[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

  SENATE RESOLUTION 470--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 LAKE 
                                 BASIN

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

                              S. Res. 470

       Whereas the water resources of the Great Lakes Basin are 
     precious public natural resources shared by the Great Lakes 
     States and the Provinces of Canada;
       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 individuals 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 deep geological repository for nuclear waste less 
     than 1 mile from Lake Huron in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada;
       Whereas the Government of Canada is proposing to build a 
     permanent deep geological repository for high-level nuclear 
     waste in the Great Lakes Basin;
       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, 
     including during transit to a permanent deep geological 
     repository for nuclear waste, could have lasting and severely 
     adverse environmental, health, and economic impacts on the 
     Great Lakes and the individuals who depend on the Great Lakes 
     for their livelihoods;
       Whereas more than 187 local, county, State, and Tribal 
     governments have passed resolutions in opposition to the 
     proposed nuclear waste repository of Ontario Power 
     Generation;
       Whereas Tribes and First Nations' citizens have a strong 
     spiritual and cultural connection to the Great Lakes;
       Whereas the protection of the Great Lakes is fundamental to 
     treaty rights; and
       Whereas, during the 1980s, when the Department of Energy 
     was studying potential sites for a permanent nuclear waste 
     repository in the United States in accordance with the 
     Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), 
     the Government of Canada expressed concern with locating a 
     permanent nuclear waste repository within shared water basins 
     of the 2 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 counterparts in the Government of Canada 
     on a solution for the long-term storage of nuclear waste 
     that--
       (A) is safe and responsible; and
       (B) does not pose a threat to the Great Lakes.

                          ____________________