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  4. Michigan Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Stem Canadian Waste Imports

Michigan Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Stem Canadian Waste Imports

Date: January 18, 2007

Source: News Room

Michigan lawmakers have reintroduced legislation to regulate waste imports from Canada. Last year, the federal bill had passed in the House but failed to win Senate approval. It authorizes states to limit the shipment of international wastes until the US EPA issues formal regulations. The bill is intended to address the nearly 4 million tons of waste imported from Canada each year rolling across the border on 350 trucks per day. The issue has been a longtime sore point for Michigan during which politicians have employed a variety of tactics aimed at stopping the flow. Last summer, Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin (both Democrats) made an agreement with Ontario for Toronto to voluntarily phase out shipments by 2010, including a 40% reduction by the end of 2008. That agreement however did not address commercial wastes which account for more than half of the waste imports.

If enacted, the bill would:

  • Require the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to implement and enforce the 1986 Agreement Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste between the United States and Canada, which would require Canada to notify the United States before the shipment of waste to the United States.

  • Require that when Canada notifies the United States of a shipment, the EPA consider the state's wishes.

  • Require the EPA also consider the effect of importation on continued support for recycling programs, landfill capacity, air emissions from increased vehicular traffic, road deterioration from increased vehicular traffic, as well as the impact on homeland security, public health and the environment.

  • Allow states to enact laws or issue regulations that are consistent with international trade obligations imposing limitations on the receipt and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste until EPA's final regulations to implement and enforce the agreement become effective. The state laws could stay in effect even after the EPA's regulations are in place.

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