State of Michigan Senate unanimously passes bill and resolutions urging federal action against Great Lakes shore radioactive waste dump

Today, the State of Michigan's Senate unanimously passed a bill and resolutions package sponsored by sponsored by State Senator Phil Pavlov and co-sponsored by State Senators John Proos, Jack Brandenburg, Michael Green, Tonya Schuitmaker, Hoon-Yung Hopgood , Rick Jones, Goeffrey Hansen, James Marleau, Michael Kowall, and David Hildenbrand.

The bill and resolutions express grave concerns about Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) targeted at the Lake Huron shoreline at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada, where so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors across Ontario would be permanently buried.

The bill and resolutions call upon President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and the U.S. Congress to activate the International Joint Commission (IJC), under the U.S.-Canadian Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, to review the risks of OPG's DGR. The bill and resolutions also called upon the Great Lakes Commission, comprised of eight Great Lakes States and two Canadian provinces, to similarly review the risks of OPG's DGR, and take a position on the controversial issue. The bill and resolutions also call upon the other seven Great Lakes States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) to take similar action.

The Great Lakes provide drinking water to 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada.