LANSING – House Democrats today renewed their call to curb Canadian and out-of-state trash after a garbage truck from Canada overturned on westbound I-94 in Port Huron Township early Tuesday, closing a westbound lane for nearly eight hours.
"Trash trucks from Canada and other states travel the same roads as our residents, and they put our residents in grave danger when they crash or spill their contents," said House Democratic Leader Dianne Byrum (D-Onondaga). "Republican stonewalling is keeping these trucks on our roads day after day. How many more lives are going to be put at risk while their stonewalling continues? It's time for them to stop protecting their friends in the trash lobby and start protecting our residents."
The KTL Canadian trash truck overturned at 4:16 a.m. on Tuesday, shutting down a lane of westbound traffic on I-94 until nearly noon. St. Clair County sheriff's deputies and Michigan State Police troopers were on the scene.
House Democrats have a plan to curb trash imports by attacking the economics of the trash trade. They want to raise Michigan's dumping charge from 21 cents a ton – the lowest in the region – to $7.50 a ton. House Democrats also want to ban new landfills until 2011. The Republican-controlled Legislature allowed a ban on new landfills to expire on Dec. 31, 2005. At least six landfill operations are poised to expand or be newly built, with more likely to follow.
"These accidents cost our taxpayers when our deputies have to be on the scene to help with clean-up," said State Representative John Espinoza (D-Croswell), whose district includes the Blue Water Bridge, a main entry point for Canadian trash trucks. "In addition, each and every one of these trucks is a safety hazard that threatens our residents, and our land, air and water. We must act now to bring them to a halt outside our borders."
The turnover in Port Huron Township is the latest in a series of accidents involving Canadian trash trucks in Michigan. Trash trucks have spilled human sludge onto roadways and have been found to be carrying radioactive medical waste. Trash trucks from Canada also have been involved in fatal accidents that have left at least two people dead.