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Thank you Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Dingell and members of the Committee.
Today this committee is holding a hearing on an issue that my state of
Michigan has been talking about for decades, Canadian Trash. This issue has been
debated by the Congress for over 20 years, but today, we're still searching for
the right solution.
I served on my counties solid waste planning committee, so I'm very familiar
with the volatile issue of solid waste disposal. After much debate, we finally
agreed on a comprehensive plan to take care of our own waste, because that was
the responsible thing to do. Every County in Michigan has an adopted solid waste
plan, approved of by the State. It took us a decade to make the plan. And we
thought we had contemplated every possibility. But we never contemplated that
the entire city of Toronto would be sending us any of their trash, let alone 100
percent of it.
But that is Toronto's solid waste plan. That is the solid waste plan for much
of Canada. And obviously, it is clearly in conflicts with ours. Each and every
day, hundreds of huge semi trucks cross the border from Canada into Michigan
loaded with garbage.
In 2001, these trucks carried more than 6.5 million cubic yards of garbage
into my state, last year that number increased dramatically, the vast majority
of it crossing the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, which is in the heart of my
district.
These trucks clog our border crossings and are an incredible safety hazard on
our roadways, not to mention the wear and tear on already bad roads.
You will hear today from officials from my state that will detail various
items found in Canadian trash that pose a threat to our environment and the
health of our people.
For instance, this trash has been found to include such things as PCB's and
medical waste, even soiled coffin waste. Michigan prides itself on having one of
the most restrictive bottle and can return laws in the nation which was enacted
to promote recycling and to keep them from filling up our landfills, and yet the
Canadian trash does not meet our strict standards.
But Canadian trash, brimming with this kind of waste, is filling our
landfills at an alarming rate.
In Michigan, we have planned for and approved enough space in our landfills
to absorb about 20 years of our own waste. With the continuing flow of Canadian
trash entering Michigan, that time frame is cut in half.
Let us not forget that Michigan is known as the "Great Lakes State"
because it is surrounded by the Great Lakes which comprises fully 1/5 of the
fresh water supply of the entire planet.
I think the worst thing about this situation is that Michigan state and local
officials are powerless to do anything to solve this problem. Certainly it is
more than appropriate for Michiganians to look to their Federal Government to
protect them from the bad behavior of another country.
I recognize that some states do want the ability to import foreign trash, and
I have no problem with that. I am a strong advocate of states' rights, and
believe every state should have the ability to do what is right for them and
their people. States' rights should always be upheld, all the time and every
time.
On this issue the people of my state have spoken out loud and clear. They
want to stop the importation of Canadian trash.
For all of these reasons I am a strong supporter of H.R. 382, sponsored by my
colleague from Michigan, Representative Mike Rogers. This bill would simply
allow individual states to either choose to accept or not to accept another
nations' trash into their landfills.
I can assure you that if given the opportunity, the Michigan legislature
would quickly enact legislation to ban Canadian trash.
In our state of almost 10 million people, you would be hard pressed to find
anyone who is not concerned about the environment.
This trash - and the damage it does to our landfill capacity - seriously
threaten our ability to maintain a clean environment.
In addition, since the absolutely horrific attacks of September 11th, the
thought that terrorists may use these trucks as vehicles to transport materials
that could be used in an attack on our nation cannot be dismissed.
In February, I wrote an op-ed for the Detroit News, raising the issue of how
Canadian trash imports undermine our homeland security efforts, because of the
endless possibility of who knows what, placed by terrorists into one of these
trash trucks. Nobody's regulating it. Nobody's inspecting it, and certainly,
Canada's imported trash represents a hole in our national security.
The Blue Water Bridge is the third busiest commercial artery in the northern
tier of our nation. We can just think about an incident that might shut it down,
and how that could crush the flow of goods on this bridge, having a huge
negative impact on our economy and our national trade.
All of this just because Michigan is forced to accept a product that
practically no one in the state wants. The time has come to do something about
this problem, and the people of Michigan are demanding action. I realize that
there are problems associated with this issue. Many states are exporters of
trash and many are importers, and these states want the ability to continue to
ship trash from state to state.
Fine. But of all the members of the U.S. House of Representatives, not one
represents Canada and this bill focuses on the ability of individual states to
ban the importation of foreign trash. I believe this is a reasonable approach.
Canada is a great nation, a nation that has always been our ally, our
neighbor and our friend. The Canadians are truly one of the greatest cultures,
greatest societies the world has ever seen.
Just as people in Washington DC might go to Alexandria or Georgetown for
lunch, in my district, we go to Windsor or Sarnia, it is so close and we have
always felt so welcome.
Because our good friends, the Canadians, have always been our close
neighbors.
This year, the citizens of Windsor, demanded that these huge trash hauling
trucks, be rerouted, and sent across the Blue Water Bridge, into the United
States, because they said, they did not want to see or smell the trucks, or deal
with their impact on their beautiful city. As it was reported in the media, they
said it was "too gross"
So they sent them into our neighborhoods, to be dumped in our beautiful
state.
That is certainly not very neighborly. It is time to correct this situation.
It is past time for the U.S. Congress to act on this issue. It is time to allow
the voices of our individual states to be heard on this important issue.
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for your leadership in allowing this debate to
move forward. I thank each and every member of the committee for your thoughtful
consideration of this important legislation.
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