IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 647 
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 
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 
Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. 
WALORSKI, Mrs. DINGELL, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, 
Ms. STEVENS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. MEIJER, 
Mr. UPTON, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. RYAN, 
Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. GALLAGHER, and Ms. 
MCCOLLUM) 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; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:26 Sep 18, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR647.IH
HR647
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 647 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 nu-
clear waste in the Great Lakes Basin; 
Whereas the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of 
Canada is examining building a permanent deep geologi-
cal 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, in-
cluding during transit to a permanent deep geological re-
pository for nuclear waste, could have lasting and se-
verely adverse environmental, health, and economic im-
pacts 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 gov-
ernments have passed resolutions in opposition to the for-
merly 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 re-
pository in Kincardine, Ontario; 
Whereas the protection of the Great Lakes is fundamental to 
treaty rights; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:26 Sep 18, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR647.IH
HR647
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 647 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 with-
in shared water basins of the 2 countries: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives 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 Gov-
ernment 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. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:26 Sep 18, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR647.IH
HR647
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS