LANSING – A Canadian trash truck overturned on I-94 in St. Clair County earlier today and shut down part of the freeway during the morning rush hour, prompting State Representative Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) to blast the Michigan Senate for not acting on tough measures that would fight the flood of out-of-state and Canadian garbage.
"Trash trucks from Canada and other states harm our roads and threaten the safety of our motorists and our neighborhoods," McDowell said. "For too long, we have been exploited by these trucks because it is cheap to dump trash here. I call on the Senate to stop stonewalling our tough anti-trash plan that bans new landfills and increases the state's dumping charge. Our plan will turn the trash trucks around."
For years, McDowell has fought to stem the tide of Canadian and out-of-state trash pouring into Michigan. He was a lead sponsor of legislation that bans new landfills and strictly limits the expansion of existing landfills until 2012, and attacks the economics of the trash trade by increasing the state's current paltry dumping charge of 21 cents per ton. With a steeper dumping charge, Canada and other states will be forced to dump their trash elsewhere.
The Detroit Free Press reported today that a Canadian trash truck overturned on I-94 southeast of Port Huron, and that it was not clear how long it would take emergency crews to clean up and reopen the highway.
This is not the first time that Canadian trash trucks have caused problems, threatening public safety and draining resources of road and clean-up personnel. In December 2005, a Canadian trash truck traveling westbound on I-69 flipped in Capac, dumping garbage on the highway and closing it for half an hour. In November 2005, a Canadian trash truck struck a car in HuronTownship in WayneCounty, killing two men. In March, a Canadian truck dumped human sludge in downtown Flat Rock in WayneCounty.
"Enough is enough," said McDowell, whose district includes the InternationalBridge, the northernmost entry point in Michigan for entry of Canadian trash, and the Dafter Landfill. "We must put an end to the trashing of Michigan if we want to protect our communities and attract investments to the state. The time to act is now."