WASHINGTON—The budget bill passed by the Senate last night includes a plan authored by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) taking the first step toward making Canada pay the price for dumping its trash in Michigan. Their provision lays the groundwork for the United States to charge up to $45 million a year in inspection fees to Canadian trash truck companies.

“Ultimately, we need to stop these trash trucks altogether, and the Administration has that authority right now,” Stabenow said. “At the very least, our safety and security depends on the effective screening of their contents. It is only fair that Canada pays for this service – Michigan’s taxpayers should not shoulder the costs of inspecting trash that we don’t want sent here in the first place.”

“The lax screening of trash trucks entering the U.S. from Canada poses a threat to our security and our environment,” Levin said. “We need to devise a way to effectively inspect these trash shipments, and if there is no way to inspect them adequately, we simply should not allow them into this country.”

Every day, 415 trash trucks cross the border on their way to Michigan landfills. In recent years, border inspections have found hazardous medical waste, radioactive materials, illegal drugs and counterfeit currency in Canadian trash shipments. Inadequate screening of trash trucks makes them an attractive target for criminal and terrorist activity.

In October of 2003, Stabenow, Levin and Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) requested a report by the Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (IG) on the security of Canadian trash shipments to Michigan. Last month, the IG reported that inadequate screening of Canadian trash trucks are a threat to American security. The Stabenow-Levin budget provision seeks to ensure that American taxpayers don’t shoulder the additional costs associated with implementing the recommendations of the Inspector General’s report.