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« Bicameral, bipartisan state legislators and members of congress take action to stop Canadian Great Lakes shoreline radioactive waste dumps | Main | Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman: The Threat of Nuclear Waste »
Monday
Jan202020

Lawmakers oppose Lake Huron high-level nuclear waste storage

As reported by MLive, a bipartisan, bicameral resolution opposing high-level radioactive waste dumping near the shoreline of the Great Lakes has been introduced in Congress. The initial sponsors include U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats from Michigan, as well as U.S. Representatives Dan Kildee (Democrat-Flint Twp., MI) and (John Moolenar, Republican-Midland, MI).

See the Congress Members' press release, here.

It reports: The resolution is supported by other Democrats and Republicans in the Michigan delegation, including Congressman Fred Upton (MI-06), Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02), Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12),  Congressman Paul Mitchell (MI-10), Congressman Jack Bergman (MI-01), Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11), Congressman Andy Levin (MI-09), Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13).

See H. Res. 805, posted online here. More information re: H. Res. 805, Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President and the Secretary of State should ensure that the Government of Canada does not permanently store nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin, is posted online here. This includes a listing of the co-sponsors thus far, 13 Democrats and 7 Republicans from six Great Lakes States.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, comprised of Canada's three nuclear power utilities, has narrowed the list to three remaining candidate sites for the national high-level radioactive waste dump: two neighboring communities, Huron-Kinloss and South Bruce, near the Lake Huron shore, not far (20-some miles) from Kincardine, Ontario, "home" of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station's nine reactors, the biggest nuclear power plant on Earth.

Similarly, a growing bicameral, bipartisan "caucus" of congressional Great Lakes protectors -- also led by Stabenow and Kildee, mentioned above -- has for several long years, opposed a Canadian nuclear power industry proposal to bury so-called "low" and highly radioactive "intermediate" level radioactive wastes on the Lake Huron shoreline, at the BNGS itself.

On January 31st, the very nearby Saugeen Ojibwe Nation (whose territory "hosts" BNGS) will vote in a referendum on whether or not to accept Ontario Power Generation's offer of $150 million. If SON accepts the $150 million, OPG will expect the tribal First Nation community to "host" -- forevermore -- the "low" and highly radioactive intermediate level nuclear wastes from 20 reactors across the province.

On October 19, 2018, the Detroit Free Press published a feature length article about the 60,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste putting the Great Lakes at risk, on both sides of the border.

On January 13, 2020, the Chicago Tribune ran a major article about Ojibwe views regarding the sacredness and fragility of their Great Lakes homelands, as well as the radioactive risks they face.

See 2013 and 1990 maps, depicting the radioactive risks to the Great Lakes from most stages of the uranium fuel chain, including dozens of atomic reactors along their shores.

Don't Waste Michigan and other grassroots environmental watchdog groups have opposed these Great Lakes shoreline radioactive waste dumping schemes since they were first floated in 2001. Beyond Nuclear has opposed them since its founding in 2007, including repeated rounds of testimony before Canadian federal nuclear and environmental regulatory agencies over the course of many years.

Learn more about these issues at the website of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump.

DateJanuary 20, 2020 | Print ArticlePrint Article | |