While several state trucking-company officials openly condemn the practice of backhauling, some said a new bill in Congress may be too strict.

A measure to ban certain types of backhauling -- when carriers ship both food and garbage in the same trailer at different times -- overwhelmingly passed the House by a 410-15 vote Tuesday. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. William Clinger, R-Warren, will be sent to a Senate sub-committee in April, said spokesman David Fuscus.

If passed, the bill will outlaw backhauling garbage in refrigerated food and tanker trucks, and require asbestos to be carried in specially designated vehicles, Fuscus said.

"Hauling garbage in trucks that also carry food is disgusting and dangerous but also, unfortunately, legal in many states," Clinger said in his address to the House on Tuesday.

However, some in the trucking industry said the legislative measure is too strong.

"You shouldn't stop it -- you should scrutinize it more," said Peter Sachkowski, traffic manager of Gensimore Trucking in Pleasant Gap.

Sachkowski, who said his company does not backhaul, says the practice is only dangerous in a few cases. Some companies take extreme measures to prevent food from being contaminated by lining their trucks with plastic and washing them out after hauling garbage.

If companies backhaul, they can charge cheaper rates because they can carry loads both ways, said Art Irvin, general manager of Davidson Brothers trucking line of Wingate.

"They need to backhaul in order to make money," Irvin said.

Jim Rosenberry, dispatch supervisor dock foreman for Consolidated Freightways, 102 Union Ave. in Lewistown, is strongly opposed to the practice.

"That's not proper to begin with and it causes a lot of problems," he said.

Clinger said the bill is necessary to maintain food sanitation standards.

"Maybe you can't hurt the garbage but you can sure hurt a lot of people by exposing . . . we don't eat food out of garbage cans and we shouldn't have to eat food delivered in a garbage truck," he said.

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation will be in charge of enforcement if the bill is passed, Fuscus said.

Enforcement would not be a problem; Sachkowski said:

"If fines are stiff enough, why would you take a chance?" he said.