U.S. Sens. Stabenow and Levin (D-MI) join resistance to unprecedented Great Lakes radioactive waste dump, call for State Dept. action

U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, Democrats from Michigan who chair, respectively, the U.S. Senate Committees on Armed Services and AgricultureThe nearly 40,000 signatories of the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition, the millions of Great Lakes residents represented by city, county, and state (or provincial) resolutions, and the scores of environmental groups on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border who oppose Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) insane proposal to bury 20 reactors' so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes 3/4ths of a mile from the Lake Huron shoreline have just been joined by some powerful new allies: Michigan's U.S. Senators, Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin (photo, left).

As reported by the Port Huron Times Herald, not only did the two members of the Democratic leadership of the U.S. Senate (Stabenow chairs the Agriculture Committee, Levin the Armed Services Committee) send staff to testify at the ongoing Canadian federal Joint Review Panel overseeing OPG's Environmental Assessment on the proposed DUD (Dave Martin of Greenpeace Canada's sarcastic nickname standing for Deep Underground Dump, instead of OPG's preferred DGR, for Deep Geologic Repository), they also called upon U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to look into the matter, including urging him to request that the International Joint Commission (IJC) advise the U.S. and Canadian governments on this unprecedented risk to the Great Lakes, drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

Stabenow and Levin made a similar move in 2002, calling on then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to investigate the risks of Ontario's Bruce Nuclear Generating Station storing a whopping 2,000 dry casks of high-level radioactive waste on the Lake Huron shore. (The DUD's entrance tunnel would be located immediately adjacent to the ever-growing dry cask storage facility at Bruce.) Unfortunately, Powell blew off the concern, with an underling flippantly declaring the Bruce Nuclear proposal safe.

Stabenow and Levin were more successful, however, when they joined with five additional Democratic U.S. Senators from Great Lakes states (Durbin from IL; Casey from PA; Schumer and Gillibrand from NY), led by Russ Feingold of WI, to question Bruce Nuclear's proposal to ship 64 radioactive steam generators by boat on the Great Lakes, in order to "recycle" them into consumer products in Sweden. Bruce Nuclear backed away from the proposal earlier this year, due to fierce resistance by Mohawk and other First Nations along the transport route. (The Saugeen Ojibwe Nations neighboring Bruce Nuclear are playing a vital role as skeptical stakeholders in the DUD proceeding, such as urging that OPG and its Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) come clean regarding whether or not high-level radioactive waste would be buried in the DUD, or a second nearby DUD. So far, the Joint Review Panel has rejected such calls for transparency from OPG.)

What can you do to help stop the DUD? Kay Cumbow of Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination and the Sierra Club's Blue Water Chapter, who resides near Port Huron, just over 100 miles from Bruce Nuclear and the proposed DUD, has put out an action alert, calling for expressions of thanks to U.S. Sens. Stabenow and Levin, as well as calls (or letters, emails, etc.) to your own U.S. Senators and Representatives, calling upon them to take action to protect the Great Lakes against these unprecedented proposals to dump radioactive wastes upon the shoreline of 20% of the world's surface fresh water.

She writes:

"Thanks to everyone who called Senator Stabenow and Levin, and our U.S. Representatives, too. Please call Senators Stabenow and Levin and thank them for taking action to protect thousands of generations of people in Michigan and in the Great Lakes watershed, who utterly depend on these irreplaceable fresh waters. You can call 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected with their offices.
You can also call your U.S. Representatives at this number as well, and ask them to also take action. The more federal voices we have, the greater chance we have of stopping this madness.

If you live in another state, please urge your federal legislators (202-224-3121 is the Capitol switchboard) to join with Michigan's Senators to call on Sec. of State John Kerry to take action to stop this dump and protect these international waters."

In addition, if you haven't already, please sign the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition, and share it with everyone you know! Thanks!

The following news outlets have also reported on this story: MLive; The Hill; Detroit News; Toronto Star. The Toronto Star has also reported in follow-up that Ontario's Environment Minister has, thus far, ducked the question about Sens. Stabenow and Levin's request for an IJC investigation.