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of the Constitution, because ° the only basis for the higher fee is the waste's origin. The ruling stresses that a state cannot isolate itself from a problem common to many states, such as hazardous waste, just by raising a tax or other barriers to the free flow of commerce. There are alternatives for preserving local interests, the ruling adds—such as applying a uniform fee to all hazardous waste disposed of in Alabama, or an evenhanded cap on the tonnage placed in Higher feesfor out-of-state waste disposed of at huge the landfill at Emelle. Emelle, Ala., landfill were banned by Supreme Court In the second case, the Court overturned, seven to two, a Mich- Bruce Parker, expects states and reigan law that allowed counties to prohibit gional consortia still will try to find solid waste generated in another county some distinction in their regulations, or state from being placed in their land- some nuance in their laws, that will fills. As in the first case, the Court notes make their case different enough to justhe Michigan law would permit counties tify future waste restrictions. He agrees to isolate themselves from the national with Rehnquist that the issue is not economy, and to protect local waste pro- dead, and future cases are likely. David Hanson ducers from out-of-state competition. 'The Waste Import Restrictions unambiguously discriminate against interstate commerce and are appropriately characterized as protectionist measures," the justices emphasize. For both decisions, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote dissenting opin- The federal government needs "to use ions. Rehnquist says taxes are a recog- the $70 billion it spends on R&D a lot nized means of discouraging consump- more effectively in pursuit of a strong tion of scarce commodities, in this case, economy, which is the source of the nanatural resources. He does not agree tion's security and rising standard of that Alabama tried to isolate itself from living. ... The government needs to ina common problem, but argues rather vest in the kinds of technology that that the 34 states that have no hazard- matter in commercial competition, and ous-waste disposal facilities whatsoev- stop relying so heavily on defense and er are isolating themselves from the space spinoff and trickle down," said problem. He concludes that states will Lewis M. Branscomb of Harvard UniIn two decisions last week, the Su- continue to try to find ways to limit versity's John F. Kennedy School of preme Court ruled decisively that a hazardous-waste imports, and that Government at a hearing last week bestate cannot enact laws that selectively "the only sure by-product of today's fore the House Science, Space & Technology Subcommittee on Technology restrict the amount of hazardous waste decision is additional litigation." or other trash imported into the state. Robert D. Reincke, a spokesman for & Competitiveness. In the first decision, the Court ruled Chemical Waste Management, calls the Means to accomplish those goals are the state of Alabama cannot charge a decisions a victory for the environment. laid out in the American Technology & higher tax on disposal of imported haz- "The one thing it means is that waste Competitiveness Act, H.R. 5231, introardous waste than it charges for waste can move freely. Companies and gov- duced last month by full committee priginating in the state. Chemical ernment agencies can look for protection chairman Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D.Waste Management of Oak Brook, 111., from hazardous wastes without their Calif.) and subcommittee chairman had claimed such a levy was unconsti- decisions being affected by high taxes," Rep. Tim Valentine (D.-N.C). Altutional, because it would limit the he says. though Branscomb suggests a few company's business at its huge hazardThe National Solid Waste Manage- changes, he calls the bill a major step ous-waste landfill at Emelle, Ala. The ment Association believes the rulings toward converting U.S. leadership in Court decided, eight to one, that the tax will deter efforts by other states to re- science and engineering into better jobs violates the interstate commerce clause strict waste imports. Its spokesman, and more competitive firms. be less immunogenic, because the immune system, which is geared to deal with L protein antigens, may not be able to process D proteins as easily, D proteins are also likely to have different, and in some cases better, pharmacokinetic properties—absorption, distribution, biotransformation, and excretion—compared with L proteins. Creation of a D enzyme also rekindles perennial questions about why life is based on L rather than D proteins— and, for that matter, D rather than L sugars. Louis Pasteur, the 19th-century French chemist and microbiologist who discovered molecular chirality, believed the handedness of the biosphere derived from a fundamental chiral force in nature. A modern version of this is a recent proposal that a nonsymmetric property of matter discovered by particle physicists accounts for the disposition toward certain enantiomers. Kent and coworkers note that most modern biochemists believe instead that the appearance of specific enantiomers emerged from a chance event at some critical point in evolution. For now, the issue remains undetermined. However, says Kent, "we've now shown that the world inside the mirror actually exists. Before this, nobody knew for sure. This implies that living systems made up of the opposite mirror-image forms would work just as well, and that life could equally have evolved in that way." Stu Borman
Competitiveness bill aired at House hearing
High Court kills state waste disposal limits
JUNE 8,1992 C&EN
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