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.

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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR243.IH HR243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 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 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 00:35 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR243.IH HR243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •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 with- in shared water basins of the 2 countries: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that— 2 (1) the Government of Canada should not allow 3 a permanent nuclear waste repository to be built 4 within the Great Lakes Basin; 5 (2) the President and the Secretary of State 6 should take appropriate action to work with the Gov- 7 ernment of Canada to prevent a permanent nuclear 8 waste repository from being built within the Great 9 Lakes Basin; and 10 (3) the President and the Secretary of State 11 should work together with their counterparts in the 12 Government of Canada on a solution for the long- 13 term storage of nuclear waste that— 14 (A) is safe and responsible; and 15 (B) does not pose a threat to the Great 16 Lakes. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR243.IH HR243 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS