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Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the House Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee. I am here at the invitation and urging of Congressman Rogers to
offer my ardent support for HR 382 -- Congressman Rogers' proposal to afford the
states express authority to regulate foreign municipal solid waste.
As you know, Michigan has a long and unique history of efforts to protect the
integrity of its solid waste planning process. In 1978, the Michigan Legislature
passed the state's Solid Waste Management Act in order to help provide integrity
for our waste management process and to provide a suitable environment for the
disposal of waste. In that act, each county was required to develop a management
plan that would ensure suitable disposal. As a direct consequence, the numerous
landfills in Michigan, many of which that were not operating with the latest
technologies, were either closed or upgraded to provide for a long-term,
responsible plan for the state. In addition, Michigan also began to focus on
reduction, reuse, and recycling of its waste in an effort to reduce the amount
of landfill space needed. In short, Michigan took its responsibilities seriously
by investing heavily in a plan that provided for integrity of its waste
management process.
One of the most significant amendments to this act occurred in 1988 and
provided the authority to each county to be able to ban waste generated from
outside of that county. This legislation had the effect of allowing a county to
also ban the importation of out-of-state waste. As you may know, challenges to
this statute ultimately led to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 decision in Fort
Gratiot Sanitary Landfill v MDNR, which struck down the statute as violative of
the Interstate Commerce Clause.
Since that time, Michigan has struggled with the issue of how to control
waste shipped from out of state. With ever increasing amounts of foreign
municipal solid waste coming across our borders, Michigan's well conceived plan
to provide for its own disposal options has been compromised by the inability to
regulate out-of-state waste. Over the last three fiscal years, Michigan has seen
foreign municipal solid waste increase from 4.2 million cubic yards in FY 2000
to 6.6 million cubic yards in FY 2002, with projections for the next year
indicating an additional increase of at least 300,000 cubic yards because of new
contracts. The steps taken by Michigan policymakers to develop a responsible
plan through the reduction, reuse, and recycling, and the placement of its waste
in landfills are jeopardized when we cannot control the amount of waste coming
across our borders.
In reaction to the growing concern over how to control out of state waste,
Governor Engler created an out-of-state waste task force in May of 1999. The
deliberations of the Solid Waste Importation Task Force ultimately led to a
recommendation that federal legislation needed to be passed to authorize states
to regulate out-of-state waste.
Subsequent to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and the recommendations
of the Task Force, numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced,
including resolutions urging and imploring the federal government to pass needed
legislation. Letters have been written urging the same, and countless other
communications have been sent, all asking Congress to act in the needed fashion.
I am here today to deliver two important messages. Number one, my colleagues
in the Michigan Legislature and I all appreciate and support prompt and sorely
needed action on HR 382. I can tell you that resolutions, such as SR 12,
expressly supporting passage of HR 382, have already been passed by the Senate,
and legislation has been introduced that would take the authority you will
provide the state in this legislation and immediately implement an aggressive
regulatory program that will protect the state from the ever-increasing amounts
of foreign municipal solid waste.
Number two, my colleagues in the Michigan Legislature and I, without meaning
to sound unappreciative of these current efforts to give the states this
important authority, have a bipartisan, bicameral plan being prepared that will
allow us to act unilaterally to protect Michigan's borders from the waste and
sludge that is coming across our international borders. We have stepped up
inspections, authorized the Department of Environmental Quality to assess the
sources and kinds of out-of-state waste, and conducted hearings around the state
to refine a plan that will move Michigan into position to slow down the
importation of waste -- what I believe to be not a valuable item of commerce but
an unintended negative consequence of human activities.
There have been over 33 pieces of legislation introduced this session alone
dealing with this issue, and from these bills, I fully expect that a bipartisan,
bicameral legislative initiative will be passed by the end of this year. From
early indications, this package will contain bills that will expand the number
of items banned from our landfills and set up a more comprehensive recycling
program to both improve recycling in our state and enable us to scrutinize the
kind of waste that is coming across our borders. This plan is a good one and
mirrors what other states have done to curb out-of-state waste but is not as
desirable as moving HR 382, which would give the state full authority to take
more direct actions to regulate out-of-state waste.
We all know that Michigan has a lot at stake, and I believe that Michigan is
not like any other state. We are the home of the Great Lakes and should not be
regarded as anyone's dumping ground. We have taken the responsibilities laid out
in the Michigan Constitution very seriously to protect this state's natural
resources from "pollution, impairment and destruction." We have taken
prudent actions in this regard as we have developed a plan for our state that
ensures that we have an adequate amount of landfill capacity. This action and
Michigan's patience in waiting for appropriate federal legislation should not be
a signal for anyone or any entity to think that we have given a free pass to
dump their waste in our state.
Let me close by saying that I sincerely appreciate your efforts in focusing
on this important natural resource issue, and I also sincerely hope that the
actions you take will be swift and meaningful. HR 382 is a critical piece of
legislation that will give us the foundational authority to take the steps we
need to protect our waste management programs and, more importantly, the health
of our natural resources and the people of this state. I thank you for your time
in taking my testimony and urge prompt action on this critical piece of
legislation -- HR 382.
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