LANSING – State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) today voted in support of a landmark landfill moratorium that is part of the aggressive Democratic plan to crack down on Canadian and out-of-state trash. The plan limits the expansion of existing landfills and bans new ones.
"Michigan has an overabundance of landfill space, and it's being eaten up by Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Canada," Valentine said. "Today's vote will turn those trash trucks around and protect our land, air and water. It will prevent Michigan from becoming the nation's dumping ground."
The legislation bans new landfills and strictly limits the expansion of existing landfills until 2012. An existing landfill could expand only if it falls to less than three years of remaining capacity. The maximum expansion allowed would be eight years of new capacity. The state has an estimated 18 years of disposal capacity remaining.
The House last month increased the state's dumping charge from 21 cents to $7.50 per ton.
Canadian and out-of-state trash accounts for more than 30 percent of the total waste dumped into Michigan's landfills. Canada and other states dumped 6.3 million tons of trash in our state in 2006, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The plan now heads to the Senate.
"I urge my colleagues in the Senate to act quickly on this plan," Valentine said. "Tourism plays a large role in our state's economy. We want to attract visitors, not garbage, to our state."