State Rep. Shane Hernandez of Port Huron is fighting a plan to bury high-level nuclear waste near Lake Huron in Canada.

Hernandez co-sponsors a concurrent resolution calling on Congress to prevent Canada and the Ontario Power Generation Inc. from proceeding with proposed construction of an underground nuclear waste repository. The site would be in Kincardine, Ontario – less than a mile from the Lake Huron shore – directly across the lake from Michigan’s Thumb.

House Concurrent Resolution 12 was introduced this week and will be formally read into the record next week. If adopted, the resolution would be sent to the President of the United States, members of the Michigan congressional delegation, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Canadian officials.

“Storing nuclear waste in this location would be a huge mistake,” said Hernandez, who is teaming with Rep. Gary Howell of North Branch on the resolution. “If something were to go wrong, it would be devastating to the health of the Great Lakes and the safety of residents. It’s dangerously close to the main drinking water intakes for all of southeast Michigan, and it would affect the entire Great Lakes region. This plan must be stopped in its tracks right now.”

The resolution calls on Congress to take “every legal action possible” to prevent construction of the facility, and to urge Canada to prohibit a high-level nuclear waste repository anywhere in the Great Lakes basin.

PHOTO INFORMATION: Rep. Shane Hernandez (center) and Rep. Gary Howell (left) introduce House Concurrent Resolution 12.

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