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April 20, 2003Canadian garbage dumping trashedTrucks of refuse from up north head to WatersByRecord-Eagle staff writer GRAYLING - Paul Smith sighed with disbelief when he heard that Canadian trash is being dumped at the Waters landfill near his Crawford County home. "I think we've got enough garbage of our own - I don't see why we need any of theirs," the Maple Forest Township resident said. "I think Americans should start taking care of America." The first semi truck loads of garbage were hauled into the Waters Landfill earlier this week. The landfill anticipates one to two loads of Canadian garbage per day and about 11,000 thousand cubic yards per year, said Tom Horton, governmental affairs manager for Waste Management. Under the North American Fair Trade Agreement, Canada can ship its garbage into the Michigan because it is part of international trade. At the start of the year, Toronto began sending all 1.1 million tons of waste into the state. Horton said Waste Management has been accepting Canadian refuse trash at the company's landfills in Wayne County, Port Huron and now Waters. Bruce Patrick, environmental monitor for Crawford County, said the trash is coming to the landfill from Sudbury, Ontario. Waste Management has a landfill in Dafter near Sault Ste. Marie and also owns Glen's Landfill in Leelanau County. Horton said the Waters landfill has more capacity and hours of operation, making it a more economically viable option for trash haulers. Haulers on their return trips also collect shipments of recycled newspapers and cardboard which are taken back to mills in Ontario. "It's economics that drives the movement of any product in the marketplace and trash is no different," Horton said. "It's a product of society that moves like lumber, iron ore, cars or whatever." Phil Lovelly, a Roscommon County resident, expressed concern that bringing the trash into northern Michigan would cause more pollution. "We've got enough of our own and we don't know what's coming from it," he said. "It could be all kinds of stuff." Horton said there are a number of steps taken between curbside trash pickup and its disposal in a landfill to ensure that no hazardous, medical or nuclear waste is dumped in Michigan. He said Crawford's environmental monitor and state Department of Environmental Quality inspectors also check the landfill. Waste Management would be subject to stiff fines and criminal prosecution if it violated regulations. Horton said waste officials believe accepting household waste is a fair exchange given that hazardous waste from the state is shipped to Ontario and low-level nuclear waste is sent to other states. "There are only 51 landfills in the state and probably there will be no more built, so it's a responsibility that is not taken lightly," Horton said. The Crawford County Board of Commissioners has sent a resolution supporting federal regulation of trash shipments. County officials are worried the trash shipments will affect the health and welfare of local citizens and also create a need for more landfills. Board chairwoman Lynnette Corlew said she has been concerned Crawford could become a dumping ground for Canadian trash since a 1996 lawsuit settlement with City Environmental Services, the pervious owner of the landfill. The county challenged the company when it tried to bring trash to Crawford County from other counties in the state not included in the county's solid waste plan. The settlement funds the county environmental monitor as well a recycling. "I knew it was going to have an impact here eventually because of the availability of vast areas of land that is not next to lakes, streams or sensitive areas where landfills could be built," she said. Waste Management's Horton said accepting the additional trash should not be a concern because aggressive recycling and future technology will make trash decompose faster and allow the landfills to be reused and preserved. Meanwhile, Michigan's two U.S. senators - Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both Democrats - attached an amendment to a bill to fund the war in Iraq that requires customs officials to check the trash trucks before they come into the state, starting on May 1. They also have proposed further legislation that would prevent trash shipments by requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce a 1992 agreement between Canada and the United States. The agreement requires Canada to notify the EPA before it sends any shipments of trash to Michigan. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, is a co-sponsor of similar legislation in the House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, has also sponsored a bill that would allow states to ban Canadian waste, which House Democrats say has no chance of passing because it would violate NAFTA. Rogers and U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Macomb County Republican, have attacked the Levin-Stabenow effort, saying "endless inspections" would strain resources at the border. But an aide for U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, a veteran lawmaker who in 1994 sponsored the only bill limiting Canadian trash that has ever passed the House, said Thursday that border agents already have turned back five trash trucks containing hazardous materials.
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