Cite as: 511 U. S. 93 (1994)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
century, the Court recognized that control over the collection and disposal of solid waste was a legitimate, nonarbitrary exercise of police powers to protect health and safety. See, e. g., California Reduction Co. v. Sanitary Reduction Works, 199 U. S. 306 (1905) (holding that exclusive privilege to one company to dispose of the garbage in the city and county of San Francisco was not void as taking the property of householders for public use without compensation); and Gardner v. Michigan, 199 U. S. 325 (1905) (holding that property rights of individuals must be subordinated to the general good and if the owner of garbage suffers any loss by its destruction he is compensated therefor in the common benefit secured by the regulation requiring that all garbage be destroyed).
In exercising its legitimate police powers in regulating solid waste disposal, Oregon is not "needlessly obstruct[ing] interstate trade or attempt[ing] to place itself in a position of economic isolation." Maine v. Taylor, 477 U. S. 131, 151 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted) (upholding Maine's ban on the importation of live baitfish on the ground that it serves the legitimate governmental interest in protecting Maine's indigenous fish population from parasites prevalent in out-of-state baitfish). Quite to the contrary, Oregon accepts out-of-state waste as part of its comprehensive solid waste regulatory program and it "retains broad regulatory authority to protect the health and safety of its citizens and the integrity of its natural resources." Ibid. Moreover, Congress also has recognized taxes as an effective method of discouraging consumption of natural resources in other contexts. Cf. 26 U. S. C. §§ 4681, 4682 (1988 ed., Supp. IV) (tax on ozone-depleting chemicals); 26 U. S. C. § 4064 (1988 ed. and Supp. IV) (gas guzzler excise tax). Nothing should change the analysis when the natural resource—landfill space—was created or regulated by the State in the first place.
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