Cite as: 511 U. S. 93 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
ducers as conferring a benefit on them, as opposed to burdening out-of-state liquor producers).
Respondents counter that if Oregon is engaged in any form of protectionism, it is "resource protectionism," not economic protectionism. It is true that by discouraging the flow of out-of-state waste into Oregon landfills, the higher surcharge on waste from other States conserves more space in those landfills for waste generated in Oregon. Recharacterizing the surcharge as resource protectionism hardly advances respondents' cause, however. Even assuming that landfill space is a "natural resource," "a State may not accord its own inhabitants a preferred right of access over consumers in other States to natural resources located within its borders." Philadelphia, 437 U. S., at 627. As we held more than a century ago, "if the State, under the guise of exerting its police powers, should [impose a burden] . . . applicable solely to articles [of commerce] . . . produced or manufactured in other States, the courts would find no difficulty in holding such legislation to be in conflict with the Constitution of the United States." Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S. 434, 443 (1880).
Our decision in Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 458 U. S. 941 (1982), is not to the contrary. There we held that a State may grant a "limited preference" for its citizens in the utilization of ground water. Id., at 956. That holding was premised on several different factors tied to the simple fact of life that "water, unlike other natural resources, is essential for human survival." Id., at 952. Sporhase therefore provides no support for respondents' position that States may erect a financial barrier to the flow of waste from other States into Oregon landfills. See Fort Gratiot, 504 U. S., at 364-365, and n. 6. However serious the shortage in landfill space may be, post, at 108, "[n]o State may attempt to isolate itself from a problem common to the several States by raising barriers to the free flow of interstate trade." Chemical Waste, 504 U. S., at 339-340, and 346, n. 9.
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