Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore.

Two Terms ago, in Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U. S. 334 (1992), we held that the negative Commerce Clause prohibited Alabama from imposing a higher fee on the disposal in Alabama landfills of hazardous waste from other States than on the disposal of identical waste from Alabama. In reaching that conclusion, however, we left open the possibility that such a differential surcharge might be valid if based on the costs of disposing of waste from other States. Id., at 346, n. 9. Today, we must decide whether Oregon’s purportedly cost-based surcharge on the in-state disposal of…