Protect the Great Lakes - No Nuclear Waste
Nuclear energy is not a safe or clean energy option. Fermi 2 is a faulty and dangerous Nuclear Reactor that sits on the shore of Lake Erie and puts our health and our Great Lakes (20% of the world’s freshwater) at serious risk. It is the same reactor design and model that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.
The Fermi 2 Nuclear Reactor:
Discharges 45 million gallons of treated wastewater into Lake Erie daily
Dramatically increases cancer rates in the surrounding population (see radiation.org)
Charges taxpayers to store waste that will take thousands of years to become safe
Michigan's Senators, along with other elected officials, have spoken out on the dangers of storing high level nuclear waste on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, while remaining silent about Fermi2 and other nuclear waste sites on US shores.
Please join us in calling out this hypocrisy,
and asking our officials to protect our
waters, ecosystems, and communities.
PAST ACTIONS
Help us keep putting the pressure on to Save Our Water and Our Health.
The permit is still in motion and a public hearing has been scheduled!
Tuesday, November 28th at 6:00 PM ET
LET’S PACK THE (VIRTUAL) HALLS
We have resources with everything you need to make an impactful public comment at this hearing - let them know the people are watching, and we are here to hold DTE accountable and protect our communities!
How to Make a Public Comment - Hearing Tues Nov 28th (PDF)
In October, CRAFT and over 200 organizations and individuals took a stand. We signed a letter to the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (MIDEGLE) confronting them on a permit that would allow DTE to continue dumping toxic, cancer-causing chemicals into Lake Erie via the Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant and demanding a public hearing on this permit before it is finalized.
Thanks to the power of the people, EGLE has granted us this hearing! Let’s keep showing up to protect our waters and public health!
Read our letters to EGLE that helped us get here to learn more about this issue:
DTE - No Permit to Pollute
Join Us in Holding DTE Accountable
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has issued a draft permit for the Fermi 2 reactor to use and abuse Lake Erie water.
This proposed permit:
Lists pages of dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals Fermi is discharging into Lake Erie, and gives DTE until 2028 to stop this devastating pollution.
Gives no limits on thermal pollution, allowing Fermi to continue to heat Lake Erie and contribute to toxic algae blooms.
Does not have the EGLE using its authority to adequately test or regulate the radioactive elements (radionuclides) that can pollute drinking water around Fermi 2 and threaten our safety.
The communities around Fermi 2 and Lake Erie cannot afford 5 years of dangerous chemicals and thermal pollution while DTE and EGLE do nothing about it. DTE must be held accountable!
Please join CRAFT in calling for a public hearing on this issue. We cannot wait 5 years for DTE to clean up their act. We have written a public comment to DTE and EGLE. To add your signature to this open letter, click the button below.
You can submit your own comment on the issue. Click the button below to submit a comment directly to EGLE and voice your opposition to this permit to pollute. We have included a list of key points you can include when writing your comment.
The proposed permit for Fermi 2 does not protect our communities or our ecosystems.
Fermi 2 must stop discharging the listed chemicals, including seven types of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); we cannot wait until 2028.
This poison disproportionately impacts the ecosystems of Black, Indigenous, and poor communities - this is unacceptable.
Limits must be placed on Fermi 2’s thermal pollution of Lake Erie, we cannot allow Fermi 2 to continue to heat the lake and harm the ecosystems.
I am joining Citizens’ Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT) in calling for a public hearing on this permit.
We call on the EGLE to use their legal authority to regulate radionuclides (radioactive by-products and elements) that pollute our drinking water sources and threaten our safety.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits should not extend beyond five years without review.
Sign onto our open letter and join many other organizations and residents in telling the Michigan Legislature to say no to nuclear and yes to a 100% renewable, pollution-free, and just energy future! This sign-on letter is created in collaboration between Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) and CRAFT.
As the Michigan Legislature considers several measures in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions, we, the undersigned, feel that it is imperative that our elected leaders pursue reduction methods that do not recreate and perpetuate past environmental injustices, but rather seek solutions that are informed and led by communities that have seen the worst impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it, particularly Black, Brown, Indigenous and low-income communities.
We have serious concerns about climate and environmental legislation that the Michigan Senate is considering that would subsidize and expand the use of nuclear power in Michigan under the guise of providing “clean energy.”
In reality, nuclear power is borne on the health impacts that communities living near plants suffer, including increased rates of cancer, lower life expectancy and more. The enormous cost to build and maintain nuclear plants diverts resources from community-led renewable energy solutions. And the risks involved to communities that have already seen devastating environmental impacts cannot be ignored. Nuclear power is not safe, and it cannot be a part of an environmentally Just Transition from fossil fuels.
Indigenous and local communities have organized for years against the health disparities caused by the Fermi-2 plant in Michigan. Around 800 tons of spent fuel are now in a degrading waste pool, threatening local residents and ecosystems. It is imperative that the Michigan Legislature include impacted community voices into any energy legislation being considered, especially legislation that would subsidize or expand the use of old or new nuclear power.
We urge the Michigan Legislature to consider these particular areas of concern:
Nuclear power must not be considered a “clean” or “renewable” energy.
Nuclear power requires an intensive and emissions-heavy effort to build and sustain, and its waste is often dumped on Black, Brown, Indigenous and low-income communities who suffer severe health impacts. In no way should it be considered “clean” or “emissions-free.”Yet legislation now under Michigan Senate consideration would allow massive subsidies to wealthy corporations like DTE, who are already responsible for an array of environmental injustices, for expanding nuclear power. For example, Senate Bill 271, as currently written, considers nuclear power a form of “renewable”energy that the state can use to meet its climate goals. These subsidies must go to 100% renewable, pollution-free energy sources - we refuse to accept more public handouts to fossil fuel polluters in the name of “clean energy.”
Discussions around re-opening the Palisades reactor are especially concerning. Re-opening the Palisades plant over the strong objections of local communities would fly in the face of the legislature and Governor’s stated commitment to environmental justice. We must stop building nuclear plants and creating nuclear waste.
The Michigan Legislature’s creation of a nuclear caucus is a step in the wrong direction.
Nuclear power is not an environmentally just solution to climate change or pollution. The Michigan Legislature must not devote the people’s time to consideration of an energy source that has historically been the source of grave environmental injustice, burdens communities with dangerous waste which there is no safe way to store, and imposes significant economic costs.
We call on the Michigan Legislature to work meaningfully with communities that are on the ground and face the impacts of climate change and pollution every day, not create an industry-insider caucus that shuts out community voices. No “feasibility study” can be complete without robust community involvement.
There must be swifter action and accountability regarding wastewater disposal and thermal limits in National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.
For years, nuclear power plants in Michigan, including Fermi-2, have operated with loose accountability when it comes to disposing of coolant water. Much of this water is discharged directly into local waterways. It can carry heavy metals, radionuclides and other toxic chemicals, causing severe impacts on communities and ecosystems.
We call on our leaders to employ swift action and accountability to nuclear power operators like DTE for any discharges that don’t comply with the NPDES permit, and we ask that the EGLE make DTE comply with directives from the EPA to reduce the thermal limits that regulate the temperature of discharged water.
Communities that have seen the harmful and devastating effects of pollution and climate change, including decreased life expectancy, worse health outcomes and a lack of access to safe, pollution free lands and waters, must be at the forefront when solutions to climate change are being discussed and decided upon. We call on our legislators to listen to, engage with, and respect the voices of these communities as they work towards legislation to address our shared climate and environmental crisis.
END THE FOOLISHNESS!
Learn why nuclear is NOT safe!
On April 1st, we will be screening our recently released informational video on Fermi 2 and why it’s crucial to shut it down. There will be a live Q&A afterward with CRAFT experts Jesse Deer In Water and Jim Sherman. Come learn how to end the foolishness of nuclear misinformation!
Zoom Video Screening and Live Q&A
Saturday, April 1st, 3-4 pm Eastern Time
No False Solutions
Say No to Nuclear & Michigan HB 6019
We are reaching out to our community with urgent and developing updates on opposing HB 6019, a bill in the Michigan Senate that peddles the false solution of nuclear energy and threatens to endanger our energy future. HB 6019 proposes funding a research initiative to prove the viability of nuclear energy as a primary power source for the state, using taxpayer money. If approved, it would threaten to take future funding away from truly green energy solutions such as wind and solar, and into a power source that pollutes our communities and puts us all in danger of a nuclear meltdown.
HB 6019 is on the docket of the Senate Energy and Technology Committee, and we could get as little as 16 hours of notice before the committee meets on it. Please join us in contacting our Michigan Senators and telling them that we need to be funding truly green energy solutions, not the dangerous and harmful false solution that is nuclear energy.
STOP NUCLEAR BAILOUTS
Day of Action
Monday, September 13th, 2021
The White House and Congress are proposing to invest up to $50 billion dollars to bail out a failing, dirty, crooked nuclear industry that poisons our environment and endangers vulnerable communities.
Our leaders need to hear from us: We want a clean, renewable energy future and the jobs that come with it. Start investing in a safe, healthy, sustainable American future.
We are working in collaboration with The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), and other groups across the country who are organizing this Day of Action to send the clear message that we want 100% renewable and no nuclear bailouts.
NIRS has pulled together these incredible resources to help people get educated and take action:
Tell the White House and Congress:
No Nuclear Power in the American Jobs Plan!
The Biden Administration’s infrastructure bill is our chance to take real, effective action on climate, economic renewal, and a just future. The proposed nuclear bailouts would perpetuate environmental injustices while blocking effective progress towards climate action. We can’t let the nuclear industry block actual climate solutions, economic prosperity, and justice to subsidize the dirty, unjust, and corrupt energy systems of the status quo. There are so many ways to take action!
Help us Support Climate Justice and Avoid Nuclear Disaster! Submit comments on the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan by March 14th.
You can copy this letter
and email with your signature to:
EGLE-ClimateSolutions@michigan.gov
The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan is a drafted executive order through the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) which is intended to get Michigan on track in our response to the climate crisis. However, the plan falls short in some essential ways, failing to adequately address the importance of Environmental Justice or the dangers of nuclear energy. We urge people to submit comments by March 14th so that this Plan may better protect our ecosystems and communities.
Directed to The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy,
When it comes to the future of Michigan, as addressed in the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan, we must also think of the safety and future of the Great Lakes in every move we make. Our contributions to its maintenance, renewal, and living safety are priceless. We must craft a future full of renewable and alternative energies free from radioactive waste.
Nuclear energy is not clean or carbon-free. The nuclear fuel chain is responsible for carbon emissions during mining, milling, enriching, construction, transportation, and decommissioning. Nuclear energy generates pollution with well-documented negative health impacts in nearby communities, including cancer, and creates the risk of a nuclear disaster in Michigan on the scale of Chernobyl or Fukushima. Uranium mines, nuclear waste dumps, toxic incinerators, atomic reactors, and other such facilities typically are located where there is cheap land, cheap facilities, and little organized opposition. Too often, this has been in Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and low-wealth communities who have felt powerless to oppose corporate giants.
We need safe, pollution-free energy. We can do better than 50% resolution of renewables by 2030 - we can do more, faster. Renewable is doable.
The process must be inclusive of frontline peoples and solutions, as well as keep in heart and mind the wellbeing of all creatures and elements we impact. The plan must have community voices, solutions, and demands implemented as a part of any facility/energy system siting process. Environmental Justice, poor working class, and already impacted communities must have first and last word. Support should go where it is most needed, where solutions would continue to be unaffordable otherwise.
We recommend and ask that the recommendations of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition be centered in the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan. We ask that you take steps to end the harms and threats of nuclear power, and invest in truly renewable energy.
The Just Transition Support, Jobs, and Job Training sections of the plan should have community involvement and implementation lead by affected and frontline communities. There should be no tradeoffs and no recruiting people from frontline communities to work in factories that will bring in harmful technologies regarding energy production and manufacturing jobs. This includes technologies such as small modular nuclear reactors.
We ask that the safety around climate catastrophe be considered. Nuclear reactors and radioactive waste storage sites contain enormous amounts of hazardous radioactivity. This could be catastrophically unleashed during accidents caused by severe weather disasters, threatening to kill or injure tens to hundreds of thousands of people living downwind and downstream, and contaminate vast regions, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in property damage.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Alongside CRAFT - Citizens’ Resistance At Fermi Two
Earth Day Letter Writing and Informational Actions
April 22nd, 2021
Action 1 - Letter Writing to Michigan Senators
Nuclear energy is not a safe or clean energy option. Fermi 2 is a faulty and dangerous Nuclear Reactor that sits on the shore of Lake Erie and puts our health and our Great Lakes (20% of the world’s freshwater) at serious risk. It is the same reactor design and model that had a major meltdown in Fukushima, Japan.
The Fermi 2 Nuclear Reactor:
Discharges 45 million gallons of wastewater into Lake Erie daily!
Dramatically increases cancer rates in the surrounding population (see this study)
Charges taxpayers to store waste that will take thousands of years to become safe
Millions of people in Southeast Michigan, Northern Ohio, and Southern Ontario live in the 50-mile radius evacuation zone for Fermi 2. These issues directly affect us, our families, our communities, and our earth.
Please join us in writing to Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow. Let’s drive home that these issues matter - we must shut down Fermi 2, and ensure a safe future for our earth and our communities! Click the link below to send a message:
Action 2 - Print and Distribute
We’ve created these beautiful and to-the-point educational resources to distribute widely in the Fermi 2 fifty-mile evacuation zone. Our hope is to help people learn about the dangers we all face and be inspired to take action. There are both, 2 sided postcard size palm cards, and single-sided flyers that can be handed to people, posted on bulletin boards, street posts, kiosks, and/or in shop windows. Here is an example of the palm card, below are two downloadable and printable PDFs so that you all can join in the action with us. While this action is being initiated during Earth Day Week 2021, the great thing about these resources is that they are “activism all-timers” in that they will remain useful into perpetuity, directing people to the CRAFT website action page and keeping them updated on what we’re doing next. Thank you for joining us, and we’d love to see pics of where you post on social media, if you’d like to join us there use the #ShutDownFermi2. See you on the streets!
Protecting Our Earth
March 11th, 2021
Our March 11th Live Rally and Concert - Protecting Our Earth - was a great success. If you are looking for information, inspiration, and/or connection with fabulous community, here is the video of the event as well as links (click on their pictures) to presenters and performers.
