I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
As the Canadian nuclear power company Bruce Power plans to ship 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes, the nuclear watchdog group Beyond Nuclear is asking the federal government to conduct a full programmatic review of water-borne shipments of radioactive waste.
The group writes:
PHMSA [Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration] is infamous for its negligence in major oil pipeline leaks into rivers, deadly natural gas pipeline explosions, and the cozy relationships between the agency’s top leadership and the very companies and industries PHMSA is supposed to regulate. Thanks to 7 Great Lakes U.S. Senators, it was revealed that PHMSA has previously rubberstamped approvals for 17 water-borne shipments of large, radioactive nuclear components in the past. These shipments travelled on rivers, bays, and sea coasts across the U.S., and even on the waters of Lake Michigan. PHMSA very quietly granted “approvals or special permits” for shipping radioactive steam generators, reactor pressure vessels, pressurizers, and reactor vessel heads with little or no notice to, or attention from, the public, media, emergency responders, or elected officials. Given the radiological risks of these shipments, and the precedent they set for shipping high-level radioactive wastes by water, PHMSA must undertake a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Earlier this month the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved a plan to ship 16-school bus sized steam generators from the Bruce Nuclear Station on Lake Huron to Sweden for reprocessing and reintroduction to the commercial metals market.
The approval required special arrangements because the generators are larger and more radioactive than shipments allowed under safety regulations.
In a Nov. 8, 2010 letter to a group of concerned U.S. Senators, PHMSA Director Cynthia Quarterman said the agency would begin considering Bruce Power’s application for similar special arrangements in U.S. waters once the shipping plan was approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
In a Feb. 17 email to Michigan Messenger, however, a PHMSA spokesperson said that the agency had not yet received an application from Bruce Power.
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