Environmental groups and U.S. officials are sounding alarms about two major new Canadian projects -- a heavy oil mega-refinery along the St. Clair River and an underground radioactive waste repository near Lake Huron -- they say could put Michigan air and water at risk for decades.

Michigan residents and businesses won't benefit from the projects and are largely unaware of them. Opponents say U.S. concerns are not represented in Canada, where the prospect of new jobs makes locals welcome the projects.

Shell Canada plans a giant refinery along five miles of St. Clair River shoreline now dotted with farms and marinas, across from St. Clair and Marine City. The refinery would process up to 250,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil from rich tar sands in Alberta, making fuel for the Canadian market.

The new refinery would be more than twice the size of the Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit, which is seeking state permits to expand by 15% to 115,000 barrels per day.

Ontario nuclear officials are making plans to dig 2,150 feet underground to bury low- and medium-level radioactive waste from 20 nuclear plants for hundreds of years. The site is half a mile from Lake Huron, across the lake from Michigan's Thumb.

"We want to make sure there is consultation with people in Michigan," said Doug Martz, chairman of the Macomb Water Quality Board, one of those concerned about both projects.

Spokespeople for both said Americans are free to attend Canadian meetings or to send in comments.

Canadians are no strangers to transborder pollution, as mercury emissions, spills, acid rain and other pollutants from U.S. plants have fouled their water and air.

"We're all on the same planet, and the air and water know no boundaries," said Lisa Matlovich, an environmental activist in Sarnia.

Matlovich said the Sarnia area already is heavily polluted by existing power and chemical plants. The area is known as Canada's Chemical Valley.

The issue is not to stop the projects but to ensure that Canadian authorities do thorough, independent environmental studies and put in the strictest requirements possible, Martz said.

He said the environmental study for the refinery did not take into account drinking-water intakes for three cities on the U.S. side a few miles downstream from the plant. There have been hundreds of spills of oil and toxic chemicals into the river from plants over the past two decades.

Full Story: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080606%2FNEWS05%2F806060413%2F1007

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