LANSING - State Rep. Gino Polidori (D-Dearborn) today hailed a Michigan House Democratic plan to stem the tide of trash surging into the state from Canada and elsewhere. The crux of the plan: slapping waste companies with the nation's highest dumping charge, revoking certification for a year if out-of-state jurisdictions send banned and dangerous items to Michigan landfills, strengthening enforcement and banning landfill expansions until 2010.
"Today's legislation continues our fight to stop Canadian and out-of-state trash," Polidori said. "We need these tough new measures. We need them now because imported trash threatens our communities, our families, our roads and our way of life."
He praised the Democrats' plan, unveiled Monday in a series of events across Michigan, for attacking the economics of waste and for strengthening current laws and punishments.
"Waste companies have been dumping in Michigan because it's cheap, and our legislation will make them pay," Polidori said. "All over our state, we pay to go to parks, to hunt, to fish and to enjoy Michigan's natural wonders. We want to keep our state beautiful. We play by the rules. And if we pay, the trash companies should pay too."
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 Democratic plan involves:
* A DUMPING CHARGE: Companies must pay $7.50 per ton of solid waste entering landfills. They now pay virtually nothing. 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: Out-of-state jurisdictions (cities and other states) 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.
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* 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.
* TOUGHER 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.
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 out of state, 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.
In 2002 and 2003, several Canadian trash trucks were caught with radioactive medical waste and blood, according to police testimony and Detroit News reports.
Polidori said: "Michigan needs good-paying jobs, not mountains of trash."
He and other Democrats 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 strengthened those standards.