LETTER

Katharine Fletcher’s Open Letter to William Amos (in the Bulletin d’Aylmer, 14 Sept.)

 

Bravo to Ms Fletcher for this! We salute her for her principled position of speaking her convictions and defending the environment and our beautiful Ottawa River. As an environmental lawyer, William Amos (MP Pontiac) must also know that he needs to protect the Ottawa River. We, at Old Fort William Cottagers’ Association, repeat our request that Mr Amos join our opposition to CNL’s proposal to dispose of one million cubic metres of radioactive waste only one kilometre from the Ottawa River.

CNL’s so called “Near Surface Disposal Facility” (NSDF) is actually a municipal landfill.  An above-ground mound (at least five storeys high) does not comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste and certainly not intermediate-level.

Great care must be taken of Chalk River’s legacy waste, but it must not be disposed of one km from the river.  A state-of-the-art facility, designed in adherence with IAEA standards, must be located at least 25 km from the Ottawa River. More jobs will be required and the Valley will benefit economically.

Mr Amos suggests we take a ‘wait and watch’ attitude — that we should let the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) do its job. If only this were a reasonable request. Mistrust of the CNSC is widespread. The CNSC is biased and must not be the regulator for the industry it also champions. We cannot do as Mr Amos wishes, as this could mean the approval of CNL’s plans and it will be too late for a reversal.

We call on the federal government to halt this current environmental assessment process regarding CNL’s proposal until new environmental laws have been adopted. All the recommendations of the federal government’s own expert panel should be adopted, particularly the creation of an independent impact assessment authority. Only then can the environmental assessment process be trusted.

Many of Mr Amos’ constituents, now including Katharine Fletcher, are joining forces to oppose CNL’s current proposal. We ask Mr Amos to lead Pontiac County. Mr Amos must not ask us to wait until it is too late. The Ottawa River needs the protection of all of us.

Johanna Echlin
Old Fort William Cottagers’ Association
Sheenboro (Pontiac)