer and police of any possible violations, and any resident of the Borough may also notify the Borough Council of any possible violations. Any violation of this Ordinance shall be considered a criminal summary offense. The Borough Council authorizes a fine of up to $1,000.00 per violation. Each act of non-compliance shall be considered a separate violation of this Ordinance. The Borough may also file an action in equity in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, or any other Court of competent jurisdiction to abate any violation defined in §4 of this Ordinance. If the Borough fails to bring an action to enforce this Ordinance, any resident of the Borough of St. Clair has standing in front of those Courts for enforcement of this Ordinance, and civil liability for damages caused to residents may be sought through that action.
Section 10. Severability. The provisions of this Ordinance are severable, and if any section, clause, sentence, part, or provision thereof shall be held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision of the court shall not affect, impair, or invalidate any of the remaining sections, clauses, sentences, parts or provisions of this Ordinance. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the St. Clair Borough Council that this Ordinance would have been adopted if such illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional section, clause, sentence, part, or provision had not been included herein.
Section 11. Effect. This Ordinance shall be effective immediately upon its enactment.