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Thunder Bay Council Vote on Resolution Opposing NuclearWaste Transport Results in Tie

After the second peaceful opposition rally in as many weeks in front of Thunder Bay City Hall, a Council vote regarding a resolution to send a letter to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization urging them to pursue the option of managing used nuclear fuel waste closer to the reactor stations where the waste has been generated and is currently stored, thereby avoiding transportation of nuclear waste in Thunder Bay, failed in a tie.

The vote followed on the acceptance of the motion by Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Aug. 26, but rules of order required a second vote. Mary Veltri of Environment North and Charles Faust of Nuclear Free Thunder Bay made  deputations at the Aug. 26 meeting.

“This is not over,” said Faust. “We might have lost the motion on a tie, but the debate finally having made it to the Council floor mobilized more people in the last four weeks than in the previous four years. We won the original motion two weeks ago against the odds and today after NWMO put everything they had on the table, we lost to a tie vote. Six of twelve members of council stood up for the concerns of Thunder Bay residents.”

Mary Veltri said, “So many Thunder Bay residents persistently voicing their opposition to the NWMO proposal is a clear indication that they care deeply about the risks to human health and the environment of having high-level nuclear waste buried in our region. Our community has been unfairly shut out from the NWMO consultation process, so asking our City Council to speak up on our behalf was an obvious and reasonable course of action. One of the most important roles for City Council is to represent its constituents and the well-being and interests of our city.”

“Having Canada’s nuclear waste repository built in our region is not a vision for the future of Northwestern Ontario that inspires me,” Veltri said. “What makes this area special is the boreal forest that surrounds us with its intact ecosystems and freshwater rivers and lakes. It plays a crucial role in mitigating the impacts of climate change. Rather than linking our  economic development to storing Canada’s nuclear waste, Thunder Bay could become a leader in advancing clean, sustainable and renewable energy. We will continue to bring our concerns forward to our elected representatives at all levels of government and let them know that we do not want a nuclear waste repository in our region. ”

Opposition groups contend that nuclear fuel waste should not be transported great distances and imposed on northern communities, including First Nations, with attendant risks to the environment. As a safer model, groups advocate for continued but improved surface containment at or near the reactor sites, allowing time for robust research and the development of improved management techniques.

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