[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 103 (Thursday, July 25, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. MIKE ROGERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 24, 2002

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5120) making 
     appropriations for the Treasury Department, the United States 
     Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and 
     certain Independent Agencies, for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2003, and for other purposes:

  Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my colleagues, 
and I will ask for their help today because Michigan is in need.
  In the Civil War, Michigan mustered 90,000 troops to defend the 
Union. During that tumultuous time in our history, Abraham Lincoln was 
quoted as saying: ``Thank God for Michigan.'' We have the second most 
diverse agricultural crop in the United States. We offer all the 
flavors of this great country to our fellow States.
  Michigan is responsible for creating the permanent middle class in 
America when Henry Ford decided to pay the workers on the line $5 a 
day. During World War II, Michigan converted all of its automobile 
production plants into plants that produced military arsenal, making 
Michigan the arsenal of democracy for the world. We did that for the 
United States of America. Michigan is home of the Great Lakes, which 
account for 20 percent of the world's fresh water, all of it worth 
defending. And I am here to tell you today that Michigan right now is 
under attack. I need every colleague in this House from Maine to 
California to Florida and in between to step up to the plate and say, 
``We will stand beside you, those who have stood by America before.''
  In the year 2000, Canadians sent 4.2 million cubic yards of waste to 
Michigan, nearly double from the year before. Canada is the second 
largest land mass country in the world, and yet they are unable to 
handle their own trash. This situation gets worse.
  Toronto is scheduled to close its last landfill at the end of the 
year. Recently, city workers in Toronto went on strike. I want to point 
this out to you. This is the scene in Toronto just a few weeks ago: 
trash blocking roadways. This is a park area filled with trash from 
Toronto. As you can see, the residents were throwing bags of garbage 
over the fence, piling up everywhere all across their city.
  Here is the bad news. All of that trash that my colleagues see right 
here is coming to the great State of Michigan and we are absolutely 
uncertain as to its contents. Let me just quote for my colleagues a 
woman from Toronto as quoted in the Toronto Star, when city workers 
settled a strike that allowed garbage to pile up in the streets. She 
was quoted as saying ``I'm relieved that it's on its way. It was 
polluted, smelly and germy.''
  160 semi-trucks each day are delivering polluted, smelly and germy 
Toronto trash to the great State of Michigan. At the end of this year, 
when Toronto's last remaining landfill closes, that number is expected 
to exceed 250 trucks every day of this trash in our landfills. Michigan 
has had a long-term plan to deal with its own garbage. Just with 
Canadian trash alone, Michigan's landfill capacity has been reduced 
from 20 years to 10 years, and getting smaller every day.
  In one landfill that accepts Canadian trash, PCBs and soiled coffin 
waste were discovered. The needle program in Toronto is coming to a 
landfill near you great citizens of Michigan.
  This amendment is important today. There is a lot of work we need to 
do on this issue to stop Canadian trash. However, we ought to have the 
courage today to stand with our fellow Michiganders to give them at 
least the hope of protecting their environment in the great State of 
Michigan.
  The purpose of my amendment is to hire six U.S. Customs agents to be 
stationed 24 hours a day on the Ambassador Bridge and the Blue Water 
Bridge, three at each bridge for every shift. The sole responsibility 
of these agents will be to inspect Canadian trash coming into Michigan. 
The money provided includes dollars for equipment, training and 
benefits.
  Now, the only way to know what's in this trash is to get our hands 
dirty and inspect it. Let's find out where the PCBs are coming from, 
where the soiled coffin waste is coming from and where the bottles are 
coming, since Canada does not have a bottle deposit program like 
Michigan.
  This is the right and decent thing to do, to let us in Michigan 
defend our borders as we have stood with the rest of this country to 
defend theirs.
  I am going to ask my colleagues again today, please strongly support 
this amendment. We want to make sure that every trash container coming 
into Michigan meets existing environmental and health regulations. 
Today, we have no assurance that is happening. Today, we cannot be 
certain that there is no leeching from this material, ruining our 
lakes, our streams and ruining the great land of Michigan.
  Instead of spending a little more money going after grandma who owes 
the IRS $12, we are going to spend just a little bit less from the $4 
billion account that we are reducing to protect the health and 
environment of my home State, the great State of Michigan. I challenge 
all of my colleagues to please support this issue. Stand loudly with us 
as we tell the Canadians to please handle their own trash and leave the 
littering to those who get a ticket.

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