U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday indicated she is continuing her legislative efforts against a Canadian deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste planned to be built about a mile from Lake Huron in Ontario.
Dingell and other U.S. lawmakers who represent districts the Great Lakes have for years been critical of Ontario Power Generation’s plans for the disposal facility at its Bruce nuclear power plant in the municipality of Kincardine.
In the last Congress, Dingell and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) successfully proposed an amendment to a bill on management of U.S. radioactive waste that provided a “sense of Congress” that “the governments of the United States and Canada should not allow permanent or long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel or other radioactive waste near the Great Lakes or in the Great Lakes,” Dingell said during a meeting of the House Energy and Commerce environment and climate change subcommittee.
That bill, Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, was passed out of the House in May 2018 but never got a vote in the Senate. However, the subcommittee on Thursday advanced a similar measure from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) for consideration by the full Energy and Commerce Committee.
Dingell said she will again propose an amendment on the Great Lakes issue. “We think this was an important provision for protecting the Great Lakes region and we look forward to working with the committee to offer it again during the full committee markup process.”
Ontario Power Generation has said multiple studies have determined that its deep geologic disposal approach would be safe and protect the environment. That was reflected in an environmental assessment submitted to the Canadian government in 2015.
Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, Catherine McKenna, has requested additional information before ruling on the project.
