Like many of my friends and neighbors, I love this state for her natural beauty. Michigan is a great place for hunting, fishing and for the simple pleasures of the outdoors.
But a Department of Environmental Quality report last week gave me cause for concern, and should worry all of us who find comfort and enjoyment in our state's natural majesty.
Trash from Canada and other states is surging into Michigan, threatening the two peninsulas of our beautiful state.
The DEQ report said more than 6 million tons of imported trash entered Michigan in 2004. It now makes up 28 percent of total trash in our landfills, up from 25 percent the year before.
Canadian trash alone totaled 3.8 million tons in 2004, a 23-percent rise from 2003.
While the volume of imported trash continues growing, Michigan has sent less waste to landfills.
In our city of Dearborn, an effective recycling program is helping us keep our waste disposal in check.
It is wrong for us to stand idly by and not fight to stop imported trash, while we play by the rules, reduce our waste and work to be good stewards of our land.
Surging waste from other states and Canada comes with serious consequences.
Last year, more than 400 trucks from Canada came into Michigan, rumbling over our bridges and through our communities.
In 2002 and 2003, several trucks carrying Canadian trash were caught with radioactive medical waste and blood stashed in their cargo.
In 2003, a ton of marijuana was found in a Canadian trash truck. That year, a Sumpter Township woman was struck in one day by two trash trucks making runs to and from Canada.
These trash trucks are ruining our roads and endangering our citizens. Imported garbage threatens our communities and hurts our way of life.
In the face of surging trash from outside Michigan, it is clear we must do something now.
That's why House Democrats are intensifying their fight against imported trash.
At the heart of our plan is a $7.50 dumping charge that attacks the economics of the waste problem.
Michigan has long been a magnet for trash. The reason is simple. It's dirt cheap to dump in Michigan.
Waste companies pay 21 cents per ton of trash. For two thin dimes and a penny a ton, trash companies are having their way and trashing our state.
Trash from Canada and other states bypass Pennsylvania, which imposed a $7.25 per ton charge in mid-2002 and slashed imported trash by 14 percent, or 1.5 million tons in the second year.
Charges in other states range from $1.75 in Ohio to $3 in Wisconsin.
Already, the waste industry is trying to protect its free ride.
In a press release from the Michigan Waste Industries Association, trash companies called our dumping charge excessive. But it clearly is in line with what other states in the region charge.
In the same release, the waste industry questioned the constitutionality of the dumping charge. But it meets U.S. Constitutional standards and is legal in other states.
The waste industry also said the charge will hit Michigan households hard. But the fact is that if the TOTAL cost of the $7.50 per ton charge were passed along to consumers, the cost should average around $1 a month per household.
Industry journal Waste Age noted in April 2003 that in Pennsylvania, the average household there paid about 90 cents per month.
In the same release, the waste industry said Michigan businesses will be disadvantaged.
The industry has no evidence to support this. Pennsylvania's economy has not suffered since its $7.25 charge began. In fact, employment went down and the economy picked up.
The trash problem can be calculated in dollars and cents. But it can also be calculated in long-term harm.
Our roads are crumbling, as more and more trucks from Canada and other states travel into Michigan with their loads of garbage.
The surge of trash threatens our health, our neighborhood, our land and our way of life.
This is a cost we cannot accept.
(State Representative Gino Polidori is a freshman Democratic legislator from Dearborn).