'Not in my back yard' - Bartolucci

The North Bay Nugget
May 26, 2009
Jonathan Jenkins 

'Not in my back yard' - Bartolucci

Cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci is 100% for his government's plans to build new nuclear reactors and 100% against storing their waste in his constituency.

I don't see a conflict in regard to my government's direction at all," Bartolucci, the minister for community safety and corrections, said Monday.

I see this as simply articulating the views of my constituency."

The Liberal government under Premier Dalton McGuinty is poised to announce the company that will build two nuclear reactors at the Darlington generating plant -- worth an estimated $26 billion.

Bartolucci says he supports that plan enthusiastically -- just not storing any of the radioactive waste in his riding of Sudbury.

Our community must be clear in our message to city council that we do not want this type of storage in our community," Bartolucci wrote in a news release last week.

There is no dollar figure, no salary, and no number of jobs that would be worth risking the health of our children, our landscape and our future."

The federally run Nuclear Waste Management Organization is looking for a community willing to host a nuclear storage facility and had proposed building one deep underground in the Sudbury area.

Bartolucci said his major concern is the possibility of rock-bursts underground and the problem of shipping the waste to Sudbury. He said he sees no contradiction in his position, even though the McGuinty government has moved to restrict what the premier called

NIMBY-ism" in respect to local opposition to wind power developments.

Bartolucci has just created a huge new headache for Dalton McGuinty when he least needed it," NDP MPP Peter Kormos said.

Here's a senior cabinet minister condemning the McGuinty government's nuclear policy. Which way is it? Is it Mr. McGuinty's way or is it Mr. Bartolucci's way? The Liberals can't have it both ways.

I challenge Mr. McGuinty to produce a single member of his cabinet or caucus who is prepared to stand up in their community and urge that community to accept a nuclear waste storage site as a long-term project."

Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman, who will name the province's chosen nuclear vendor in the next few months, said he hasn't heard from any other caucus colleagues who share Bartolucci's worries.

I've had the opportunity to view how the nuclear waste is stored -- it's neatly contained in a couple of warehouse buildings," Smitherman said.

I don't harbour maybe the same level of concern about the long-term storage capabilities.

The key point is it's not about my opinion. It's that each local community gets to figure that out for themselves."