PR:City of Chicago Joins call to Stop Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump beside the Great Lakes

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STOP THE GREAT LAKES NUCLEAR DUMP

For Immediate Release:  February 6, 2015

Contact: Beverly Fernandez [mailto:infoATstopthegreatlakesnucleardumpDOTcom info AT stopthegreatlakesnucleardump DOT com]

City of Chicago, Illinois Joins Call to Stop Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump beside the Great Lakes
TORONTO - The City of Chicago, third most populous city in the United States, joins a growing number of communities, organizations and citizens in the United States and Canada calling for a halt to Ontario Power Generation’s plan to build an underground nuclear waste dump (a Deep Geological Repository or DGR) approximately 1km from the shore of Lake Huron.

On January 21, 2015 the Chicago City Council unanimously passed resolution SR2014-892 opposing OPG’s proposed nuclear waste repository or any nuclear waste repository in the Great Lakes Basin (see attached).

The Chicago resolution notes that OPG did not consider or evaluate any other actual sites for the location of the proposed DGR, and further that resolutions previously introduced in the U.S. Congress have called for the President and the Secretary of State to take steps to prevent a nuclear waste repository from being built within the Great Lakes Basin.

“The Great Lakes hold 84 percent of North America’s fresh water and Chicago’s position as the paramount Great Lakes city makes OPG’s proposed nuclear waste repository a threat to both public health and our environment,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “As shown by our City Council’s unanimous approval of a resolution opposing the repository, as well as the many voices throughout the United States and Canada, passionate support to protect our Great Lakes spans across North America and cannot be ignored.”

With a Canadian federal Joint Review Panel report due in May 2015 to be followed by a Canadian federal government decision sometime in 2015, actions taken by Chicago calling for a halt to OPG’s plan were welcomed by Beverly Fernandez, Spokesperson for Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump.

“We applaud Mayor Emanuel and Chicago City Council for recognizing the importance of this issue and taking action to protect this irreplaceable fresh water resource” said Fernandez, whose Canadian non-profit organization launched a campaign to raise awareness about OPG’s plan and a petition that now has over 72,000 signatures opposing OPG’s proposal.

"It absolutely defies common sense to bury the most toxic waste humans have ever produced, that remains lethal and dangerous for 100,000 years, approximately 1 km from the drinking water of 40 million Americans and Canadians" Fernandez said.

Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump is a non-profit organization endorsed by thousands of people who believe that the protection of the Great Lakes from buried radioactive nuclear waste is responsible stewardship, and is of national and international importance. In order to protect this precious natural resource – the Great Lakes – our group believes that radioactive nuclear waste should not be buried anywhere in the Great Lakes Basin.

To learn more please visit:
 * http://www.stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com

To sign the online petition:
 * http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.html

For more information, please contact:

City of Chicago Mayor’s Press Office 312.744.3334 [mailto:pressATcityofchicagoDOTorg press AT cityofchicago DOT org]

Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump Spokesperson, Beverly Fernandez [mailto:infoATstopthegreatlakesnucleardumpDOTcom info AT stopthegreatlakesnucleardump DOT com]