DETROIT - State Rep. Gabe Leland (D-Detroit) said a sweeping House Democratic anti-trash campaign will stop the out-of-state and Canadian garbage that has been surging into Michigan landfills.
The crux of the Democratic plan: slapping waste companies with the nation's highest dumping charge, revoking certification for a year if municipalities send banned and dangerous items to Michigan landfills, strengthening enforcement and banning landfill expansions until 2010.
"Trash from other states and Canada threatens our way of life in Michigan," Leland said. "We must all join together and stop this invasion in its tracks."
State Rep. Steve Tobocman (D-Detroit) hailed the Democratic package because a key component, the dumping charge, attacks the economics of the waste problem.
"For 20 years, trash companies have been dumping in Michigan because it's cheap," Tobocman said. "They've paid virtually nothing to bring garbage from out of state and dumping it in our neighborhoods. Now, these trash companies must pay."
State Rep. LaMar Lemmons III (D-Detroit) praised the new legislation because it continues the fight House Democrats have been waging for two years against imported trash.
"These new measures attack the economics of waste, they toughen current laws and they give us the tools we need to quickly and effectively punish the violators," he said.
The three Detroit representatives say trash trucks bringing in imported waste have ruined Michigan roads and adversely affected the neighborhoods they drive through.
They also pointed out that several trucks from Canada were caught between 2002 and 2003 with radioactive medical waste, blood and drugs hidden in garbage.
Michigan is the third largest U.S. importer of trash behind Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The Democratic plan involves:
* A DUMPING CHARGE: Companies must pay $7.50 per ton of solid waste entering landfills. They now pay virtually no fee. Democrats pointed to Pennsylvania's success at slashing out-of-state trash by 14 percent, or 1.5 million tons, in the second year after it began charging waste companies $7.25 per ton.
* TOUGHER PENALTIES: Municipalities that send banned items such as car batteries and motor oil to a Michigan landfill three times in a year will have their certification revoked. Those caught sending dangerous items, such as radioactive medical waste and blood, just one time will be banned for a year from dumping in Michigan landfills.
* BAN ON LANDFILL EXPANSION: Toughening current laws by extending the ban on landfill expansion that is set to end Jan. 1, 2006. The Democratic plan will extend the ban by four years, to 2010, and apply a stringent permit approval process for counties and regions seeking exemptions from the ban.
* TOUGH ER ENFORCEMENT: Applying tougher and more flexible enforcement tools, by establishing non-criminal civil infractions for solid waste violations. The plan calls for civil fines of up to $5,000 for most transport and disposal violations. The fine is $10,000 for repeat offenders. Those who knowingly deliver or dispose returnable containers or tires will face a $500 fine. Democratic authors of the plan say it will speed punishing violators.
Main sponsors of the multi-pronged legislation are: State Reps. Kathleen Law (D-Gibraltar), Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard), Fred Miller (D-Mt. Clemens), John Espinoza (D-Croswell) and Herb Kehrl (D-Monroe).
The Department of Environmental Quality reported that Michigan buried 20.8 million tons of trash in 2003, the last year for which data is available. A quarter of that amount came from other states, more than 5 million tons, with 3.1 million tons coming from Canada.
If this trend continues, the percentage of out-of-state trash is expected to keep rising.
With more than 20 million tons of solid waste entering Michigan landfills in 2003, the $7.50 per ton is expected to generate an estimated $130 million to $150 million a year.
Michigan's residents have repeatedly voiced their outrage at the influx of out-of-state and Canadian trash, the Democrats said. More than 400 trucks enter Michigan from Canada each day, tearing up roads and highways and endangering our communities.
Imported trash grew into an emotional issue in Michigan after numerous trucks from Canada were caught in 2002 and 2003 with radioactive medical waste, blood and drugs hidden among garbage, according to police and the Detroit News.
The Democrats also urged Republicans to join in the fight to reclaim Michigan from out-of-state trash, but note that legislators on the other side of the aisle have so far balked at toughening laws and taking on the waste companies.
Michigan's 2004 anti-trash bills allowed landfills to accept only waste that conformed to state regulatory standards and imposed criminal penalties on violations