FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More
information:
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Cyndi
Roper 517-490-1394
Brad
van Guilder 313-205-6386
David Holtz 517-203-0754
House
Action On Out-of-State Trash Applauded
Bold
Move by Democrats Puts Pressure on Senate To Act
EAST LANSING—Environmental groups
today applauded state
House Democrats on taking a dramatic step toward curbing out-of-state
trash
when the state House Tuesday approved a measure to raise Michigan’s
below-market waste dumping charges.
“This is the single most significant
step forward the state
of Michigan
has taken in many years in addressing the problem of mounting Canadian
and
out-of-state trash being dumped in our state,” said Cyndi Roper, Clean
Water
Action Great Lakes Policy Director. “The people have demanded action,
Democratic
candidates promised action, and they are now acting to deliver on that
promise. It has been clear for a long
time that the best way to address this issue is to deal with the
economics of
trash. As long as Michigan is a cheap place to dump
trash, we
will be the region’s dumping grounds.”
“The next step will be for the state
House to act on a
proposed moratorium on landfill expansions and to make sure a
significant portion
of the dumping charge goes toward improving recycling rates and solid
waste
programs and guaranteeing that local communities directly benefit from
these
increased revenues,” said Brad van Guilder, Community Organizer for the
Ecology Center
“The big pressure now is on the state
Senate,” said Roper. “Senators
should follow the House’s action and make sure the state ends the
official
policy of having Michigan be the
cheapest
place to dump trash in the Great Lakes
region.”
Since late 2006, more than 19,000
letters supporting the
increased dumping charge and a new moratorium on landfill expansion
have been
mailed to lawmakers from Clean Water Action members throughout the
state. Clean Water Action and the Ecology Center,
in partnership with the Michigan Environmental Council, have been
spearheading
the Don’t Trash Michigan campaign to
curb
out-of-state and Canadian trash and improve recycling rates in Michigan. The action in the Michigan House comes on the
one-year anniversary of Clean Water Action’s pledge drive seeking
commitments
from members of the Michigan
Legislature to solve the state’s trash problems.
In the bill passed Tuesday, 56-52, all
the money raised from
tipping fees goes to a new recycling fund. It
raises the dumping charge from .21 cents to $7.50—a rate
closer to
that charged by some surrounding Great Lakes
states. A second bill that would send
the estimated $150 million - $200 million in landfill revenues to local
governments for recycling and other services did not pass but is
expected to be
taken up later by the state House Committee on the Great
Lakes and Environment.
#30#