Toxins
Nuclear Energy
Canada Needs a Radioactive Waste Policy
May 2020
The CEA and dozens of other groups wrote to the federal government to stress the need for Canada to have a comprehensive nuclear waste policy. It is an urgent request as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is moving forward with regulatory license decisions on several radioactive waste projects. The Great Lakes basin is currently home to dozens of nuclear industry operations. Read the letter.
Bruce Power’s proposed plan to ship steam generators to Sweden
May 2011
Despite a one-year license granted by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the fight to stop Bruce Power from shipping 16 decommissioned steam generators through area waterways is not over.
May 6, 2011 Bruce Power withdraws US application for a license to package or transport steam generators under special arrangement. Read full release
February 15, 2011 15 facts that Citizens need to know about Radioactive Steam Generators. Read full release
February 7, 2011 Environmentalists vow to stop shipment of radioactive waste. Read full release
October 18, 2010 Notice of application by Bruce Power for a license to transport steam generators. Read full release
July 29, 2010 Notice of Public Hearing. Read full release
Environmental Coalition Continues Challenging “Radioactive Russian Roulette” at Davis-Besse
2012
The environmental coalition battling against the 20 year license extension proposed at the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo, Ohio has filed a supplement to its cracked concrete containment contention.
November 5, 2012 Hearings on the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor license extension. Read full release
July 16, 2012 Environmental Coalition Bolsters Case Against Davis-Besse. Read full release
March 28, 2012 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Violates Its Own Environmental Protection Mandate - Rejects Consideration of Renewables as Alternative to Davis-Besse License Extension. Read full release
January, 10 2012 Environmental Coalition Challenges Davis-Besse License Extension on Shield Building Cracks: Groups Cite Problem as Final Straw Regarding Safety Risks at the Problem-Plagued Reactor. Read full release
May 9, 2011 Citizen groups win a victory in fight against Davis-Besse atomic reactor extension: NRC Licensing Board recognizes standing, grants hearing on renewable alternatives and severe accident risks. Read full release
April 20, 2011 Fukushima Fallout: 45 Groups and individuals petition NRC to suspend all nuclear reactor licensing and conduct a "credible" Three Mile Island-style review. Read complete details. Read Petition Review.
March 16, 2011 Davis-Besse opponents, "It can happen here." Read full release
March 1, 2011 Environmental Coalition Challenges Davis-Besse License Extension - Wind and Solar Capable of Replacing Nuclear Power - Severe Accident Consequences Not Considered. Read full release
February 1, 2011 Environmental coalition defends its challenge against "radioactive russian roulette". Read full release
December 30, 2010 Environmental Coalition Challenges “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis Besse. Read full release
Environmental contentions filed against proposed Fermi 2 life extension
2014
A coalition of environmental groups, including the CEA, have officially intervened against the application by DTE (Detroit Edison) to extend the operating license at its Fermi 2 atomic reactor for an additional 20 years, to 2045. Two of the contentions concern high-level radioactive waste, and two are about reactor risks. The coalition has issued a press release about its intervention and contentions opposing Fermi 2's license extension. View press release
Proposal to Build Fermi 3
2013
The CEA and other environmental organizations have submitted written responses to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding DTE's proposed Fermi 3 Nuclear Reactor in Michigan.
October 30, 2013 An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hold a hearing Oct. 30 in Monroe, Mich., concerning a challenge by several environmental groups to the Combined License application for a new nuclear reactor at the Fermi site in Monroe County, Mich. The ASLB is the independent body within the NRC that conducts adjudicatory hearings and renders decisions on legal challenges to licensing actions. Complete details
March 18, 2013 Final Impact Statement Comments focusing on water. Read submission
February 20, 2013 Fermi 3 Final Environmental Impact Statement Incomplete. Fermi 3 Interveners Reveal Major Inadequacies of Environmental Impact Statement – Concurrently the NRC Announces Major Delays in Safety Evaluation Review -- Major Setbacks Projected. Read full press release
January 18, 2013 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Fermi 3 was released. The public has sixty days from the release date to comment on the proposal. This FEIS will be the last opportunity to express opposition to the proposed Fermi 3 nuclear plant under the National Environmental Policy Act. The FEIS four volume set total of 2320 pages is available at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105/.
February 2, 2012 New Report shows increase in cancers and mortalities since Fermi 2 nuclear plant start up. Read full release
October 28, 2011 The draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) for the Fermi Unit 3 Combined License (COL) Application, Construction and Operation of a Power Reactor posted on the U.S. federal register.
Available in two volumes:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105/v1/index.html
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105/v2/index.html
May 23, 2011 Environmental challenges against proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor survive: Licensing board allows endangered species and toxic algae contentions to proceed to hearing stage. Read full release
June 17, 2010 NRC ASLB to hear testimony and to investigate allegations on safety significant quality assurance violations at proposed Fermi III reactor. Read full release
May 19, 2009 How Safe is Your Energy? What Michigan Citizens Need to Know about Local Nuclear Power Plants. Read full release
April 13, 2009 Environmental coalition challenges new reactor at Fermi complex: Groups cite clean alternatives to radioactive risks to Lake Erie. Read full release
March 10, 2009 Environmental coalition files fourteen legal contentions against Fermi III atomic reactor. Read full release
February 8, 2009 The “Dirty Dozen” reasons to block the proposed Fermi 3 atomic reactor. Read full release
Check out the website of the international coalition to stop Fermi 3.
Nuclear Waste Watch
Review of Nuclear Waste Law Required - National Alliance Calls for Major Changes in Decade Old Nuclear Fuel Waste Act
2012
On the 10th anniversary of a controversial law coming into force that could permit the burial of highly radioactive nuclear waste, a broad alliance of over thirty health, environmental, community and faith groups has issued an open letter to communities being studied as possible burial sites and is calling on the federal minister of Natural Resources to review the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act and to direct the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to be more open and accountable.
NWW position statement
Toxins
National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
In Canada, the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is the only legislated, nation-wide, publicly accessible pollutant inventory. There were 268 substances listed in the NPRI for the 2000 reporting year; 55 substances are designated toxic by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The National Pollutant Release Inventory has been published annually since the program's inception in 1992. To go to the National Pollutant Release Inventory website, click here.
You can report environmental problems, spills, discharges, etc. to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change 519-948-1464 or the Spills Action Centre 1-800-268-6060.
The NPRI is based upon the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI was established by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, it was expanded to include more data by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. Currently, there are approximately 650 pollutants and pollutant categories in various industrial sectors and federal facilities tracked by the TRI. To view the Toxic Release Inventory web site go to: www.epa.gov/tri.
The goals of both the NPRI and the TRI are to empower citizens, through information, to hold companies and governments accountable in terms of the management of pollutants. The active dissemination of the contents of these inventories to the public is vitally important for the efficacy of the inventory process.
Our most recent report, published in May 2002, is the fifth review of NPRI data published by the Citizens Environment Alliance (CEA) and the first to combine NPRI data for Essex County with TRI data from Wayne County. Three primary sources of information were used to complete the report: Taking Stock '98 - North American Pollutant Releases and Transfers; the Toxic Release Inventory Database of 1999, and; the National Pollutant Release Inventory database of 2000. These sources were the most up-to-date inventories available when our analyses began in January 2002.
Time To Fix Ontario's Blue Box Program
August 2020
Fifty-two groups, including the Citizens Environment Alliance, proposed recommendations to create a regulation under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2015 that ensures products and services are fundamentally redesigned to prevent waste, and that companies are financially and operationally responsible for their products' end-of-life. Only about seven percent of Ontario's waste is recycled! Read our declaration.
Chemicals Management Needs to Improve in the Great Lakes Basin
December 2019
The CEA along with dozens of other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) encouraged Environment and Climate Change Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency to enhance proposed criteria for chemicals management in the Great Lakes basin. The precautionary approach, pollution prevention, zero discharge and virtual elimination are some of the approaches the NGOs requested be factored into the chemical management criteria for ecosystem protection in the basin. Read NGOs comments
Environmental and Health Organizations Respond to Ontario Government's Proposal for Expansion of Waste Incineration
April 2019
The Citizens Environment Alliance, in collaboration with other environmental and health organizations, submitted a response to the Ontario government's discussion paper, Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities: Discussion Paper.
There are some appropriate proposals in the discussion paper, such as disposal bans. However, there is an overall lack of detail about implementation. Additionally, the discussion paper's endorsement of incineration is a clear threat to the environment and public health. Read our submission, NGO letter response to Waste Discussion paper.
Ontario's Bill 66 an Environmental Policy Disaster
January 2019
Ontario's latest omnibus bill, Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2018, Schedule 5 would repeal the Toxics Reduction Act, 2009 (TRA). The repeal of the TRA is based upon several faulty assumptions by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Ontario has a toxic pollution problem and repealing the TRA will not help reduce pollution. The Citizens Environment Alliance supported a recent submission by the Canadian Environmental Law Association expressing our concerns about Schedule 5. Read more
Plastic Pollution: Zero Plastic Waste in Canada by 2025
June 2018 (update March 2019)
Environmental groups, including the Citizens Environment Alliance, have issued a statement on achieving zero plastic waste in Canada.
UPDATE Ontario released a discussion paper on waste - including single-use plastics - and they are accepting comments from the public about their strategy.
Ontario Needs A Strong Food and Organic Waste Action Plan
January 2018
As part of Ontario's Strategy For A Waste-Free Ontario, the Citizens Environment Alliance and several other environmental groups have proposed an environmentally sound food and organic waste strategy for Ontario. This statement was prepared in response to the province's proposal entitled Proposed Food and Organic Waste Framework.
Toxic Chemicals in the Great Lakes
August 2017
What is being done about toxic chemicals in the Great Lakes? Under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the U.S. and Canada have agreed to focus their combined efforts on some chemicals known as Chemicals of Mutual Concern. Recently, the CEA, Canadian Environmental Law Association and National Wildlife Federation wrote to the governments with our concerns about proposed strategies for mitigation of two chemicals of mutual concern. Read the submission
Call for Public Safety
June 2017
The Citizens Environment Alliance and over 40 other public interest groups have requested that the Ontario government create a world class, province-wide nuclear emergency plan. View PDF
Prohibition of Triclosan in Consumer Products
February 2017
The CEA and other environment and health groups have requested that the Canadian government prohibit triclosan in all consumer products to protect the environment and human health. Read the submission
Coal-tar Sealcoats Major Source of PAH Contamination in Great Lakes Basin
August 2016
Coal-tar sealcoats are sprayed or brushed on asphalt parking lots, driveways and roads every few years to protect against weather, extend their life and improve appearance. These sealcoats are a significant source of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a known human carcinogen. PAHs are widespread in the Great Lakes basin. Studies have shown that as much as 50-75% of PAH contamination found in the sediment throughout the Great Lakes region comes directly from coal-tar sealcoats.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) published a draft screening assessment report and risk management scope document for coal tars and their distillates under the Chemicals Management Plan earlier this year. ECCC is recommending these substances be designated toxic through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The CEA agrees and suggests banning some coal tar applications completely, read our submission: Coal Tars and Their Distillates.
The CEA has partnered with Freshwater Future to raise awareness about this environmental pollutant and how to reduce its environmental impact.
Toxic Inventory Reports
April 2002 1999 and 2000 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and the 1999 U.S. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) : A Summary Report
March 2001 1998 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) Summary Report
February 2000 1997 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) Summary Report
September 1998 1996 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) Summary Report
January 1998 1995 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) Summary Report
