Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Officials in Minnesota are monitoring the cleanup of a massive spill of radioactive water from a nuclear power plant just outside Minneapolis. About 1.5 million litres (400,000 gallons) of nuclear wastewater leaked from the plant back in late November, but the incident wasn’t made public until Thursday. Xcel Energy, the company that operates the affected nuclear power plant, promises that the spill poses no risk to public safety, as did the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Pacific island nations are urging Japan to delay the release of water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant over fears fisheries will be contaminated, the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) said on Wednesday. The Japanese government said last week that water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant could be released into the sea "around this spring or summer," raising concerns from island nations still grappling with the legacy of nuclear testing decades ago.
