[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 KEEPING CANADIAN TRASH OUT OF MICHIGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 23, 2002

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, our state is a cathedral--not a dumping 
ground for Canadian trash.
  For nearly 30 years, those of us in Michigan have taken 
responsibility for our own trash.
  In the early 1970s, I worked with my colleagues in the State 
Legislature and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) to make 
Michigan the first industrial state in the nation to enact a bottle 
bill.
  Michigan families wait in line to return their bottles and cans, 
meanwhile people in Canada and other states throw them in the garbage 
and truck them into our state. It is long past time to enact a ban on 
imported trash.
  I introduced the first bill to allow local communities the ability to 
say ``no'' to out-of-state and Canadian trash in 1989 and passed it 
through the House in 1994--only to have Republicans block it in the 
Senate.
  Today, Representative Rogers offers an approach that many of us have 
been talking about for some time. We need to stop these trash trucks at 
our bridges and make it as difficult as possible for them to do 
business in Michigan.
  Ensuring our border agents do not use their scarce resources to 
facilitate the flow of trash from Canada is a good first step, but we 
need to do more. We need to enact the Bonior-Dingell-Doyle-Greenwood-
Upton legislation, which would allow local communities to ban out-of-
state and Canadian trash.
  I commend Representative Rogers for drawing attention to this 
critically important issue for Michigan's families and look forward to 
working with him to enact a permanent ban on imported trash.

                          ____________________