[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 565 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 565

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President and the Secretary 
     of State should ensure that the Canadian Government does not 
       permanently store nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 18, 2014

   Mr. Levin (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Ms. Stabenow, and Ms. Baldwin) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

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                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President and the Secretary 
     of State should ensure that the Canadian Government does not 
       permanently store nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin.

Whereas the water resources of the Great Lakes Basin are precious public natural 
        resources, shared by the Great Lakes States and the Canadian Provinces;
Whereas since 1909, the United States and Canada have worked to maintain and 
        improve the water quality of the Great Lakes through water quality 
        agreements;
Whereas more than 40,000,000 people in Canada and the United States depend on 
        the fresh water from the Great Lakes for drinking water;
Whereas Ontario Power Generation is proposing to build a permanent geological 
        repository for nuclear waste less than one mile from Lake Huron in 
        Kincardine, Ontario, Canada;
Whereas nuclear waste is highly toxic and can take tens of thousands of years to 
        decompose to safe levels;
Whereas during the 1980s when the Department of Energy, in accordance with the 
        Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), was studying 
        potential sites for a permanent nuclear waste repository in the United 
        States, the Canadian Government expressed concern with locating a 
        permanent nuclear waste repository within the shared water basins of the 
        2 countries; and
Whereas a spill of nuclear waste into the Great Lakes could have lasting and 
        severely adverse environmental, health, and economic impacts on the 
        Great Lakes and the people that depend on them for their livelihood: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
            (1) the Canadian Government should not allow a permanent 
        nuclear waste repository to be built within the Great Lakes 
        Basin;
            (2) the President and the Secretary of State should take 
        appropriate action to work with the Canadian Government to 
        prevent a permanent nuclear waste repository from being built 
        within the Great Lakes Basin; and
            (3) the President and the Secretary of State should work 
        together with their Canadian Government counterparts on a safe 
        and responsible solution for the long-term storage of nuclear 
        waste.
                                 <all>