Urge both your U.S. Senators to protect the Great Lakes against Canadian radioactive waste dumping!
Would you bury poison beside your well? So asks the group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump (STGLND), comprised of residents who live near Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Bruce Nuclear Generating Station (BNGS) in Kincardine, on Ontario’s Lake Huron shore, just over 50 miles from Michigan. With nine atomic reactors on site, BNGS is the largest nuclear power plant on Earth. Since 2002, OPG has schemed to bury Ontario’s so-called “low-,” and highly radioactive “intermediate-,” level nuclear wastes, from 20 reactors across the province, at BNGS, less than a mile from the Lake Huron shore. A large U.S.-Canadian environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, has fought hard for two decades to block the insane proposal. On Jan. 31, the very nearby Saugeen Ojibwe (First) Nation will hold a referendum on whether to accept OPG’s offer of $150 million, in exchange for SON agreeing to “host” this DGR (short for Deep Geologic Repository; opponents sarcastically call it a DUD, short for Deep Underground Dump). But in early December, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization, comprised of three nuclear utilities and dominated by OPG, named three finalist sites, all in Ontario, still under consideration to become the country’s high-level radioactive waste dump, for irradiated nuclear fuel from 22 reactors. Two — Huron-Kinloss and South Bruce — are only 20 miles or so from BNGS, still near Lake Huron. The third, Ignace, is 150 miles northwest of Lake Superior. In response, a bipartisan group of State of Michigan legislators has pushed back with a resolution opposing Great Lakes shoreline radioactive waste dumping. So too has a bicameral, bipartisan U.S. congressional caucus. In Congress, S. Res. 470, A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate 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, has been introduced. It already has seven co-sponsors, thus far all Democrats and seven from six Great Lakes States. Urge both your U.S. Senators to help protect the precious Great Lakes, 21% of the world’s surface fresh water and 84% of North America’s, drinking water supply for 40 million people, by co-sponsoring S. Res. 470. You can reach your U.S. Senators’ D.C. offices, via the Capitol Switchboard, at (202) 224-3121.
Follow up :
Saugeen Ojibway Nation votes no on deep geologic repository at Bruce Power
By Adam BellJanuary 31, 2020 10:13pmhttps://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/2020/01/31/saugeen-ojibway-nation-votes-no-deep-geologic-repository-bruce-power/
Members of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation have voted against a proposal to host a deep geologic repository at Bruce Power.
Out of 1,232 total votes, just 170 voted “yes”, while 1,058 voted “no”, with four spoiled ballots.
In a release, Chief Lester Anoquot says “This vote was a historic milestone and momentous victory for our People. We worked for many years for our right to exercise jurisdiction in our Territory and the free, prior and informed consent of our People will be recognized”.
Ontario Power Generation spokesperson Fred Kuntz says “OPG respects the decision of the SON community. We followed SON’s process. So we will uphold our 2013 commitment not to proceed with the DGR at the Bruce site without their support, and now we will move forward to develop an alternate solution”.
He noted “We’ll explore other options and engage with key stakeholders to develop an alternate site selection process. Any new process is going to include engagement with indigenous people, as well as interested municipalities”.
When asked what the way forward is for Ontario Power Generation right now, Kuntz said “now we are able to move forward with other options”.
Kim George, who organized a protest by 50 members of Saugeen Ojibway Nation on Wednesday, says “I’m so happy that it’s a no, a resounding no. The people have spoke loud and clear, and it’s a no”. This effects all people along the Great Lakes basin. Millions of people drink from that water, and to have the DGR, along with the plant, we can’t do anything about the plant right now, but there was something we could do about the DGR, and yes we’ve spoken, and we said no”.
