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Virginia ranks as the No. 2 waste importer among the states, behind only Pennsylvania, which received 10.5 million tons in 2003. Virginia received 6.6 million tons.

Davis, R-1st, introduced this month a bill that gives states and localities powers to limit waste imports. It revises a bill pushed in the last Congress by then-Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., and adds key controls that Davis previously sought as amendments. Greenwood has left Congress.

Under a central feature of Davis' bill, if a landfill takes in less than 100,000 tons of trash a year, control over limiting imports would fall to local governments. For landfills taking in more than 100,000 tons, states would have control and could set a cap on waste coming from out-of-state.

The bill pleased an environmental group that worked with Davis on it, while drawing objections from an industry official.

Opponents of trash imports contend they give Virginia a bad image, and they say landfills getting the trash could leak and pollute waters.

Davis' "compromise bill . . . gives powers to both local government and states in a way that makes sense and is fair, and balances state and local interest," said Jim Sharp. He is director of Campaign Virginia, a group fighting out-of-state trash.

"We will be opposing the bill," said Lisa Kardell of Waste Management of Virginia. The bill doesn't fully protect contracts the company has entered into or its agreements with communities that host landfills, she said.

Restrictions on interstate waste have been a perennial and thorny issue in Congress.

In 2002, a bipartisan coalition that included Virginia's top three officeholders backed Davis' proposed amendments, but they did not become law.