Editor’s note: The following is an open letter to Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) officials Laurie Swami (president), Wayne Robbins (chair of the board) and Lise Morton (vice-president, site selection).
In your most recent NWMO annual report, you again talk about a “community-driven” process and that the project will only proceed in a “willing” community. The South Bruce community very clearly requested a referendum as part of the October election, yet you chose to ignore that. Even though the NWMO knows that 36 per cent of voting residents in the municipality signed a petition requesting a referendum to be included in this fall’s municipal elections, the nuclear exploration team, the municipal clerk, council and the NWMO keep insisting people must wait to learn more.
I believe the NWMO has made its agenda very clear: that they will continue to lead the council and “municipal” nuclear exploration team in a process that benefits the NWMO. You wish to delay, delay, delay until a time when you hope you can manufacture a method of willingness.
You know that the studies could have been completed on time and that the baseline studies are only relevant if the project is approved to go ahead. The most recent invitation offering “property owners” an honorarium if we allow the NWMO access to our properties for these baseline studies once again shows a lack of respect for members of the community. These were mailed to specific civic addresses yet we were labeled nameless “property owners.”
By not using names does that make it easier to ignore the fact that we are real people, with real lives, homes, businesses, and futures that your organization wishes to sacrifice for the nuclear industry?
The NWMO has not provided concrete details on what economic benefits they would guarantee the community if the project was accepted. The NWMO continues to stall and prolong this process completely ignoring the uncertainty, damage, and pain it is causing a lot of community residents. I believe the NWMO does not care about the community but is only here to sell an experimental plan to provide the nuclear industry a place to hide their radioactive waste deep underground.
It is clear that the NWMO is going to continue to move forward with its plan and process and it doesn’t matter what the actual community residents think.
You have found the “community leaders” who are willing to follow your agenda so you will keep pretending that you are engaging with the community.
And the only question I would have is why haven’t you committed to giving the community a vote? Why is the NWMO dragging this process out for as long as they can?
If the NWMO truly wants to claim they are only going to a willing community and wants to prove they have integrity and that they respect the community, then it is time to give the community a voice.
Michelle Stein
Teeswater
