Thom Hartman: Could MI Be the Site of the Next Nuclear Disaster?

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann on "The Big Picture." If a new nuclear waste disposal plan goes forward -- the Flint water crisis could soon be the least of Michigan's worries. Isn't it time we abandoned nuclear power once and for all and embraced real clean energy that doesn't turn our cities into potential fallout zones?

Beyond Nuclear in Counterpunch: "After Flint, Don’t Let Them Nuke the Great Lakes Next!"

Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, has published an article at Counterpunch warning that the Flint, Michigan lead poisoning of drinking water for a town of 100,000 should serve as a cautionary tale for the proposed Canadian radioactive waste dump on the Lake Huron shore. Imagine if a drinking water catastrophe affecting 40 million people in eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations were to unfold, if and when Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) leaks radioactivity into the Great Lakes.

Shockingly but not too surprisingly, the same agencies that brought us the Flint drinking water catastrophe (Governor Rick Snyder's administration in Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), have also rubber-stamped OPG's DGR. But in light of Flint, it is clear Snyder, MDEQ, and EPA are, frighteningly, incapable of protecting clean, safe drinking water supplies. Snyder, MDEQ, and EPA's flippant sign offs on the DGR are obviously meaningless and unacceptable, in terms of protecting the Great Lakes, 21% of the world's surface fresh water, and 84% of North America's.

Opponents have fought the DGR for 15 long years. Canada's Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, will decide by March 1st whether or not the DGR will be allowed to proceed to construction and operation.

Kevin's article concludes with the following:

What You Can Do to Help Save the Great Lakes!

Such an insane scheme must be stopped dead in its tracks. Please help nip the DUD in the bud! (DUD is an apt alternative for DGR, a phrase coined by David Martin of Greenpeace Canada, short for Deep Underground Dump.)

Americans, Canadians, and First Nations members are encouraged to email Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Justin.Trudeau@parl.gc.ca) and Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna Catherine.McKenna@parl.gc.ca, to urge them to reject OPG’s DGR by the March 1^st decision deadline.

Readers are also encouraged to contact President Obama , to urge him to order Secretary of State John Kerry to activate the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission (IJC), to conduct a comprehensive review of the DGR’s risks to the Great Lakes.

Americans can also contact their two U.S. Senators, and 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 U.S. Senate and House legislation, the “Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act,” (S. 2026 in the U.S. Senate, and H.R. 3483 in the U.S. House) introduced by U.S. Sens. Stabenow and Peters, and U.S. Rep. Kildee (Democrats from Michigan). The “Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act” (S. 2026 and H.R. 3483) will invoke the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, and mandate that the IJC undertake a comprehensive review of the DGR proposal.

Update on February 1, 2016 by admin

Could Michigan be the site of the next nuclear disaster?

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann on "The Big Picture." If a new nuclear waste disposal plan goes forward -- the Flint water crisis could soon be the least of Michigan's worries. Isn't it time we abandoned nuclear power once and for all and embraced real clean energy that doesn't turn our cities into potential fallout zones? (See Kevin's Counterpunch article, "After Flint, Don't Let Them Nuke the Great Lakes Next!")

Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump Delivers 184 Resolutions to Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna

Beverly Fernandez of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has announced a media release, which begins:

TORONTO – January 25, 2016: Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump delivers 184 resolutions representing 22 million people to Minister of Environment and Climate Change McKenna, Prime Minister Trudeau and the Federal Cabinet. Delivery of the resolutions follows the January 19th submission to Minister McKenna of the Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition signed by over 92,000 people opposing OPG’s plan.

Resolutions passed by local governments in Ontario and in all 8 U.S. Great Lakes states, the Michigan Senate, the National Association of Counties and the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus, are all opposed and calling for the rejection of Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) application to build an underground Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for radioactive nuclear waste within the Municipality of Kincardine on the shores of Lake Huron, or anywhere in the Great Lakes Basin. See letter attached.

Resolutions from major Great Lakes cities include: Toronto, Mississauga, London, Sarnia, Thunder Bay, Kingston, Brampton, Oakville, Windsor, Chicago, Detroit, Flint, Milwaukee, Rochester and numerous other cities, counties and municipalities surrounding the Great Lakes.

The resolutions and petition inform the Minister of the extensive opposition to OPG’s plan well in advance of March 1st, 2016 (the decision deadline date as set by the Canadian government).

The media release includes a map showing where the 184 resolutions have been passed. The map is also posted at Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump's website:

http://stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com/resolutions.php

By Feb. 1, sign your group onto a coalition letter to protect the Great Lakes against radioactive contamination! (Attend Jan. 25 Webinar!)

The Great Lakes, as seen from outer space on a cloudless daySign-on to nominate radionuclides as a Chemical of Mutual Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

(Jan. 25 Webinar to learn more -- see bottom of message)

John Jackson, A binational Great Lakes citizen activist, and Coordinator of Citizens Network on Waste Management [Ontario], has sent out the following message (please note that while "Great Lakes groups" are referred to, the Great Lakes are not a national, nor a binational, but an international treasure, that must be protected by groups not only throughout the Great Lakes Basin, but beyond):

Many of us have made valiant efforts to get more attention for radionuclides under the GLWQA [Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement]. Here is another effort. Please read the e-mail below from CELA [Canadian Environmental Law Association] explaining this effort. You need to sign-on by February 1.

Also, please share this e-mail with other e-mail lists that you have who are interested in nuclear issues around the Great Lakes.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me. Also Brennain [Lloyd of Northwatch] has organized a webinar on this initiative for January 25. The details for this are at the end of the e-mail below.

John

-------------------------------------------------

DEADLINE FOR RESPONSE: MONDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2016 - please share the following email with other Great Lakes NGOs.

Dear Great Lakes Colleagues:

The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) is seeking your support to an NGO letter addressed to the US Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada to designate radionuclides as a chemical of concern in the Great Lakes basin under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (Annex 3 - Chemicals of Mutual Concern). For your consideration, you will find the NGO letter [linked here] along with a report, titled "Radionuclides as a Chemical of Mutual Concern in the Great Lakes Basin" (final draft) prepared for CELA by John Jackson. We are seeking your support to the NGO letter only. The report, which is in its final phase of production, will provide you with additional information that supports the nomination of radionuclides under Annex 3 of the Agreement.

The NGO letter recommending radionuclides as chemicals of mutual concern in the Great Lakes marks the first effort to nominate chemicals under Annex 3 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.  The NGO letter and CELA report relied on the binational framework outlined under Annex 3.

CELA will coordinate a media release to mark the submission of the NGO letter and the CELA report to the Co-Chair of the Great Lakes Executive Committee of the Agreement. We aim to submit the NGO letter and CELA report in February (date to be confirmed). We will keep you posted on the release date and the development of the media strategy.

 

For those interested in supporting the NGO letter, please send an email to Fe de Leon, CELA at deleonf@cela.ca with the following information:

 

NAME of organization:

CONTACT:

POSITION (optional):

PROVINCE/STATE:

EMAIL:

TELEPHONE:

Thank you for considering the NGO letter.

Finally, I wanted to take this opportunity to announce a webinar to highlight CELA's report, "Radionuclides as a Chemical of Concern in the Great Lakes" and the efforts to coordinate a NGO letter in support of a nomination of radionuclides under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The webinar will be hosted by Northwatch. 

WEBINAR:

Monday, January 25, 2016 

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Eastern Time (9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Central Time)

Please consider joining us for this webinar.  More details on the webinar to follow. 

Thank you again for your consideration. Please feel free to contact me should you have questions on the NGO letter and the CELA report.

Best regards,

Fe de Leon

Fe de Leon,
Researcher,
Canadian Environmental Law Association,

130 Spadina Ave., Ste. 301,
Toronto, ON   M5V 2L4
Tel.: 416-960-2284 ext. 223,
Fax: 416-960-9392,
E-mail: deleonf@cela.ca

Visit our web site: www.cela.ca

(See a map of nuclear power industry facilities on the Great Lakes, to get a feel for the radioactive risks facing the drinking water supply for 40 million people in eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations. The map, "Great Lakes Region Nuclear Hot Spots," was published in 2013 by John Jackson of GLU and Anna Tilman of IICPH (International Institute of Concern for Public Health).

Powerful Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump video just out -- please share it widely, and email Canada's Prime & Environment Ministers!

This just in from Beverly Fernandez at Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump:

We are very excited to release our Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s6C4ClH17U

Hope you like it!

I sure hope that following the film people take the time to email Justin Trudeau & Catherine McKenna at:

Justin.Trudeau@parl.gc.ca & Catherine.McKenna@parl.gc.ca

Beverly asks that folks please share this video widely.

Please note that Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump's website is:

http://www.stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com/

And the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition

https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.html

is still open for signatures at the present time. Thank you if you have already signed it, and have already spread the word. Their goal of 90,000 signatures was already surpassed on Jan. 13th! But there is still time to add even more signatures. So if you haven't signed it yet, please do! And please keep spreading the word!

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump is turning in the petition to decision makers in the very near future, because the deadline for Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's decision, on whether or not to allow Ontario Power Generation to dump 20 atomic reactors' radioactive wastes less than a mile from the shore of the Great Lakes, is due by March 1, 2016.

Feel free to forward word of this alert far and wide, and urge everyone you know to email Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Environment Minister McKenna, at the email addresses above, words of opposition to the proposed Great Lakes nuclear dump (yes, even if you are American!).

Thanks!