[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 70 (Monday, May 21, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E866]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  INTRODUCTION OF THE SOLID WASTE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 
                                  2001

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                            HON. MIKE ROGERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2001

  Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, in 1999, more than 2 million 
cubic yards of foreign municipal waste was imported to the State of 
Michigan, with the citizens of the state having no say in the process. 
The citizens of Michigan have made it clear: they want the power to 
regulate incoming foreign waste. Through their elected officials, 
Michigan citizens have attempted to gain some control of the 
importation of municipal waste to Michigan. Each time though, these 
legislative actions have been deemed unconstitutional in court, as 
states have not been granted the necessary authority by Congress. The 
Solid Waste International Transportation Act of 2001 is designed to 
give every state the authority to prohibit or limit the influx of 
foreign municipal waste through state legislative action.
  A Supreme Court decision in 1978, City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 
struck down a New Jersey statue which prohibited the importation of 
most out of state municipal waste, partially on the basis that the 
Federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, had no ``clear and manifest purpose 
of Congress to preempt the entire field of interstate waste, either by 
express statutory command, or by implicit legislative design.'' The 
Solid Waste International Transportation Act of 2001 would amend the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act to provide that express statutory command.
  Northeast Bancorp v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
472 U.S. 159, 174 (1985) said ``When Congress so chooses, state actions 
which it plainly authorizes are invulnerable to constitutional attack 
under the Commerce Clause.'' The Solid Waste International 
Transportation Act of 2001 would be a plain authorization of the 
state's authority to prohibit or limit incoming foreign municipal 
waste.
  Every state in this nation should have the ability to regulate the 
influx of foreign municipal waste. If a state wants to prohibit the 
importation of foreign waste, they aught to have that power. If a state 
wants to import large amounts of foreign waste, they aught to have that 
power. Or if a state wants to restrict the importation of foreign 
municipal waste, they aught to have that power too. Through their 
elected representatives, let's give the citizens of their respective 
states a say in the importation of foreign municipal waste.

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