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Another chance to vote against burying nuclear waste in Great Lakes

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Dec 13th, 2015
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Open letter to City of Orillia – Mayor Clarke and Members of Council

Re: New opportunity available to City of Orillia to support the Resolution to oppose burying nuclear waste in Great Lakes Basin.

Dear Mayor Clarke,

The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Environment, has postponed a decision to build or not to build a radioactive nuclear waste dump in the Great Lakes Basin, until March 1, 2016.

This gives Orillia Council a new opportunity to support the Resolution to oppose the plan by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to bury radioactive nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin.

Mayor Clarke, in your letter of November 19, 2015, you stated that if the previous request “had come forward with a viable alternative solution, it may have garnered support”. Although this is not required to endorse the Resolution, following are some viable alternative solutions:

1. We can stop making new nuclear waste RIGHT NOW by replacing nuclear power with renewable
hydroelectric power from Quebec, which could save Ontario $600 million a year. (http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/07/20/ontario_should_import_lowcost_hydroelectric_power_from_quebec.html)
2. Take the huge sums of money from the risky Deep Underground Dump (DUD) scheme planned to
be situated one kilometer from Lake Huron, and put that money into safe, secure storage, or what is known as Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS)
3. Start emptying out dangerously full fuel pools by doing #2 above.

Further information, which may encourage you to support the Resolution, is the fact that so little is known about nuclear waste. The only underground nuclear waste repository in the US, and one of the few in the world, is the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The WIPP site recently shut down due to a serious nuclear waste explosion underground, caused by a chemical reaction from cat litter (https://www.rt.com/usa/244513-cat-litter-radiation-leak/).

Orillia Council can help to ensure that Ontario does not leave a toxic waste legacy for our future generations.

For more information please visit: http://www.cleanairalliance.org or http://stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com/nuclearwastedump.php

Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter.

Awaiting your reply,

K Clune

Attachments:
Letters of July 15 and October 27, 2015
Resolution Opposing the Construction of the Nuclear Waste Repository in the Great Lakes Basin

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On Tuesday, October 27, 2015 Kelly Clune wrote:

City of Orillia – Mayor & Council
Open letter to Mayor Clarke and Members of Council,

On July 15, 2015 an email (copied below) was sent to Orillia City Council with information about the Nuclear Waste Dump proposed by Ontario Power Generation (OPG). This information came with an appeal to Orillia Council to add the City of Orillia to the long list of communities opposing the plan to bury radioactive nuclear waste near the shore of Lake Huron.

Instead of discussing this information, instead of addressing concerns expressed by your constituent, and instead of joining other Councils in taking a stand against this unprecedented and unproven plan, Orillia Council simply accepted the email as information and conveniently made the topic disappear.

Oshawa, Kingston, Toronto, Michigan, New York, Ohio – these are only some of the communities that have passed a resolution to oppose OPG’s plan to dump nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin.

To date, 177 communities across Canada and the US, representing over 20 million people, have said NO to this plan.

Why is the City of Orillia not on the list?

Why did Orillia City Council feel it was necessary to sweep this issue under the rug? Was it because you were waiting to negotiate a plan with OPG/Hydro One to discuss selling off our Orillia Power distribution?
Demonstrate transparency and accountability by sharing your reasons for ignoring this important discussion.

Awaiting your reply,
Kelly Clune

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On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 Kelly Clune  wrote:

City of Orillia – Mayor & Council

Thanks are extended to Oshawa Council for adding their City to the long list of communities in Canada and the US to pass a resolution to oppose plans to dump radioactive nuclear waste near the shore of Lake Huron, one of our Great Lakes.

This letter is being sent to encourage Orillia Council to add the City of Orillia to the list. Information about the plan and the resolution to stop it are provided below.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has made plans to build a nuclear waste repository (also called a nuclear waste dump) to bury radioactive nuclear waste in Kincardine, Ontario Canada, 1 km from the shore of Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes, 21% of the world’s fresh surface water, are the source of drinking water for 40 million people in two countries. This nuclear waste repository was given the green light by the federal review panel on May 6, 2015 and now this is in the hands of Canada’s Minister of the Environment who will make a decision by September 3, 2015.

I believe the City of Orillia should oppose this nuclear waste dump for numerous reasons, including:
· This nuclear waste dump will need to safely house the most lethal waste ever created by humans – radioactive nuclear waste, some of which remains toxic for 100,000 years.
· No scientist or geologist can provide a 100,000 year guarantee that this nuclear waste will not leak and contaminate the Great Lakes. In fact, the only operating nuclear waste repository in the world called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, located in New Mexico has now leaked. OPG based its safety case on the design and safety track record of WIPP.
· A nuclear waste repository in limestone is unprecedented and unproven anywhere in the world.
· Despite the availability of land under Ontario government ownership and control (87% of Ontario’s land mass is crown land), and despite the fact that OPG is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario, OPG did not consider or investigate any other sites for this nuclear waste repository.
· OPG’s public consultation focused primarily on Bruce County with some very limited outreach in Michigan; OPG failed to inform or seek input from citizens living in many Great Lakes communities in Canada and the US, or their elected officials.

If the City of Orillia opposes this nuclear waste dump, we won’t be alone. Opposition to OPG’s plan is growing daily.
· A petition by the non-profit volunteer organization called Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has nearly 80,000 signatures. See http://tinyurl.com/aljc9so
· As of May 19, 2015, the population of communities in Canada and the US that have passed resolutions formally opposing this nuclear waste repository is 21 million. See http://stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com/resolutions.php for a list of the 155 resolutions already passed in Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Here is some information you may wish to review as part of your research:

· US Congressman Dan Kildee interceding with Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs http://tinyurl.com/pgt3ekv
· Joint letter from Waterkeeper Alliance organizations calling on US Secretary of State to intervene to halt the dump http://tinyurl.com/pya8bro
· Article by Dr. David Suzuki calling for a halt to OPG’s plan http://tinyurl.com/lcg5sbd
· Michigan Senate unanimously passes legislation opposing the proposed nuclear waste dump http://tinyurl.com/ooarlwx
· U-Tube video by Michigan State Representative Sarah Roberts opposing OPG’s plan and encouraging citizens living in the Great Lakes region to sign the Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otMayg_4KXg
· A well researched website www.stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com
· Submission to the Joint Review Panel by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI), an important organization of 114 Great Lakes Mayors group representing 16 million people living in the Great Lakes region. This organization formally opposed OPG’s plan at the public hearings. See http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/050/documents/p17520/89563E.pdf

As elected officials, you have before you an opportunity to demonstrate vision and leadership. I am asking you, as leaders of Orillia, to immediately pass a resolution to formally oppose the building of a nuclear waste repository on the shore of Lake Huron in Kincardine Ontario or anywhere in the Great Lakes Basin. A draft resolution follows, for your consideration:

Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.

Most sincerely,
Kelly Clune

Resolution Opposing the Construction of the Nuclear Waste Repository in the Great Lakes Basin

WHEREAS Ontario Power Generation is proposing to construct an underground long-term burial facility for all of Ontario’s low and intermediate level radioactive nuclear waste at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, some of which is highly radioactive and will remain toxic for over 100,000 years. This site is approximately one kilometre inland from the shore of Lake Huron and about 400 metres below the lake level;
WHEREAS water is Canada’s most important resource and should be protected and managed prudently;
WHEREAS the Great Lakes are an irreplaceable natural resource, containing 21% of the worlds, and 95% of North America’s, fresh water vital to human and environmental health;
WHEREAS the Great Lakes are vital to the economic and agricultural well-being to both Canada and the United States of America;
WHEREAS Lake Huron and the connecting waters, including Lake St. Clair, are a source of drinking water for millions of people downstream in Canada, the United States of America and First Nations;
WHEREAS concern has been expressed by individuals, citizen and environmental groups and municipalities and counties in both Canada and the United States;
WHEREAS under the 2012 Protocol Amending the Agreement Between Canada and the United States of America on Great Lakes Water Quality, the governments of Canada and the United States acknowledge the importance of anticipating, preventing and responding to threats to the waters of the Great Lakes;
WHEREAS the Governments of Canada and of the United States share a responsibility and an obligation to protect the Great Lakes from contamination from various sources of pollution, including the leakage of nuclear waste from an underground nuclear waste repository;
WHEREAS placing a permanent nuclear waste burial facility so close to the Great Lakes is ill-advised. The potential damage to the Great Lakes from any leak or breach of radioactivity far outweighs any suggested economic benefit that might be derived from burying radioactive nuclear waste at this site. The ecology of the Great Lakes, valuable beyond measure to the health and economic well-being of the entire region, should not be placed at risk by storing radioactive nuclear waste underground so close to the shoreline;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Orillia, in order to protect the Great Lakes and its tributaries, urges that neither this proposed nuclear waste repository at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station nor any other underground nuclear waste repository be constructed in the Great Lakes Basin, in Canada, the United States, or any First Nation property.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Orillia urges the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario to reject (and seek alternatives to) Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to bury radioactive nuclear waste.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be provided to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada’s Federal Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq, as well as Joint Review Panel Deep Geological Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Case Reference Number 17520, Panel Co-Manager, Ms. Debra Myles, all Members of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament and all Members of Canada’s Parliament.

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