Stabenow challenges company's plan to store nuclear waste on Lake Huron

The Great Lakes are our state's greatest treasure. They're not only a tourist destination, but they're also a vital resource.

Now, there's talk of putting a nuclear waste site on Lake Huron. A Canadian power company called Ontario Power Generation is proposing to store nuclear waste within a mile of Lake Huron.

U.S Senator Debbie Stabenow announced Monday she is introducing legislation in September calling for the State Department to have Canada delay approving the Ontario Power Generation's proposed plan.

The delay would take place until an organization that settles boundary disputes completes its study to see if the storage facility would be safe.

"There's just not a need to have the possibility of seepage of nuclear waste into the Great Lakes," Stabenow says. "We have Asian Carp concerns, water quality issues, pipes breaking. We don't need to add nuclear waste concerns."

A spokesperson for Ontario Power Generation says the approval of the facility should be based on research, which has already been done and the evidence is clear.

"Key environmental groups have looked at most of our studies, the EPA and the Department of Environmental Quality," says Neal Kelly of Ontario Power Generation. "Both of them have come to the conclusion that the project will not cause adverse environmental effects."

But Stabenow wants the organization that settles boundary disputes to conduct its research before a final decision on the project is reached.

"There's no need to have any risk to the Great Lakes," she says.