IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 243 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 22, 2023 

Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. JAMES, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. 

HUIZENGA, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. SLOTKIN, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. MCCLAIN, 

Ms. SCHOLTEN, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

MORELLE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. GALLAGHER, and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 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. 

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; 


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2 

•HRES 243 IH 

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 the Government of Canada is proposing to build a 

permanent deep geological repository for high-level nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin; 

Whereas the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of 

Canada is examining building a permanent deep geological repository for nuclear waste in the Great Lakes 

Basin, less than 40 miles from Lake Huron in South 

Bruce, 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, 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 232 local, county, State, and Tribal governments have passed resolutions in opposition to the formerly 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 Saugeen Ojibway Nation have exercised their 

Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and voted against Ontario 

Power Generation building a permanent nuclear waste repository in Kincardine, Ontario; 

Whereas the protection of the Great Lakes is fundamental to 

treaty rights; and 


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•HRES 243 IH 

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 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the Government of Canada should not allow 

4 a permanent nuclear waste repository to be built 

5 within the Great Lakes Basin; 

6 (2) the President and the Secretary of State 

7 should take appropriate action to work with the Gov8 ernment of Canada to prevent a permanent nuclear 

9 waste repository from being built within the Great 

10 Lakes Basin; and 

11 (3) the President and the Secretary of State 

12 should work together with their counterparts in the 

13 Government of Canada on a solution for the long14 term storage of nuclear waste that— 

15 (A) is safe and responsible; and 

16 (B) does not pose a threat to the Great 

17 Lakes. 

Æ 


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