	Background

Canada and the United States have open borders for waste shipments, and waste has flowed across the border in both directions for years. Thus, it appears that more than 90% of the solid waste that Canada ships to the United States has gone to Michigan. While somewhat controversial throughout the 1990s, Canadian waste imports have received much greater attention since late 2002, when the city of Toronto—Canada's largest city—announced that it would close its last landfill and begin shipping all of its waste to Michigan. Under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is given power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce; in a long series of cases beginning in the 1800s the Court has held that this grant of authority to Congress implies a prohibition of state actions to discriminate against interstate and foreign commerce, absent the consent of Congress. H.R. 2491 (Gillmor), which was reported by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on September 27, 2005, and passed the House by voice vote, September 6, 2006. Similar legislation ( H.R. 518 ) was introduced by Representative Dingell in the 110 th Congress, was reported by the Energy and Commerce Committee ( H.Rept. 110-81 ) March 29, 2007, and passed the House by voice vote, April 24, 2007. DHS Appropriations Bill

In the 109 th Congress, H.R. A separate amendment, introduced by Senator Levin (with the co-sponsorship of Senators Stabenow and Voinovich) and also approved in the Senate by unanimous consent, would have required that the Secretary of Homeland Security deny entry into the United States to trucks carrying MSW unless he certifies to Congress that the methodologies and technologies used by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to detect the presence of chemical, nuclear, biological, and radiological weapons in municipal solid waste are as effective as those used to screen for such materials in other items of commerce entering the United States in commercial motor vehicles. Exchange of Letters with Ontario

Following passage of the Stabenow and Levin amendments, on August 30, 2006, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment reached an agreement with the two Senators, under which Ontario will eliminate shipments of municipally managed waste to Michigan by the end of 2010. The steps taken by Congress in beginning to move legislation, as well as the separate legislation enacted by the state of Michigan, clearly played a role in bringing about the exchange of letters with Ontario. But large issues remain. It is not a treaty or an international agreement and does not provide the enforcement provisions or penalties that legislation might offer. To summarize, those who continue to be concerned about Canadian waste shipments are likely to note that the exchange of letters does not address two-thirds of the waste being shipped, does not protect states other than Michigan, and contains no enforcement provisions. 518

H.R. It is not clear how these obligations and the bill's grant of authority to the states to restrict waste imports would ultimately be reconciled.
Private waste haulers and Canadian cities—including the city of Toronto—ship large quantities of waste to the United States. About four million tons (as many as 400 truckloads a day) have been shipped annually since 2004, according to receiving states. Nearly three-quarters of this waste has gone to two large landfills near Detroit.
The influx of waste has been highly controversial, in part because the ability of state and local governments to restrict it is limited. Under court rulings concerning the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause, only Congress can authorize restrictions that discriminate against foreign waste. Thus, for several years, the state of Michigan and the Michigan congressional delegation have pressed Congress for action. Legislation to provide limited authority to restrict waste imports, H.R. 518, was introduced early in the 110th Congress by Representative Dingell, with the co-sponsorship of the entire Michigan delegation. The bill was reported by the Energy and Commerce Committee March 29, and passed the House, by voice vote, April 24, 2007.
Congress began to focus on this issue in the summer of 2006. In July of that year, in the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5441), the Senate approved the establishment of an inspection program for waste imports that might have added more than $400 in fees to the cost of importing a truckload of waste. In early September, the House passed legislation similar to H.R. 518 (H.R. 2491 in the 109th Congress), which would have given states limited authority to restrict waste imports. In between these actions, an agreement was reached between Michigan's two Senators and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, under which Ontario will eliminate shipments of municipally managed waste to Michigan by the end of 2010.
The steps taken by Congress in beginning to move legislation, as well as separate legislation enacted by the state of Michigan, clearly played a role in bringing about the voluntary agreement between Michigan's two Senators and Ontario. But large issues remain. The agreement is not a treaty or an international agreement, so it does not formally bind the United States or Canada or the parties shipping and receiving the waste. Assuming that its provisions are adhered to by Ontario's waste managers, it still would not address two-thirds of the waste being shipped to Michigan (i.e., the waste being managed by private waste management firms), and it would not affect waste shipments to states other than Michigan.
This report provides background information on the history of Canadian waste imports, reviews congressional developments, and discusses issues raised by the voluntary agreement and legislation.