[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        H.R. 3982, THE OCEAN RADIOACTIVE DUMPING BAN ACT OF 1994

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Laughlin). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WELDON. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Chairman Ortiz and I introduced 
the Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act of 1994. The act conforms the 
U.S. law to the international treaty known as the London Convention 
which, effective February 20, 1994, banned the dumping of radioactive 
waste at sea.
  Currently, the ocean dumping of radioactive waste is regulated under 
the Ocean Dumping Act [ODA]. The ODA allows dumping of radioactive 
waste only after Congress has passed a joint resolution authorizing the 
dumping. Although this provision has been in force since 1985, Congress 
has yet to authorize any radioactive dumping.
  For decades, U.S. law on ocean pollution has been more stringent than 
international law. At the time of enactment, the radioactive dumping 
provisions in ODA were among the most restrictive in the world, going 
well beyond international treaty obligations. That is no longer the 
case.
  The Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act corrects this by eliminating 
ODA's current arduous permitting process and replacing it with a simple 
ban. It ensures that the United States retains its leadership position 
in protecting the world's marine environment.
  The relevance of the United States' banning radioactive dumping is 
far reaching. Historically, the United States has set international 
policy on ocean dumping of radioactive waste. Until last year, the 
United States had resisted an international ban. Through the United 
States influence, the issue was left unresolved.
  That all changed last November, when the Clinton administration 
reversed the United States policy and announced its support for a ban. 
The reversal, which was brought on in part by heavy lobbying from the 
Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment [GLOBE], 
enabled the international community to amend the London Convention to 
ban the ocean dumping of nuclear waste.

  As the ranking Republican on the Oceanography, Gulf of Mexico, and 
Outer Continental Shelf Subcommittee and the newly appointed chairman 
of the GLOBE Ocean Protection Working Group, I have spend the last year 
working to eliminate radioactive contamination of the sea.
  On September 30, 1993, at my request, the Oceanography Subcommittee 
held a hearing on the threat of contamination from the Russian dumping 
of nuclear waste. For four decades the former Soviet Union, and now the 
Russian Republic, has been dumping nuclear waste from nuclear 
submarines and weapons plants into the world's oceans. The information 
gathered by the subcommittee was sobering.
  The West's first concrete evidence about the dumping came last summer 
following the release of the Yablokov Report, which was commissioned by 
President Boris Yeltsin to detail the extent of Soviet nuclear disposal 
at sea. According to the report, the Soviet Union had dumped over 2.5 
million curies of radioactive waste into the Arctic Ocean and other 
marine environments. By comparison, the accident at Three Mile Island 
in my home state of Pennsylvania released 15 curies of radiation.
  During the hearing, the subcommittee discovered that since 1959, the 
former Soviet Union dumped 18 nuclear reactors, a reactor screen 11,000 
to 17,000 cannisters of nuclear waste, and hundreds of thousands of 
gallon of liquid radioactive waste. It also learned that solid nuclear 
fuel waste totaling 10 million curies is currently stored aboard 
vessels in Murmansk Harbor.
  Even after the fall of communism, Moscow has continued to dispose of 
radioactive waste at sea. In October 1993, Russia dumped 900 tons of 
low-level radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan in violation of a 
previously agreed upon international moratorium. According to Japanese 
press accounts, high ranking Russian officials have admitted that ocean 
dumping is likely to persist.

  The Russian Federation's actions following the October dumping have 
only reinforced these fears. Russia was one of only five nations to 
abstain from voting to approve the London Convention radioactive 
dumping ban in November 1993. Then, just last month, it became the only 
nation to declare its intent not to comply with the new international 
ban on dumping.
  Hopefully, with pressure from the United States, the Russian 
Federation can be convinced to change its policy. With ten million 
curies of radiation stored aboard ships in Murmansk Harbor and awaiting 
disposal, the risk to the marine environment is significant if we fail.
  Clearly, the world's oceans should not be used as nuclear disposal 
sites. Before the United States can pressure Russia to comply with 
international law, we must set a strong example ourselves. We must pass 
H.R. 3982 and ban this destructive dumping once and for all.
  Mr. Speaker, only through strong U.S. leadership is there any hope 
that the ongoing nuclear contamination of marine environments can be 
stopped. I encourage all my colleagues to join me in this effort by 
cosponsoring the Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act of 1994.

                          ____________________