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Growing community opposition to nuclear waste repository near Kincardine

regulatory-capture-1flag-canadaMore communities expected to join fight to stop nuclear waste repository near Kincardine http://www.theobserver.ca/2015/05/07/more-communities-expected-to-join-fight-to-stop-nuclear-waste-repository-near-kincardine  A federal review panel’s ‘praising’ endorsement of Ontario’s largest electricity generator and its proposed nuclear waste repository speaks volumes about the state of the regulatory world, says Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.

“We expected (the proposal) to be approved with conditions,” he said Thursday. “What we didn’t expect was the glib and glossy language throughout the report praising OPG (Ontario Power Generation).

“One of the diseases that happens in the regulatory world is that the regulator often becomes a captain for the proponents and we see that with rail and other issues.”

In its decision released late Wednesday, the joint review panel found the proposed repository was “not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects” if mitigation measures are implemented.

The deep geological repository is expected to house low-to-intermediate-level radioactive waste near Kincardine. It will be located only a kilometre away from Sarnia’s drinking water source.

Hundreds of Canadian and U.S. communities and environmentalists have been sounding the alarms over the plan, speaking at public hearings and contacting their elected representatives.

“I can’t argue the science,” said Bradley, who is a vocal opponent of the plan. “I’m not a scientist, but what we can argue is that there were no other locations looked at.”

He anticipates more support will come on board with the issue headed to the political sphere.

Lake-Huron,-Bruce-County,-O

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and the federal cabinet will decide whether to approve the project within the next 120 days.

“Since (2012), we’ve had over 140 cities from both sides of the border, including Chicago, join the opposition and now I expect this is grow in these coming months,” Bradley said.

A spokesperson with the lobby group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump described the issue as an “intergenerational, non-partisan issue that affects millions of Canadians and Americans.”

“It is a decision that will affect the Great Lakes for the next 100,000 years,” Beverly Fernandez told The London Free Press. “The last place to bury and abandon radioactive nuclear waste is beside the largest supply of fresh water on the planet.”

But OPG official Jerry Keto told the newspaper Fernandez should “give some relevance and credit to the science behind this.”

“We’re very pleased with the results,” he said of the panel recommendation. “We’re very happy that we have the endorsement.” – With files from The London Free Press  barbara.simpson@sunmedia.ca

May 8, 2015 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs warns on un-safety of nuclear waste burial near Lake Huron

Lake-Huron,-Bruce-County,-OOnt. mayor calls nuclear waste location ‘a bone-headed move’ Amy Legate-Wolfe, CTVNews.ca May 7, 2015 Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs has a problem with a plan to bury nuclear waste underground given the locations proximity to a water source.

A panel of experts concluded Wednesday that it is safe to bury the hazardous nuclear waste in a deep underground bunker at the site near Lake Huron.

The 430-page environmental assessment report found that the project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects, though it would require strict attention and regulation. The proposal put forth by Ontario Power Generation calls for hazardous waste to be buried 680 metres underground in a deep geological repository or DGR, a distance that would comfortably fit the CN Tower.

The DGR will be at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, which stands on the shores of Lake Huron, Southwest of Owen Sound, Ont……..

After taking a tour of the proposed site, Hobbs wasn’t convinced that there aren’t other places that would serve the repository better.

“One of our main concerns was that no other sites were looked at,” he said. “And when we’re looking at high-level nuclear waste…I think they really missed the boat here in looking at other sites.”

Hobbs believes locations like Ignace in Northern Ontario or Saskatchewan would handle the nuclear waste better, and are away from a water source.

The federal environment minister has four months to decide whether to approve the plan. The goal is to start construction by 2018, and have the site running by 2025. Before that can happen, there will have to be further approvals and consultations with local First Nations…….http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ont-mayor-calls-nuclear-waste-location-a-bone-headed-move-1.2363486

May 8, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Petition: Tell the U.S. Department of Energy: Stop the bias against renewable energy

Tell the U.S. Department of Energy: Stop the bias against renewable energy http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Renewables_Bias

63%   We’ve reached 47,466 of our goal of 75,000.

sign-thisSign the petition Tell the U.S. Department of Energy:

“The Energy Information Administration chronically overestimates the cost of renewables like solar and wind, while underestimating the cost of fossil fuels.. This constant bias hurts clean energy investment and development, which is vital to the U.S. economy and our effort to combat climate change. End the Annual Energy Outlook’s bias against renewable energy.”

You’ll receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities.

Every year, the U.S. Department of Energy releases the Annual Energy Outlook, an important report about the future of energy in America. It forms the basis of energy policy and investment for both the government and businesses by providing projections and cost estimates for various sources of energy.

But here’s the problem: This report chronically overestimates the cost of renewable energy like wind and solar while underestimating the cost of dirty fossil fuels every single year.

It’s a bias that tilts the playing field toward dirty fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, and away from the clean energy sources that are crucial to combating climate change and jumpstarting America’s clean energy economy. It’s time to put that to an end.

Tell the Department of Energy: Stop the bias against renewable energy.

The recently released 2015 report projected that by 2040, the U.S. would increase its consumption of renewable energy by only 2 percent.1 According to the same report, the U.S. will only add 48 gigawatts of solar generating capacity by 2040, while solar energy experts contend that half of that amount will be added by 2016 alone. Meanwhile, the report continued its pattern of underestimating costs for dirty fossil fuels like coal and fracked natural gas.2

Furthermore, the report doesn’t base any of its estimates on planned or predicted changes in public policy that will have a dramatic effect on future U.S. energy consumption, including fracking bans that would significantly raise the cost of natural gas, extensions of tax credits for solar power, and impending EPA rules that will limit carbon emissions from power plants and lower our dependence on coal.

This out-of-touch, head-in-the-sand analysis about America’s energy future is unnecessarily prolonging our reliance on dirty fossil fuels, putting our climate and health at risk while holding back a new wave of clean energy jobs and investments. It’s time to end the bias.

Tell the Department of Energy: Stop the bias against renewable energy.

May 8, 2015 Posted by | ACTION | Leave a comment

Record CO2 in atmosphere – greatest in a million years

climate-changeGlobal CO2 in atmosphere highest in a million years, NOAA says http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/global-co2-in-atmosphere-highest-in-a-million-years-noaa-says-20150506-ggvufx.html  May 7, 2015 Ehren Goossens The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged more than 400 parts per million globally for the first time ever in March, according to US government measurements.

The recording was based on air samples taken from 40 sites around the world, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement Wednesday. It’s the highest level of the gas in at least a million years.

Increasing CO2 emissions are blamed for global climate change that causes stronger storms, melting Arctic ice and rising sea levels, according to scientists. This is the first time the emissions have reached that level on a global basis — sites in the Arctic and Hawaii recorded CO2 concentrations over 400 ppm in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times,” Pieter Tans, lead scientist for the agency’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, said in the statement. Half of that rise has occurred since 1980, he said.

Concentrations of CO2 are rising at about 2 to 3 ppm a year. The United Nations has said that greenhouse gases should peak at no more than 450 ppm this century to maximise the chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

May 8, 2015 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

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