Agenda Date:    July 28, 1999
Item Number:     

Docket:         TG-990839
Company Name:   Rabanco Ltd d/b/a SeaTac Disposal, Inc., G-12

Staff:          Bob Colbo, Transportation Program Consultant


Recommendation:

Suspend application of the proposed 1.4% tariff supplement of Rabanco Ltd. 
d/b/a SeaTac Disposal, Inc., G-12 (SeaTac) as filed in Docket TG-990839.

Discussion:

On June 11, 1999, the above named company filed tariff revisions to its tariff 
proposing a 1.4% tariff supplement to become effective August 1, 1999.  The 
supplement is proposed to be in effect for 3 years and seeks to recover SeaTac’
s regulated share of the net costs associated with the closure of Seattle’s old 
Midway Landfill (Midway).  The filing will generate $125,000 in each of the 
three years the supplement will be in effect.  

The Midway closure project started in 1984 and was completed in 1992.  Seattle 
sued the various Potentially Liable Parties that had used the landfill 
according to the provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 USC 9601 and the Model Toxics 
Control Act (MTCA), RCW 70.105D.  One of those parties was SeaTac Disposal.

In December, 1993, SeaTac signed a Settlement Agreement with Seattle 
establishing SeaTac’s liability for Midway, and excluding it from any 
liabilities associated with Kent Highlands, another city landfill SeaTac used 
in the past.  In the intervening years, SeaTac in turn has reached agreements 
with its insurance carriers offsetting 40 percent of the settlement.  There are 
no further actions Rabanco can take with regard to any other reimbursements 
regarding the Seattle litigation.

The staff has been in contact with company and Seattle representatives 
attempting to verify (among other things) total cost of the landfill closure, 
volumes deposited by the various users, and SeaTac’s share of the total.  The 
information has been hard to come by, in part because of the six-year time lag 
between when the settlement was reached and the date of the current filing.  
SeaTac has not been to the Commission sooner because until now, staggered 
payments to the city have aggregated less than the amounts recovered from 
insurers.  That is no longer the case.

Based on current information obtained, the company has not demonstrated that 
the proposed rate is fair, just, and reasonable.

Therefore, staff recommends the Commission suspend application of the proposed 
1.4% tariff supplement of Rabanco Ltd. d/b/a SeaTac Disposal, Inc., G-12 
(SeaTac) as filed in Docket TG-990839.