Haldimand "Is Nuclear Power Right for Haldimand County?"

Petition Seeks Moratorium on Nanticoke Nuclear Proposal
For immediate release: November 18, 2008

Grand Erie Energy Quest, a grassroots group of concerned residents of Haldimand and Norfolk Counties, is launching a petition requesting a moratorium on nuclear development in Nanticoke, Ontario.

Without any formal public consultation, the Municipal Councils of Haldimand and Norfolk Counties have endorsed a Bruce Power proposal for an Environmental Assessment. Resolutions passed by both councils in the spring of 2007 have supported the first stage in Bruce’s proposal to build two nuclear reactors at Nanticoke.

The group’s petition requests that there be a complete moratorium on nuclear development until the issues of contamination, costs, security, and public consultation are adequately addressed.

The lack of public consultation by local municipalities is one of the main points addressed by the petition. Haldimand Council has refused three times to approve a citizen’s delegation regarding concerns about the nuclear proposal.

In addition to the problem of a lack of public input, citizens’ worries revolve around issues such as radioactive waste, cost overruns, social and biotic impact. Some residents feel that competitive alternatives to nuclear power have not been adequately addressed or explored by local political leaders.

“A big concern is that we feel that we’ve been completely left out of a decision-making process that will affect not only our own lives but the lives of our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren,” said Jim Elve, one of the authors of the petition. “Now that Bruce Power has committed $30 million to the first stage of construction, the snowball is rolling downhill and it won’t be easy to stop.”

Copies of the petition will be available for signing at MPP Toby Barrett’s Energy Symposium in Jarvis this Thursday evening, November 20th.

Grand Erie Energy Quest Jim Elve - 519-443-8085 - P.O. Box 490, Waterford, ON N0E 1Y0 - email: jelve@jelve.comhttp://www.energyquest4nanticoke.ca/

download the petition from the GEEQ website

Nuclear Nanticoke? Not so fast.

To: Norfolk County Council, Haldimand County Council, Legislature of Ontario, the Honourable Diane Finley and the Honourable Toby Barrett.

Without any formal public consultation, County Councils in both Haldimand and Norfolk have unanimously endorsed the first step in building two nuclear reactors.

The nuclear power industry has failed to address public concern over the issues of safety and security in the storage and handling of hazardous radioactive spent fuel.

Nuclear power is not emissions-free with its pollution intensive activities in uranium mining, transportation and refining.

No nuclear project has ever come in on budget or on time with the taxpayer and the utility customer paying for cost overruns that typically range in the billions of dollars.

We, the undersigned citizens, demand a complete moratorium on nuclear development until the issues of contamination, costs, security, and public consultation are adequately addressed.

Second anti-nuclear petition emerges
Posted By Monte Sonnenberg, SIMCOE REFORMER

A second petition is in circulation opposing the idea of nuclear reactors in Nanticoke.

Titled "Nuclear Nanticoke? Not so fast," the petition calls on Norfolk council, Haldimand council, Queen's Park and Ottawa to declare a moratorium on new nuclear generating stations until a host of issues related to the industry are addressed. These include the safe disposal of nuclear waste and the huge cost overruns that plague the industry.

Grand Erie Energy Quest -- sponsor of the petition -- also wants Bruce Power to suspend plans for an environmental assessment in Nanticoke until Norfolk council and Haldimand council fully air the issue in public. GEEQ is angry that Norfolk council and Haldimand council passed resolutions favourable to Bruce Power last year without entertaining public input.

"What Norfolk and Haldimand councils have done is declare Norfolk and Haldimand as willing host communities," says GEEQ spokesperson Jim Elve of Waterford, an environmental activist and member of the Green Party. "We seem to have more of a discussion about where to put a dog park than a nuclear facility."

Dunnville Coun. Lorne Boyko doesn't understand GEEQ's complaint. An environmental assessment, he said yesterday, is the proper means of airing concerns and fielding public input on an issue of this magnitude. Municipal councils, he added, are ill-equipped for the job.

"Is nuclear power right for Haldimand County?" Boyko said. "I don't know. But I know I'll have a pretty good idea after the environmental assessment. It's almost like they are petitioning against themselves. They are getting what they want."

In a news release yesterday, GEEQ described itself as "a grassroots group of concerned residents of Haldimand and Norfolk counties." The group doesn't believe Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment. Rather, it describes the $30-million, three-year study as "the first stage of construction."

"The snowball is rolling down hill and it won't be easy to stop," Elve said in his release.

Bruce Power spokesman James Scongack says initiatives like this are to be expected wherever nuclear reactors are proposed.

"There will always be a group of people who -- no matter how adequate the process -- will oppose it," he said. "I don't think anyone at this point is asking anyone to oppose or support anything. I don't put a lot of weight on this. The public consultation -- the public dialogue -- is only beginning."

Scongack plans to make a presentation at Norfolk council Nov. 25. During that presentation, he is expected to announce a series of open houses where Bruce Power will field questions and comments from the public.

Oct. 31, Bruce Power announced it is interested in constructing two nuclear reactors on 2,000 acres of vacant land in the Nanticoke Industrial Park. If the project gets the green light, the reactors will come on line around 2018.

Earlier this month, Donna Pitcher of South Cayuga said she will circulate a petition asking that the issue of nuclear reactors in Nanticoke be included as a question on 2010 municipal ballots in Norfolk, Haldimand, Hamilton and Brant County.

Those interested in downloading a copy of the GEEQ petition can do so by sending an e-mail to petition@energyquest4nanticoke.ca.

519-426-3528 ext. 150
msonnenberg@bowesnet.com

The Hamilton Spectator
NANTICOKE (Nov 19, 2008)

A community group has sprung up to fight a proposal to build two nuclear reactors in the industrial area of Haldimand County.

Bruce Power, which operates a nuclear power plant on Lake Huron near Port Elgin, is seeking to build the reactors beside the coal-fired Nanticoke Generating Station, which is set to close in 2014.

The province is not endorsing the idea, but it has support from both Haldimand and Norfolk councils, plus local MP and cabinet minister Diane Finley.

A group calling itself Grand Erie Energy Quest announced yesterday it has launched a petition requesting a moratorium on nuclear development in Nanticoke.

It will be asking residents to sign it tomorrow night at MPP Toby Barrett's energy symposium at the Jarvis Community Centre.

The group asks that a moratorium be put in place until the issues of contamination, costs, security and public consultation are adequately addressed. Bruce is seeking approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to conduct an environmental assessment.

It could take three years and cost the company $30 million.

Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer, who has encouraged the province to support the nuclear option for Nanticoke, said she's heard both pro and con from residents, but "the majority have been for it."