I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
As part of a voluntary agreement Canada stopped shipping its municipal garbage to Michigan at the end of last year. The private haulers that handle that country’s commercial and industrial waste, however, still bring that garbage here because Michigan’s 21 cent per ton landfill fee is by far the lowest in the region.
In a statement on Monday Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin (D-MI), who brokered the municipal waste agreement with Canada, said that stopping municipal waste shipments will prevent 1.5 million tons of Canadian waste from being dumped in Michigan each year.
The senators said that though the end of municipal waste shipments is a milestone, it is unacceptable that the private haulers which handle most of Canada’s trash continue to bring it to Michigan and they promised to pursue legislation to address this.
“I also encourage state and local officials to consider their own steps to end these shipments,” Levin said.
Tina Lam at the Detroit Free Press writes that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that under the North American Free Trade Agreement trash is a commodity that can’t be banned from cross-border trading.
That’s why the senators hammered out the voluntary agreement with Ontario after Michiganders living near the two largest landfills that accept Canadian trash — Pine Tree Acres in Macomb County and Carleton Farms in Wayne County — complained. Residents cited noise, smells, dust and dangerous roads because of 350 trucks per day filled with garbage.
Michigan charges only 21 cents per ton in fees to dump trash in state landfills, the cheapest in the Midwest. Wisconsin charges $11 per ton, and Illinois charges $2 per ton, Stabenow said. As a result, Michigan not only gets waste from Canada, but from at least 14 other states as well, according to state reports.
Michigan’s fee is so low that it does not cover the costs of monitoring landfills for leaks.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter