Landfill lawsuit.

* The Canadian National Railway Co., Montreal, has filed lawsuits against Wayne County, Mich., and Rockwood, Mich., in federal court, claiming the governments of both communities are interfering with its right to ship construction and demolition debris from New Jersey into their landfills, according to a report in the Detroit News.

The city and county are preparing to seek injunctions against the railroad, which has been hauling nearly 1,000 tons of New Jersey's CS-D debris to the Allied Waste-Rockwood landfill, according to the report.

The Detroit News reports that Canadian National Railway's suit alleges Wayne County and the city of Rockwood violated the U.S. Constitution when it issued orders to stop building the transfer station in November 2004.

The suit does not specify monetary damages, but seeks an injunction barring the local governments from enforcing environmental regulations on the facility.

This current conflict is the latest development in an on-going battle over imported garbage. Michigan is the third largest trash importer in the United States, according to the report, taking in 5.2 million tons last year alone.

Some of that waste comes from Canada, with one estimate calculating that about 1.3 million tons of garbage was shipped from Ontario to Michigan to be landfilled in 2003. Much of that came from the city of Toronto, which no longer has a municipal landfill.

Canadian National has maintained that it is abiding by all legal requirements in its operations.