Trash Talking: U.S. bill allows states to ban Canadian garbage

WASHINGTON, (Sept. 27, 2004) — A bill that would allow U.S. states to ban trash shipments from Canada passed a House of Representatives subcommittee yesterday.

The bill, which passed 12-4, is sponsored by U.S. Representative Paul Gillmor, chairman of the House energy and commerce subcommittee on environment and hazardous materials.

Gillmor told Associated Press that states currently have no legal ability to control how much trash they get. The bill, he says, would change that and allow states to ban trash from Canada entirely.

But Representatives from New York and Illinois opposed the bill, saying it’s unconstitutional and would invite more trade barriers between Canada and the U.S. “What you advocate now may have unintended consequences,” Representative Vito Fossella of New York said.

He added that individual states do have ways to regulate trash such as having authority over taxes and zoning laws.

Toronto began shipping all of its commercial and residential trash to Michigan in 2003. The state gets about 180 truckloads of garbage each day from Ontario. Most of the trash is shipped by truck from Toronto, which stepped up hauling its to trash to Michigan after its flagship Keele Valley landfill closed last year and a follow-up plan to transport garbage to the Adams Mine in Northern Ontario fell apart.

Last month, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry said he’ll dump Canadian trash hauls to Michigan if he is elected president. he vowed not to allow further shipments until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency begins enforcing a 12 year-old treaty that requires Canada to notify the agency for each shipment of waste entering the U.S.

“It’s time to end Canadian trash dumping in Michigan,” Kerry said. “[President] George W. Bush has let Michigan become Canada’s landfill.”

— with files from Associated Press