Washington – A proposed bill that would give Michigan and other states more control over Canadian trash entering the United States was advanced by the House of Representatives energy committee yesterday. The proposed legislation, which had unanimous approval in committee, would allow states to regulate the shipment of international municipal solid waste. The bill also would require the federal government and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce a 1992 treaty requiring Canada to inform the United States of trash shipments entering the nation. The treaty, which has never been fully enforced, allows the United States to reject Canadian trash shipments.

The bill now will now go before the entire House for debate. A similar bill in the Senate, sponsored by Michigan senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, is pending.