Member s of Michigan’s congressional delegation are taking stronger steps to ensure an international organization charged with overseeing the Great Lakes intervenes in Ontario Power Generation’s proposed deep geologic repository. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), along with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), yesterday announced legislation, entitled the “Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act,” which would mandate that the International Joint Commission (IJC) study the risks to the Great Lakes posed by the OPG’s planned DGR. The bill would also require the State Department to undertake negotiations with the Government of Canada to wait for the study results before approving any waste site. “Our Great Lakes face many tough challenges,” Stabenow said in a statement. “This treaty provides an important mechanism for studying and resolving disputes with Canada over our shared waters. Given what is at stake, invoking this treaty to require a thorough review by the International Joint Commission and a process to resolve this critical issue is a reasonable solution.”
The proposed repository would be located beneath OPG’s Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine, Ont. OPG plans on storing low and intermediate waste from its Bruce, Pickering, and Darlington power stations at the proposed repository, which would be located 680 meters (approximately 744 yards) below the surface in an isolated rock formation of shale and limestone. The project has drawn the ire of citizens on both sides of the border because of its proximity to the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water. The Michigan delegation has tried to intervene in the past through letters to the State Department and resolutions in Congress, but so far, their efforts have not proved successful.
