The Lansing State Journal is reporting today that the federal legislation State House Republicans were counting on to block some forms of Canadian trash is stalled, and a vote isn’t expected until spring. You can read the article here:

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051210/NEWS01/512100334/1150

Meanwhile, since January 1, 2005, over 5.7 million tons of Canadian and out-of-state trash has poured into our state. That’s up from less than 2 million tons just four years ago – an increase of nearly 300%.

In passing the buck earlier this fall, Republicans claimed that “With this legislation, Michigan will no longer be the dumping ground for Canadian trash.” With no action expected until spring, we’re still waiting. It’s time to stop making excuses. We need real action to stop Canadian and out-of-state trash.

While Republicans in the state legislature pass the buck and continue to make excuses, Democrats have a plan that would dramatically reduce the amount of Canadian and out-of-state trash crossing into Michigan each day. More importantly, this plan could take effect today – without waiting for federal action that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. (As the sponsor of the federal bill said, “You have 49 other states who say, ‘Why should I care?’”)

The reason we receive so much trash is because it’s so cheap to dump here. It costs just 21 cents/ ton to dump in Michigan. Compare that with Pennsylvania, where it costs $7.25/ ton, nearly 30 times as much as in Michigan. Clearly, then, the solution is to increase our dumping rates – the Democratic plan would raise them to 7.50/ ton – forcing the trash companies to think twice before sending all their trash to Michigan.

If it costs more to dump here, they’ll go somewhere else. It’s just that simple.