Conyers Hails Passage of Canadian Trash Bill

Washington, DC - Congressman John Conyers, Jr. today expressed support for H.R. 2491, the International Solid Waste Importation and Management Act of 2005, as a first step towards stopping the inflow of Canadian trash into the Detroit area. His statement follows:

"Riverview and other downriver communities in my district have had to cope with hundreds of trucks full of Canadian trash rumbling down their streets on a daily basis for years. These trucks pass through our communities en route from the Ambassador Bridge to traffic dumps to the west. You can imagine the traffic congestion, environmental and quality-of-life problems these truckloads of trash have created.

"Local activists like Mr. George Read of Trenton and State Representative Kathleen Law have been working tirelessly alongside our Congressional delegation to put an end to this never-ending flow of trash, and I am very pleased that the House today is taking a step toward that goal. If adopted, H.R. 2491 would give states the power to restrict the importation of foreign waste. Under current law, only the federal government is able to make such restrictions.

"However, let us not overlook the fact that H.R. 2491 has been awaiting floor consideration since it passed the Energy and Commerce committee fourteen months ago. Our delegation has had to send two letters to get Speaker Hastert to finally bring this important legislation to the floor. We now have only about fifteen days left in session before we break for the elections, and it will be a tall order for this bill to make it through committee and the full Senate during that time. Indeed, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has already announced that he does not foresee consideration of this legislation any time soon.

"I want to commend Senators Levin and Stabenow and Congressman Dingell for the deal they have worked out with Ontario's Minister of the Environment to halt the importation of Canadian municipal waste over the next four years. The Bush administration and the Republican Congress have wasted many years and numerous opportunities to address this issue both through legislation and by implementing a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Canada already on the books since 1992. Our constituents were fed up with this inaction, so our Michigan Democratic legislators took the initiative to negotiate an agreement that will reduce the importation of Canadian municipal trash immediately, and end it completely in four years. Republicans can complain about our legislators taking matters into their own hands, but the fact is that the Republicans have failed to do a thing to address this serious problem. The negotiated agreement is a step in the right direction, as is passage of this bill."

###9-6-2006###