 | Home About Us Press Releases Reports Events Committees Join FARE Contact | |
| «Reports Lakeshore Road residents should be applauded Why is broken pipe contaminating lake? Lakeshore Road residents should be applauded for investigating a broken pipe and proving that excessive concentrations of uranium and arsenic have been allowed to pour into Lake Ontario, perhaps for decades. Families Against Radiation Exposure (F.A.R.E.) calls on Ontario’s Ministry of Environment to do further tests to determine if Cameco Corporation and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission can be prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act. Water tests, done by Caduceon Environmental Laboratories in Peterborough, show the water is contaminated with uranium 50 times higher than the Interim Provincial Water Quality Objectives. Arsenic levels were nearly 11 times higher than Ontario considers acceptable. The standards are guidelines for surface water quality in Ontario and are more restrictive than the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines. They represent levels that are considered free of any threat to the environment. According to Michael Longpré of the Ministry of Environment’s Peterborough office, “if we find elevated PWQOs in the environment and they are attributed to a pollution source, there is a potential for impacts to exist.” He said his ministry is obliged to investigate any suspected toxic and chronic impacts to aquatic organisms. “If it is discovered that an adverse impact or impairment has occurred to the environment, MOE has the authority under the Environmental Protection Act and Ontario Water Resources Act to go after those responsible.” The pipe has, since 1956, drained water from the Welcome Waste Management Facility, a depository for industrial soil containing elevated levels of uranium, radium and arsenic, some of it dating from the time during the Second World War that uranium was refined in Port Hope for the Manhattan Project. Cameco manages the facility under license from the CNSC. But that license sets no limits for uranium in effluent, and the limits for arsenic are 100 times higher than the Ontario guidelines. According to Cameco’s own records, as much as 8,000 cubic metres of “treated” water from the facility is pumped out of the pipe in a month. F.A.R.E. says it is not good enough for Cameco and the CNSC to argue that the effluent meets license standards. Those standards are shockingly inadequate. And it is indefensible that water contaminated with those concentrations of arsenic and uranium is being knowingly pumped into Lake Ontario. Twenty-seven Ward 1 and Ward 2 residents have co-signed a letter of concern and sent it and the test results to Dr. Michael Binder, chairman of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). They have copied the letter to Ontario’s environment ministry, the company and the municipality of Port Hope. The pipe is buried on a municipal road allowance. F.A.R.E. has three points to make: 1. By ignoring provincial water quality guidelines, the CNSC is not ensuring that Port Hope’s environment is properly protected. 2. By allowing a pipe to spew contamination on a beach for months and perhaps years, Cameco is not monitoring its pipeline properly or acting responsibly. 3. Other communities who draw their drinking water from the lake have the right to be alarmed about this lax oversight in Port Hope, since the problem appears to date from the 1950s. | Lakeshore Road residents should be applauded Why is broken pipe contaminating lake? Low-level plan found wanting Liner system for waste called problematic CNSC advised it's too cozy with industry Conflict of interest: We told them that What to do if Cameco burns Emergency plan says buy a lot of duct tape Briarpatch magazine interviews FARE How citizens thwarted the nuclear industry Our new council: Where they stand on Cameco emissions The stigma of risk: Assessing the cost of living in the plume International studies show the social price we pay Cost of Cameco on our waterfront: $6 million a year FARE consultant lists jobs, taxes we'd gain if it moved elsewhere Peer review says SEU screening fatally flawed Town council's intervention called for health testing Town tells CNSC: Answer us or else Peer review team acknowledges "the high level of sustained public concern." An intervention by Farley Mowat "One more ounce of contamination would be an ounce too much" Why CNSC screening was inadequate Sierra Legal Defence Fund files brief on behalf of FARE Why we shouldn't trust the CNSC David Craig's commentary aired on CHUC CNSC screening report on Cameco EA This was released on May 11, but was not put on the regulator's website At last: CNSC report on Cameco's mid-term review It notes the many interventions by FARE members FARE affidavit for panel review Waterkeeper submission to CNSC on May 19, 2005 Dr. Eric Mintz February 2004 health study report A critique of the Mortality Study for Port Hope 2002 Letter from FARE to Federal Minister of the Environment Unresolved concerns of the people of Port Hope (5 April 2005) Prepared by Families Against Radiation Exposure and Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee at the request of Paul Macklin, MP 22 July 2004: The 623 questions raised by the Research Sub Committee CNSC: A lax regulator FARE documents how little it did to force compliance between 2002 and 2004. | |||||
| | | | | | |
admin@ph-fare.com P.O. Box 202 Port Hope, Ontario L1A 3W3 Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to admin@ph-fare.com. Copyright © 2005 Families Against Radiation Exposure, Inc. All rights reserved. Last modified: 15 April 2005 Archived Information » top of this page « administration |
About this issue:
Frequently Asked Questions
Port Hope Radiation Issues in the News
Radiation and Health Effects
FARE Newsletter
Web Links
External sites:
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
Energy Probe