The Toronto Star reported this past February that, “In the ongoing search for a nuclear waste site (to store about two million highly radioactive bundles at a single site)…the federal government is paying close attention to public opinion (and has detected some openness for such a site) in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. …The Nuclear Waste Management Organization kicked off a process last spring to find a community willing to host an underground complex that would serve as a storage dump for all the country’s nuclear waste.” According to the report, Pinehouse, Saskatchewan is one of “seven communities across the country (that has) formally expressed interested in hosting the underground repository.”
The Meadow Lake Progress reports this weekend that, “The Committee for Future Generations (opposed to the storage of nuclear waste in Saskatchewan) returned to Beauval (in northern Saskatchewan) last week after completing its 830-kilometre walk across the province. The group left Pinehouse (near Beauval) on July 27, and spent the next 21 days travelling to Regina. There, they presented a petition (with approximately 10,000 signatures) to the premier’s chief of staff on Aug 16. The petition will be read in front of the legislature once its next session begins. …To cap off the trip, a container filled with water from each lake the walkers passed on their journey was emptied into Wascana Lake (in Regina).”
“The committee still isn’t satisfied with the premier’s stance on the issue of nuclear waste storage. Premier Brad Wall has said the province is not currently in favour of storage, but hasn’t mentioned a ban. ‘We’re not interested in it at this time,’ said Wall in an interview last month. The answer isn’t good enough for the committee. …Meanwhile, the NDP promised its support for a ban on nuclear waste. (NDP) environment and climate change critic Sandra Morin spoke to protestors in Regina, saying it would back the necessary legislation.”
“Debbie Morin said the biggest achievement of the walk was the wide network of supporters it gained. ‘We have a list as long as our arm of organizations now that support us and that want to work together to strategize on how to get a ban legislated,’ she said. Some of those backers include the Council of Canadians and the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan. Other countries have also taken an interest in the committee’s activity, with support pouring in from Japan and Germany.”
THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS: Our Prairies organizer Scott Harris has highlighted that, “Council of Canadians chapters are part of the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan, which is pushing for a nuclear waste ban in the province. As part of efforts to keep nuclear waste out of Saskatchewan, chapters and the coalition have organized speaking events with nuclear expert Dr. Jim Harding, author of Canada’s Deadly Secret, in Wynard, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, La Ronge (and Regina this past March).” In a blog this summer, deputy director Tory Russell noted that, “The Council of Canadians’ Prince Albert chapter (welcomed) the (the Committee for Future Generations) walkers” with a water ceremony and fundraising concert on August 3. Our statement on nuclear power says, in part, that, “The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic.” For more on the walk and this issue, please see these Council of Canadians blogs – http://canadians.org/blog/?p=9947, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=9672 and http://canadians.org/blog/?p=5633.
To sign the Committee for Future Generation’s petition against the storage of nuclear waste in Saskatchewan, please download and print this form http://sites.google.com/site/cleangreensaskca/Home/LegislaturePetitiontoBanNuclearWaste.pdf?attredirects=1.
