32 Members of Congress urge newly elected Canadian Prime Minister to cancel DGR

As reported at the website of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump, a bipartisan delegation of 6 U.S. Senators and 26 U.S. Representatives has written newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to cancel Ontario Power Generation's proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for burial of radioactive waste on the Lake Huron shore at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario.

At the very least, the 32 Members of Congress request Prime Minister Trudeau to postpone the December 2, 2015 deadline now set for his newly installed Environment Minister to decide yea or nay to go forward with the DGR, until the delegation can meet with him to express its concerns.

You can help, by contacting your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators, and urging them to join this effort to protect the Great Lakes. Your congressional members can also co-sponsor legislation and a resolution, calling for U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission comprehensive review of the DGR scheme.

New Canadian government could derail plans for nuclear waste dump near Lake Huron

The targeted location where the DGR would be built at OPG's Bruce NGS on the Lake Huron shore in Kincardine, ONAs reported by Michigan Radio and the AP, the Liberal Party's decisive election victory on Oct. 19th gives hope to opponents of Ontario Power Generation's proposed Deep Geologic Repository for burying radioactive waste on the Great Lakes shore at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario (see photo, left). They hope Prime Minister Trudeau will nip the DUD in the bud (DUD, short for Deep Underground Dump, is the abbreviation coined by David Martin of Greenpeace Canada for the insane scheme).

The article quotes Beverly Fernandez of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump:

“It is one of the most important issues of our time because this decision will affect the Great Lakes for the next 100,000 years,” says Beverly Fernandez, with Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump. “Burying radioactive nuclear waste beside the Great Lakes, the drinking water for 40 million people in two countries, defies common sense.”

Update on October 22, 2015 by admin

In an editorial, the Times-Herald has called upon newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to cancel the DGR proposal.

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump announces town hall meeting in Toronto

As announced on its website, Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has called a town hall meeting in Toronto, on Tuesday, October 6, 2015. See the flier.

Featured speakers will include: Councillor Mike Layton, City of Toronto; Dr. Faisal Moola, Director General, David Suzuki Foundation; Beverly Fernandez, Spokesperson, Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump; Mayor Mike Bradley, City of Sarnia; Senator Phil Pavlov, Michigan State Senate; John Jackson, Waste Management Lecturer/Trent University; Dr. Stephanie Rutherford, Assistant Professor, Trent University (Moderator).

The town hall meeting will take place in the Council Chambers at Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St. W., near Osgoode Subway Station.

(The town hall meeting takes place about two weeks before Canadian federal parliamentary elections take place, on Monday, October 19th. Prime Minister Harper's Environment Minister, Leona Aglukkaq, postponed her final decision on the DGR until December 2nd -- likely in an attempt to take the issue off the table, in the lead up to the elections.)

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has also announced that the grand total number of resolutions across the Great Lakes Basin against the Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) is 173; 22.6 million people live in those jurisdictions.

Update on October 6, 2015 by admin

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has posted the video recording of its Oct. 6th Toronto town hall meeting on its website.

Beyond Nuclear's response to Lessenberry's blog "Nuclear Waste and You"

In response to Jack Lessenberry's Sept. 9, 2015 Politics & Prejudice column entitled "Nuclear waste and you," which appears at the Detroit Metro Times and downplays the risks of Canada's Great Lakes radioactive waste dump, Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, wrote a response on Sept. 12, 2015.

Although Kamps attempted to post his response at the column's website, it would not take. He then emailed the response to numerous editors at the Detroit Metro Times, including Jack Lessenberry, but as of Sept. 17, 2015, the response had still not been posted below the column.

Beyond Nuclear submits public comments to CEAA and the Canadian federal Environment Minister opposing the DUD

OPG wants to dump Ontario's radioactive wastes less than a mile from the shore of Lake Huron!Beyond Nuclear has submitted yet another round of public comments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and Canadian federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, opposing Ontario Power Generation's Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for radioactive waste burial targeted at the Great Lakes shore at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario.

David Martin of Greenpeace Canada dubbed the DGR the DUD, for Deep Underground Dump.

Now that this likely final round of public comment is over, the resistance to the DUD moves to the floor of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Senators Stabenow and Peters, and Representative Kildee (Democrats from Michigan), will likely introduce the "Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act" next week, once the congressional session resumes. They announced the legislation at press conferences in Michigan during the August recess.

The Michigan Members of Congress previously led the introduction of bipartisan congressional resolutions against the DUD. The House version garnered 22 co-sponsors, 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans.

What can YOU do to stop the DUD? Do one or more of the following:

1. If you haven't already, sign the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition. Even if you have signed it, spread the word, and urge everyone you know to also sign it.

2. If you haven't already, sign the Sum of Us petition. Again, even if you have signed it, spread the word, and urge everyone you know to also sign it.

3. Contact your two U.S. Senators, and your U.S. Representative (get patched through to their offices via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121), and urge them to co-sponsor the bipartisan U.S. Senate (S.Res. 134) and House (H.Res. 194) resolutions opposing the DGR; if they already have done so, thank them; if they have not, urge them to ASAP. Likewise, urge them to co-sponsor U.S. Senate and House legislation, the "Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act," to be introduced by U.S. Sens. Stabenow and Peters, and U.S. Rep. Kildee (Democrats from Michigan), once Congress returns to session on Sept. 8. The "Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act" will invoke the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, and mandate the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission (IJC) to undertake a comprehensive review of the DGR proposal.

(On September 10, 2015, the "Stop Nuclear Waste by our Lakes Act 2015" was introduced in the US Senate by US Senator Debbie Stabenow [D-MI], co-sponsored by US Senators Sherrod Brown [D-OH], Richard Durbin [D-IL], Mark Kirk [R-IL] and Gary Peters [D-MI]:  Stop Nuclear Waste by our Lakes Act 2015. A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee [D-MI].)

4. Contact the White House, and urge President Obama to instruct Secretary of State Kerry to activate the IJC to undertake a comprehensive review of the DGR proposal.

If you have already done each of these action steps, THANK YOU! Please consider contacting your Members of Congress and the White House again, and urge everyone you know to take these actions as well! (Feel free to just forward the link to this action alert.) Together, we must do all we can to stop OPG's DGR, and protect the Great Lakes -- drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations; more than 20% of the world's, and around 85% of North America's, surface fresh water; and the lifeblood of one of the world's single largest regional economies.

Update on September 2, 2015 by admin

See the comments submitted by Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility.

Update on September 10, 2015 by admin

On September 10, 2015, the "Stop Nuclear Waste by our Lakes Act 2015" was introduced in the US Senate by US Senator Debbie Stabenow [D-MI], co-sponsored by US Senators Sherrod Brown [D-OH], Richard Durbin [D-IL], Mark Kirk [R-IL] and Gary Peters [D-MI]:  Stop Nuclear Waste by our Lakes Act 2015. A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee [D-MI].