US Congressman from Michigan introduced an amendment Tuesday calling for the protection of Lake Huron from a Canadian nuclear waste storage facility.
Ontario Power Generation, a Canadian company, has proposed burying waste at a permanent underground facility within a mile of Lake Huron.
Congressman Dan Kildee introduced the amendment. He said it calls for the President and Secretary of State to stop the Canadian government from greenlighting any permanent nuclear storage facility in the Great Lakes basin.
“We don’t want to say just not near the Great Lakes because that could mean a lot of things. But what we’re asking for is to simply work together, the two countries, to come up with a solution that does not threaten the great lakes basin.”
Kildee said both the US and Canada have temporary facilities within the Great Lakes basin.
“There are temporary facilities on both sides of the border that are very close to the Lakes that we and Canada both need to address.”
Kildee’s amendment is part of a larger bill to create a long-term plan for nuclear waste management in the US. He said they are in the process of determining an ideal location for permanent nuclear storage.
“There’s a lot of discussion about where it would make sense, it’s largely in the western United States where there are vast tracts of land with very little population. Sort of the opposite of what the Canadians are doing, to be frank. But no particular site has been identified at this point.”
Kildee said it’s not smart to plant nuclear waste where a potential spill could impact the drinking water of tens of millions of people.
Both the bill and Kildee’s amendment have bipartisan support.