[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 88--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE SHOULD ENSURE THAT THE GOVERNMENT 
 OF CANADA DOES NOT PERMANENTLY STORE NUCLEAR WASTE IN THE GREAT LAKES 
                                 BASIN

  Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Brown, 
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Franken, Mr. Peters, and Ms. Baldwin) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                               S. Res. 88

       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 the United States and Canada have, since 1909, 
     worked to maintain and improve the water quality of the Great 
     Lakes through water quality agreements;
       Whereas over 40,000,000 people in both 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 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:
       Whereas 187 local, county, State, and tribal governments 
     have passed resolutions in opposition to Ontario Power 
     Generation's proposed nuclear waste repository;
       Whereas tribes and First Nations' citizens have a strong 
     spiritual and cultural connection to the Great Lakes, and its 
     protection is fundamental to treaty rights;
       Whereas Ontario Power Generation has promised not to move 
     forward with their current proposal without the support of 
     the First Nations that would be impacted; and
       Whereas, during the 1980s, when the Department of Energy, 
     in accordance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, was 
     studying potential sites for a permanent nuclear waste 
     repository in the United States, the Government of Canada 
     expressed concern with locating a permanent nuclear waste 
     repository within shared water basins of the two countries: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the Government of Canada 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 Government of Canada 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 Government of Canada counterparts on a 
     safe and responsible solution for the long-term storage of 
     nuclear waste.

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