42 U.S.C. § 6944
Section 6944 · Criteria for sanitary landfills; sanitary landfills required for all disposal
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 24 court decisions — leading case Environmental Defense Fund v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1988)
Most recently applied in StarLink Logistics, Inc. v. ACC, LLC (May 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Not later than one year after October 21, 1976, after consultation with the States, and after notice and public hearings, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations containing criteria for determining which facilities shall be classified as sanitary landfills and which shall be classified as open dumps within the meaning of this chapter. At a minimum, such criteria shall provide that a facility may be classified as a sanitary landfill and not an open dump only if there is no reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment from disposal of solid waste at such facility. Such regulations may provide for the classification of the types of sanitary landfills.
For purposes of complying with section 6943(2) 1 of this title each State plan shall prohibit the establishment of open dumps and contain a requirement that disposal of all solid waste within the State shall be in compliance with such section 6943(2) 1 of this title.
The prohibition contained in subsection (b) of this section shall take effect on the date six months after the date of promulgation of regulations under subsection (a) of this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Section 6943(2) of this title, referred to in subsec. (b), was redesignated section 6943(a)(2) of this title by Pub. L. 96–463, §5(b), Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat. 2056, and Pub. L. 96–482, §32(d)(2), Oct. 21, 1980, 94 Stat. 2353.
Amendments
1984—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–616 struck out “or on the date of approval of the State plan, whichever is later” at end.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of certain enforcement functions of Administrator or other official of Environmental Protection Agency under this chapter to Federal Inspector, Office of Federal Inspector for the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System, and subsequent transfer to Secretary of Energy, see note set out under section 6903 of this title.