Environmental interveners defend contention against toxic algae "blooms" in Lake Erie due to Fermi 3 new reactor

Environmental intervenors -- Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (CACC), Citizens Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter -- have defended one of their contentions against the Fermi 3 new reactor proposal. Last summer, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board admitted for hearing a contention asserting that thermal and chemical discharges from Fermi 3 would significantly worsen the outbreak of a toxic blue-green algae (or cyanobacterium) called Lyngbya wollei in Lake Erie's western basin, scene of infamous, ecosystem choking infestations of algae in the 1970s. The environmental coalition's attorney, Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio, has filed a defense of the contention against Detroit Edison's motion for summary dismissal. Although Detroit Edison has now committed to not discharge algae-stimulating phosphorus from its Fermi 3 cooling tower system, intervenors have pointed out that calcium discharges from the excavation of Fermi 3's foundation in the underlying limestone geology would still "feed" the algae's growth. The combination of thermal and chemical discharges from Detroit Edison's Fermi nuclear power plant, as well as its giant 3,000 megawatt-electric coal burner just miles down the shore -- plus other sources of chemical and thermal pollution in the immediate area (including additional fossil fuel and nuclear power plants) -- risk an outbreak of this toxic algae that can cause acute skin rashes as well as chronic immune system suppression.