Michigan Moves Up to
Third Place in the
Category of Garbage Importer
Washington, D.C. – Congressman John D.
Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce today released a Library
of Congress Report on interstate shipment of municipal solid waste that ranks states by
the amount of state they both import and export. Michigan received more than 3.5 million
tons of imported waste, putting it number three, behind Virginia and Pennsylvania.
"Our Canadian neighbors have ample
room to bury their own trash, but prefer to literally bury Michiganders in million of tons
of it," Dingell said. "I have little hope, however, that the Republican Congress
will do anything to help stem this noxious wave of waste from flooding our state."
Dingell has introduced legislation in past
Congresses to give state and local governments the tools they need to responsibly maintain
disposal capacity for their own municipal solid waste and control imports. But the
Republican leadership has failed to even bring the bill up for consideration.
According to the report, Michigan saw
out-of-state waste disposed in the state grow by more than 750,000 in 2001, substantial
amounts of which came from Illinois, Indiana, and other neighboring states. Ontario,
Canada is the biggest source, however, contributing to more than half of Michigan’s
out-of-state garbage. The report further estimates that by early 2003, much of Ontario and
Toronto’s waste will find its way to Michigan landfills.
To stem the tide of these unwanted Canadian
waste shipments, Dingell and Senator Levin joined forces earlier this year and introduced
legislation to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
implement and enforce the bilateral agreement with Canada that governs the importation of
municipal solid waste. In FY 2001, Canadian trash imports into Michigan grew to 1.96
million tons – an increase of 40 percent over the previous year.
The bilateral agreement, first entered into
in 1986 and then amended in 1992, requires government-to-government notification of
exports of municipal solid waste from Canada to the United States. The introduced
legislation would ensure that the notice and consent provisions of the treaty are
implemented, taking into consideration the state and local concerns. It also provides
penalties for those who violate its provisions. Canada has failed to notify the U.S. of
trash shipments. The U.S. has not protested Canada’s failure to notify, and has not
objected to any shipments of Canadian trash.
"The U.S. government has abdicated its
responsibility under the agreement, leaving Michigan the dumping ground for
ever-increasing amounts of Canadian trash," said Dingell.
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[Editor’s note] Reporters interested
in obtaining the report should call Laura Sheehan at 202-225-3641.
