[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10991-S10992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF SOLID WASTE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it is outrageous that another Congress has 
passed without the enactment of legislation which would resolve the 
problem of the interstate transportation of solid waste. The people 
should not be dumped on any longer. They should have some control over 
their own jurisdictions and over their own land. It is up to us to give 
them that authority. I just heard that Toronto Canada is thinking about 
sending its waste to Michigan and the people of Michigan have nothing 
to say about it.
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that, under the Commerce Clause of 
the Constitution, unless Congress acts, states and municipalities are 
powerless to stop trash from being brought into their jurisdictions--
powerless to protect their citizens' safety, the environment and their 
quality of life. So our states and municipalities rely on us to pass 
this protective legislation, and we let them down--again. The Senate 
has expressed its will on this issue over and over again--A majority of 
Senators support this legislation. We passed it by an overwhelming vote 
of 94-6. But the House has not acted. There are a few people over there 
who oppose it who have managed to displace the will of what appears to 
be a clear majority of House Members.
  What will it take? The problem is getting worse. Total interstate 
waste shipments continue to rise and there is a finite amount of 
landfill capacity available. Michigan, my State, imports over 12 
percent of all of the solid waste it disposes of in landfills. Michigan 
counties and townships have plans for waste disposal. They have 
invested in it. They have made significant commitments to waste 
reduction and recycling. They have spent a lot of money on these 
investments to dispose of their waste locally. Those plans and those 
good faith investments are totally undermined when contracts to bring 
in waste from other states and countries are entered into without 
consideration by State, county, or local

[[Page S10992]]

governments of the impact of those contracts for importing waste into 
those areas. When you import waste in that way, without consideration 
of plans, and without consideration of the efforts that local 
governments have made to dispose of their own waste, it totally 
disrupts those efforts and those expenditures. It is not right. States 
and local governments have a right to do that planning and to make 
those investments in order to dispose of their own waste and, should 
they see fit, not to see their own plans displaced by the import of 
waste from other places.
  I want to commend all the Senators who have been involved in this 
effort for so many years. Our previous vote of 96 to 4 shows that this 
truly is a bipartisan effort and it will continue to be.
  Our States are counting on us to give them the authority to protect 
their citizens and the environment. I can assure you that, when 
Congress returns in January, I will be ready to fight this battle again 
until we pass legislation to prevent our states from being dumping 
grounds.

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