"Rep. Kildee: Great Lakes, nuclear storage don't mix"

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)U.S. Representative Dan Kildee (D-MI, photo left) has published an op-ed in the Detroit News, rebutting an "Alas, in Atomic Blunderland" editorial the paper recently published in favor of Canada's proposed shoreline radioactive waste dump, as the "best option" for the Great Lakes.

The Flint Democrat concludes his op-ed:

As a congressman representing Michigan, I take my job of protecting the Great Lakes seriously. Whether it's from Asian Carp, invasive species, or now, the threat of nuclear waste, we have a sacred obligation to future generations to protect the Great Lakes from harm. Our vast water resources are a natural beauty and an economic engine for our state, and threatening their vitality is not good for the U.S. or Canada.

Sen. Kirk urges EPA to protect the Great Lakes against "devastating impact" of proposed Canadian shoreline radioactive waste dump

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (Republican-IL), a long-time defender of the Great Lakes, has written the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Gina McCarthy, and cc'd the EPA Region 5 (HQ'd in Chicago) Administrator, Susan Hedman, demanding action against Canada's proposed radioactive waste dump on the Great Lakes shoreline. (See a PDF copy of the letter, here.)

Sen. Kirk wrote:

"As the Environmental Protection Agency plans to convene with officials from Environment Canada for the binational Great Lakes Executive Committee meetings in Chicago this week, I am resending the letter I sent to President Obama and forwarded to you on May 22, requesting an immediate environmental analysis to be conducted by the International Joint Commission (IJC) to assess the impacts of the proposed permanent nuclear waste repository on the Great Lakes shoreline in Canada. This Administration should block any Canadian plan to contaminate the water for 30 million Americans. The livelihood and health of millions of people in Illinois are dependent on the Great Lakes and I urge you to protect them in these disucssions.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement reaffirms the shared principles of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, emphasizing the commitment of our two countries to protecting the Great Lakes. I urge you to discuss this issue with your Canadian counterparts and urge them to carefully consider the devastating impact this proposal would have on the drinking water of 40 million people, 30 million Americans and 10 million Canadians..."

Beyond Nuclear takes fight against Canada's Great Lakes radioactive waste dump to the Michigan/Ontario border!

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps is pictured in Sarnia, with the St. Clair River behind him. Kamps is among those pushing against a planned deep geologic repository for nuclear waste near the Lake Huron shoreline. (Tyler Kula/Sarnia Observer/Postmedia Network)On June 16th, Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste watchdog, Kevin Kamps, presented a PowerPoint entitled Help Stop a Nuclear Waste Dump on the Shore of Lake Huron! What YOU Can Do! at the Donald Dodge Auditorium in Port Huron, Michigan's St. Clair County Administration Building.

See an action alert on what you can do to stop the DGR ("Deep Geologic Repository"), including Stop the Great Lake Nuclear Dump's petition, municipal resolutions, congressional resolutions, submitting unconditional opposition to the latest public comment docket, etc.

Kevin then crossed the Blue Water Bridge, and St. Clair River, into Sarnia, Ontario for an interview with Tyler Kula at The Observer. (See photo, left.)

The "Paul Miller Morning Show" on AM 1380/WPHM radio in Sarnia also interviewed Kevin. You can listen to the audio recording online (scroll down about five or six speakers from the morning show broadcast on June 16th to "Kevin Kamps - Speaker from Beyond Nuclear' on the proposed nuclear waste depository near Lake Huron in Ontario."

Beyond Nuclear's presence on the U.S.-Canada border, directly downstream from Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposed radioactive waste dump on the Lake Huron shore in Kincardine, Ontario at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, came at the very same time as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative annual meeting, held this year in Sarnia. The association of Great Lakes mayors recently spoke out against OPG's Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) proposal. As reported by The Observer, the Cities Initiative gathering is focused on threats to 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.

Update on June 25, 2015 by admin

Jim Bloch published an extensive article at The Voice, covering Kevin's presentation in Port Huron.

Take action! Help stop Canada's proposed radioactive waste dump targeted at the Great Lakes shore!

OPG's proposed radioactive waste dump at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. 3/4ths of a mile from the waters of the Great LakesThe growing groundswell of resistance throughout the Great Lakes Basin is having a positive impact on staving off Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) insane plan to dump radioactive waste just 3/4ths of a mile from the Lake Huron shore at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada, some tens of miles to the east of the tip of Michigan's Thumb.

Grassroots "voices in the wilderness" have been warning about the risk of this so-called "Deep Geologic Repository" (DGR) to the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations since 2002, when the scheme was first revealed to the public. But in the past couple years, a growing number of high-ranking U.S. elected officials have exercised leadership to protect the Great Lakes from this dire threat.

For example, Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk recently published a strongly worded letter to President Obama, calling for action to stop the dump. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, an association of mayors from multiple states and provinces, recently repeated its opposition to the DGR. 100 environmental groups from across the Great Lakes, and beyond, called on the Province of Ontario to pull the plug on the DGR. The Saugeen Ojibwe Nation (SON) has withheld its requisite consent for this radioactive waste dump targeted immediately to its south, risking radioactive stigma to its fisheries and tourism economies, if not outright contamination; the Anishinabek Nation has supported SON. Now, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has introduced the "Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act," requring the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the DGR's risks.

Canadian decision makers recently announced a three-month extension for public comments on the proposal. Now, instead of a Sept. 4, 2015 deadline for the Canadian federal Environment Minister to make her recommendation on the DGR (or, better yet, DUD -- sarcastically apt shorthand for Deep Underground Dump), that deadline has been postponed till Dec. 2nd, as announced by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. This postponement of the ultimate decision -- which will almost certainly be a rubberstamp approval by Prime Minister Harper's administration -- is a thinly veiled attempt to take the issue off the table in the run up to October federal parliamentary elections in Canada.

Help us block this proposed dump once and for all!

Following below are a number of ideas for WHAT YOU CAN DO:

PETITIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS TO SIGN:

Sign the STOP THE GREAT LAKES NUCLEAR DUMP PETITION

Please share this link <http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.html> with everyone you know, and urge them to sign the petition too!

Already, the STOP THE GREAT LAKES NUCLEAR DUMP PETITION has garnered over 83,000 signatures!

Also, sign the SUM OF US petition. The SUM OF US petition has already garnered well over 56,000 signatures, and is well on its way to its goal of 75,000 signatures. Please spread the word about the SUM OF US petition, as well!

Help urge the passage of U.S. Congressional resolutions opposing the DGR (Deep Geologic Repository)

Thank your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative, if they have already co-sponsored S. Res. 134 or H. Res. 194. (See the language in S. Res. 134 and H. Res. 194, posted as PDFs on the website of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump.)

The U.S. Sens. who are already co-sponsoring S. Res. 134 are (arranged chronologically by co-sponsorship date): Debbie Stabenow (D-MI, original sponsor); Gary Peters* (D-MI); Mark Kirk* (R-IL); Dick Durbin* (D-IL); Tammy Baldwin* (D-WI); Sherrod Brown (D-OH). If your Sen(s). are already co-sponsoring, please thank them for their leadership, and urge them to work harder towards passage of S. Res. 134. (* = original co-sponsor)

If your U.S. Sen(s). are not yet co-sponsors, urge them to do so ASAP! (Learn more about S. Res. 134 here.)

The U.S. Reps. who are already co-sponsoring H. Res. 194 are (arranged chronologically by co-sponsorship date): Dan Kildee (Democrat-MI’s 5^th District, original sponsor); John Conyers* (D-MI-13); Sander Levin* (D-MI-9); Brenda Lawrence* (D-MI-14); Debbie Dingell* (D-MI-12); David Joyce* (R-OH-14); Candice Miller* (R-MI-10); Marcy Kaptur* (D-OH-9); Brian Higgins* (D-NY-26); Louise McIntosh Slaughter* (D-NY-25); Marcia Fudge* (D-OH-11); Robert Dold* (R-IL-11); Jan Schakowsky* (D-IL-11); Tammy Duckworth* (D-IL-8); Sean Duffy* (R-WI-7); Mike Bishop (R-MI-8); John Moolenaar (R-MI-4); Dan Benishek (R-MI-1); James Renacci (R-OH-16); David Trott (R-MI-11); Christopher Gibson (R-NY-19); Richard Nolan (D-MN-8).    

If your U.S. Rep. is not yet a co-sponsor, urge them to do so ASAP! (Learn more about H. Res. 194 here.)

You can phone your U.S. Sens.’ & U.S. Rep.’s offices via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can look up your Members’ postal addresses, fax numbers, and web forms at their websites, via: https://www.congress.gov/members.

Likewise, help urge the passage of the "Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act"

Introduced on August 10, 2015 by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), this legislation would require the U.S. State Department to activate the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the DGR's risks. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) has co-sponsored the bill, and U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee will introduce a companion bill in the U.S. House.

You can likewise contact your state legislators to urge action.

Contact the White House. Urge President Obama to activate the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission to undertake a comprehensive environmental review of the proposed DGR 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

It should not, and does not, require an act of Congress to force President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to activate the IJC on this matter. They could activate it today, if they so choose. Urge them to! And urge them to take whatever actions are within their power to stop the DGR!

You can likewise urge your state governor to take action.

If they haven’t already, urge your municipality, county, and state to pass a resolution opposing the DGR 

168 municipalities, representing 22.5 million people, have already passed resolutions opposing the DGR (see the map, posted near the top of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump's homepage). Now we need to get the remaining 17.5 million people who depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water to urge their municipalities to do the same!

As also reported by Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump, the National Association of Counties has also now passed a resolution against the DGR. The National Association of Counties represents 2,300 counties across the U.S., in which 255 million Americans reside!

Get your organization to endorse a statement of opposition against the DGR 

100 groups have written the Ontario provincial government, urging it to pull the plug on the DGR. Get your own group to endorse the open letter (see the open letter, and related press release). To endorse the letter, have an authorized representative of your group email complete contact info. to kevin@beyondnuclear.org.

Submit comments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency until Sept. 1, 2015

As announced in a June 3rd Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) notice, the public comment period on the DGR has been extended by three months, to Sept. 1, 2015. (The Canadian federal Environment Minister's recommendation on the DGR proposal has been postponed till Dec. 2nd.) CEAA has provided email and postal mail addresses for submitting comments. Make clear that your opposition to the DGR is unconditional! Additional talking points you can use to fashion your own will be posted at Beyond Nuclear's website in the near future.

Learn more, and spread the word to everyone you know! 

For more info. about Canada’s proposed radioactive waste dump targeted at the Great Lakes shore, see Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section (scroll down to see entries arranged chronologically backwards).

"Kirk Urges President to Halt Canadian Proposal to Store Nuclear Waste Near Great Lakes"

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (Republican-Illinois, photo left) has issued a press release, and the text of a letter he sent to President Obama, calling for administration action to protect the Great Lakes against Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposed "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste dump, targeted at the Lake Huron shoreline at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.

Sen. Kirk stated: “As co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I am fighting to keep our lakes free from toxins that could harm our precious ecological system and threaten the drinking water source for more than 30 million Americans. Storing nuclear waste underground along the shores of the Great Lakes directly jeopardizes the wellbeing of this shared natural resource, and I urge the President to work with the Canadian Government to postpone this decision and protect our lakes for generations to come.”

In 2011, and again in 2013, Sen. Kirk sent letters of concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Last year, and again this year, Sen. Kirk has introduced resolutions of disapproval for the site.

In his letter to President Obama, Sen. Kirk stated: "This matter presents an immediate threat to all the Great Lakes, and I ask you to use all diplomatic means available to urge the Canadian government to delay its decision-making process until the proposal has been given all due consideration by the [International Joint Commission]."

Sen. Kirk warned: "As a permanent repository, the Kincardine, Ontario facility would hold 7 million cubic feet of nuclear waste for thousands of years. Any leak during that time could unleash toxic material throughout the Great Lakes Basin, and contaminate the largest surface freshwater system in the world while causing irreparable damage to the more than 3,500 plants and animals that inhabit the ecosystem."

More information about Canada's Great Lakes shore radioactive waste dump is posted under Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section.