Shortly before midnight, Wednesday, Canada’s Minister of Environment informed many on both sides of the international border what many did not want to hear: A Joint Review Panel has endorsed Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) plan to bury radioactive nuclear waste on the shores of Lake Huron.
“With today’s decision, the world’s largest supply of fresh water is in peril,” said Michigan State Senator Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, whose district includes the northeastern part of Macomb County located along the Lake St. Clair shoreline, in a press release issued after the announcement. “In the 1980s, Canadian officials were rightly concerned about (a similar plan) 25 miles from their border. They were right to oppose that project then, and they are tragically wrong to let this waste dump project go forward now.”
To date, 154 resolutions passed by cities, towns and counties on both sides of the border opposing the plan represent more than 21 million people from some of the largest cities in Canada and the United States, including Chicago.
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“This is an intergenerational, nonpartisan issue that affects millions of Canadians and Americans,” said Beverly Fernandez, spokesperson for Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump, which has gathered more than 75,000 signatures on its petition against the project. “It is a decision that will affect the Great Lakes for the next 100,000 years. The last place to bury and abandon radioactive nuclear waste is beside the largest supply of fresh water on the planet.”
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“Nuclear waste is hazardous material that will remain radioactive for generations, and no person, panel or country can ever say with absolute certainty that there is no environmental risks. One only has to look at other nuclear accidents, including recently in New Mexico, where human error resulted in an accidental radiation release. Human error is always a possibility,” Kildee said.
Still environmental approval is only the first step.
Fernandez and other Canadians are hoping American opposition will grow to include both the U.S. president and secretary of state.
Read more at Panel approves underground nuclear waste facility near Lake Huron
Related articles on the Atomic Age:
- Canada opens comment period on nuclear dump proposed for Lake Huron via The Voice
- Nuclear option: US critics balk at Canadian plan to bury radioactive waste near Lake Huron via Fox News
- Lake Huron nuclear waste burial report expected this week via CBC News
- Public comment period closes on Canada’s Lake Huron nuclear waste dump proposal via Michigan Live
