[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6275-H6278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE TAX TRAP
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. SMith] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, when I am back in Michigan in our
7th Congressional District, around Battle Creek and Jackson and
Hillsdale and Adrian, not a day goes by but a young mother or a young
father comes up to me and says, you know, we are working very hard and
we can hardly get by. We are both working now. Or sometimes it is a
young mother, all by herself trying to support her kids, and they say
why is it so difficult now when my mom and dad, when I was growing up,
only one of them worked and we still ended up with enough money to go
on vacations, to have good food, and to have good housing?
You know what I have concluded, Mr. Speaker, a large part of today's
problem is? The tax trap. Back in the 1950's and the 1960's the taxes
only took a small part of our earnings, but today taxes take almost 50
percent of what we earn. Taxes at the local, State and national level
take 41 percent of what we earn. And then, if we earn more money and
work harder, and we get into those higher tax brackets, in addition to
the 15 percent that goes into FICA, we can go as high as 39 percent on
our income tax.
I call it the tax trap because people may remember that old song that
says the more you study, the more you learn; the more you learn, the
more you forget; the more you forget, the less you know; so why study?
It is sort of true on taxes. The harder you work and the more you earn,
the higher your taxes are and the more you have to pay the Federal
Government to spend the money that you worked so hard to earn.
I wonder if people know that today we spend more on food and clothing
and shelter. The taxes that we pay to the government is more than we
spend on food and clothing and shelter. I wonder if people know that
there is about 70 percent of the hard-working American people that pay
more in the FICA taxes, that 15 percent that is tacked on to our wages,
than they do in the Federal income tax.
{time} 2315
Let us look at the FICA taxes a minute. Most of that, 12.4 percent,
goes to pay Social Security taxes. How many of the people under 40
today think that Social Security is going to be around when they are
ready to retire?
We have got some real problems with Social Security. Back in the
early 1980's and 1982, they appointed the Greenspan Commission because
at that time they published reports that the unfunded liability of
Social Security was 1.82 percent of payroll. In other words, taxes
would have to be raised that much more to cover the unfunded liability
of Social Security.
Guess what it is today. Today the unfunded liability of Social
Security is 2.17 percent. So when we hear people say, ``Don't worry
about Social Security because it is going to have enough money until
the year 2029,'' what happened is the actuaries just recently came and
said it is not going to be 2030, but it is going to be 2029, but the
fact is that is only if somehow Government pays back all the money that
it has been taking out of the Social Security surpluses.
Since we changed the Social Security taxes in 1983, and at that time
the estimate was that they would be solvent for 65 years, well, guess
what one of the former commissioners, Dorcas Hardy, said a couple of
weeks ago? She estimated that sometime during the year 2005 there would
be less money coming in for Social Security than was required for the
payout.
There is no trust fund. There is no reserve. The Federal Government
has taken every cent of the surplus every year, written out an IOU, and
spent that money for general fund spending, expanding Government
spending, expanding programs, taking more of Americans' individual
decisionmaking away from them and putting it in this Chamber and over
in the Senate Chamber and having Government make the decisions that
they used to decide.
So when that young mother and young father come to me and say, ``What
are your suggestions, what are we going to do,'' my suggestion is to
slow down on the borrowing and eventually balance this budget. Slow
down on those taxes. Let people keep some of that hard-earned money in
their own pockets and decide how to spend that money, rather than
sending it to this kind of Chamber to let Government decide how to
spend your hard-earned dollar.
Somehow, Mr. Speaker, we have got to have a tax system where the
people that work hard and try and save, end up better off than those
that do not. That is the goal of our budget resolution, and our budget
projection for the future of saying cut spending, do it now, do not put
it off and let us get to a balanced budget. Let us quit borrowing and
taking the future away from our kids.
[[Page H6276]]
IN OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE ON PALMYRA ATOLL, A POSSESSION
OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chabot). Under a previous order of the
House, the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I come before my colleagues and our
great Nation today to state my strongest opposition to a proposal that
some people view as nuclear lunacy. Some of my colleagues may have
heard of this reckless initiative circulating around Capitol Hill, that
would give birth to the world's largest nuclear waste cesspool--right
smack in the middle amongst Pacific island nations and in the middle of
the Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Speaker, after approximately 50 years of nuclear testing in the
Pacific, where hundreds of the world's most lethal nuclear weapons have
been detonated, would you not think Mr. Speaker, that the peoples and
the environment of the Pacific have suffered enough from nuclear
poisoning and contamination? Apparently not--as a group of investors
from New York and Russia--yes, Russian--are pushing the idea of
commercially developing Palmyra Atoll, a United States possession in
the Pacific, as an international storage site for spent nuclear fuel
and plutonium. These investors are prepared to sacrifice the health and
welfare of millions of men, women, and children who reside in the
Pacific, for the billions of dollars these investors intend to make in
annual revenues.
According to these investors, their commercial enterprise would bring
together the Governments of the United States, Russia and others to
jointly store over 200,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and excess
weapons plutonium on Palmyra Atoll. Although making money is the
primary motive, they also proclaim altruistic objectives, such as:
First, securing Russia's fissile materials from the nuclear black
market, while restraining Moscow's spread of nuclear technology to
suspect regimes; Second, discouraging the reprocessing of spent nuclear
fuel by nations for plutonium; and Third, materially aiding global
efforts to stop nuclear proliferation.
Although I find these nonproliferation objectives to be admirable, I
take great exception to the investors' decision to locate their
international nuclear storage site on Palmyra Island--a volcanic
island. Hawaii's distinguished Senator, Daniel Akaka, has recently
opposed the plan, calling it nuclear nonsense, and I cannot more
wholeheartedly agree with the gentleman from Hawaii.
Mr. Speaker, it is the height of folly and sheer nonsense to build
the planet's largest nuclear wastedump on a geologically-suspect,
dormant volcano--a volcanic formation that is surrounded by swirling
Pacific currents, storms, cyclones, and hurricanes. Or how about these
freak waves that travel in the Pacific at 60 mph and at 60 feet in
height?
As many of us know, the Pacific Basin is afflicted by shifting
tectonic plates, and volcanoes erupt regularly. With the State of
Hawaii less than 1000 miles away and my district, American Samoa, also
close by--who can guarantee that Americans will not suffer from the
environmental firestorm to erupt if Palmyra Atoll is, again, subjected
to geologic movement? Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the storage
here of 200,000 tons of nuclear materials that shall remain
radioactive, toxic and hazardous for over 100,000 years--in essence,
for all time, as far as I am concerned. Mr. Speaker, the menace to
surrounding Pacific island nations, such as Kiribati less than 200
miles away, is obviously the greatest. I would not want my family to
live on islands anywhere close to Palmyra. What guarantees are there
for the lives of some 1.2 million American citizens who live in the
State of Hawaii, which is located less than 1,000 miles north of
Palmyra Island?
Mr. Speaker, the Palmyra proposal subjects Pacific residents to
additional dangers, as ships carrying spent nuclear fuel and plutonium
from all corners of the world shall traverse the Pacific to reach the
island. The threat of accidental vessel sinkings and terrorist
hijackings of the deadly nuclear cargoes are only the beginning of
problems to anticipate and are surely to come if this body ever
approves this proposal.
After review of proposed legislation that would facilitate Palmyra
Atoll's development as a private nuclear storage site, I believe that,
in addition to the concerns I have already raised, the proposal is
grossly unsound on its face. I have attached a copy of the draft
legislation for the Record.
The bill directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] to
expeditiously review the issuance of a license to the owners of Palmyra
to operate a spent nuclear fuel storage facility, thereby applying
undue pressure upon the NRC to circumvent normal environmental,
engineering and safety requirements for such storage facilities.
The bill further provides that key sections of the National
Environmental Policy Act [NEPA] and the Clean Water Act shall not apply
to the Palmyra facility, thereby sidestepping legal requirements for an
environmental impact statement to be prepared. What are they trying to
hide?
The bill also makes no provision whatsoever for the ultimate
disposition of the 200,000-plus tons of nuclear material to be stored
on Palmyra. From my understanding, Palmyra is not to be a permanent
repository like Yucca Mountain, which has entailed years of study and
analyses which are still on-going.
Nor is there any provision that addresses who will be liable in the
event that a nuclear accident occurs at Palmyra or while nuclear
materials are in-transit through the Pacific region. Can these
investors cover this enormous liability, or are the United States and
Russia expected to do so?
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill makes no mention of who will provide
the necessary security and protection of these deadly fissile
materials. The Palmyra storage facility will constitute a plutonium
mine for centuries that will attract every rogue government and
terrorist group with nuclear weapons ambitions. Who is to provide for
the long-term security of Palmyra?
Mr. Speaker, as I said in the beginning, this Palmyra Atoll
initiative is nuclear lunacy. Rather than governments putting the
responsibility of storing dangerous nuclear materials in the hands of a
private company, perhaps we should consider having the International
Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] perform this crucial function for the world
community.
Mr. Speaker, the Palmyra Atoll proposal is the work of individuals
who see only profits and outright greed, at the expense of the lives of
the millions of people who live throughout the Asia-Pacific regions.
These profiteers now see that by throwing to the Pacific Islands a few
bones to chew on--that this will satisfy their needs. Is $250 million
enough? What happened to the initial offer for $750 million?
Mr. Speaker, I cannot more strongly urge our colleagues to stand with
me in opposing this reckless legislation when and if it is introduced
to be considered by this body.
Mr. Speaker, I submit the following for the Record:
Draft Bill
To facilitate the ability of private owners to site,
design, license, construct, operate and decommission a
private facility for the interim or permanent storage of
commercial high-level spent nuclear fuel on the Pacific Atoll
of Palmyra subject to licensing by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title--This Act may be cited as the ``Private
Storage Facility Authorization Act of 1996.''
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Authorization and siting of private storage facility.
Sec. 5. Funding of private storage facility.
Sec. 6. Design of private storage facility.
Sec. 7. Transfer of ownership of spent nuclear fuel.
Sec. 8. Transportation.
Sec. 9. Activities of the Commission.
Sec. 10. Participation in the project by Minatom.
Sec. 11. Plutonium processing facility.
Sec. 12. Trust fund to cover cost of final disposal.
Sec. 13. Trust fund for benefit of Pacific island nations.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that:
[[Page H6277]]
(1) The age of nuclear energy has brought with it three
worldwide problems that may be summarized as follows:
(A) Safely disposing of high-level spent nuclear fuel which
is necessarily generated in the process of producing
electrical energy by nuclear technology and which is
dangerous to life and ecology.
(B) Safeguarding of high-level spent nuclear fuel so that
its by-products cannot be used to produce and proliferate
weapons grade nuclear material.
(C) Safe storage and/or processing of plutonium that is
surplus to legitimate national security requirements to
insure that it does not fall into the hands of rogue
governments and terrorists.
(2) Because of siting problems it has so far not been
possible to begin construction of a repository for storage of
high-level spent nuclear fuel in the United States even
though the U.S. Department of Energy is contractually
obligated to have such a facility available by January 31,
1998.
(3) Facilities for the temporary storage of spent nuclear
fuel--primarily at the power plants that used the fuel--are
virtually exhausted, a problem that affects the nuclear power
industry all over the world.
(4) Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is a method of
separating the components of that fuel so that the uranium it
contains can be reused to generate electric power, but this
method is not approved in the United States because it yields
by-products that can be used to produce weapons grade nuclear
materials.
(5) Prompt implementation of the plan for building a
private storage facility will make it possible to include
Minatom, the nuclear energy facility of the Russian
Federation, as an equity partner in the project, a move that
will greatly reduce the threat of weapons-grade nuclear
materials falling into the hands of irresponsible nations
while at the same time benefiting the ecology by providing
the Russian Federation a safe repository for its high-level
nuclear spent fuel. Participation by Minatom as an equity
partner will enable Minatom to share substantially in the
profits realized by the project.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to facilitate the ability of private owners to site,
design, license, construct, operate and decommission a
facility for the safe storage of high-level commercial spent
nuclear fuel and to establish procedures that will make such
a facility available in the shortest possible time. The
existence of this facility will provide adequate and safe
storage space for all commercial high-level spent nuclear
fuel and will render unnecessary and uneconomical the
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel; and
(2) to authorize private owners to designate and develop a
site for a private storage facility on Palmyra Atoll for
high-level spent nuclear fuel and facilities for storage and
processing of surplus plutonium.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Palmyra Atoll.--Palmyra Atoll is a small group of coral
islets of volcanic origin that surround a shallow lagoon and
is located in the Pacific Ocean at 5 degrees, 52 minutes,
north latitude and 162 degrees, 30 minutes, west longitude.
The atoll is classified as an incorporated possession of the
United States and is privately owned.
(2) Comemrcial High-Level Spent Nuclear Fuel.--The term
``commercial high-level spent nuclear fuel'' means fuel that
has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor primarily dedicated
to the production of electric power following irradiation,
the constituent elements of which have not been separated by
reprocessing.
(3) Plutonium.--The term ``plutonium'' refers to one of the
by-products of nuclear fission that in its refined form is
essential to the production of nuclear weapons.
(4) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United
States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(5) Private Owners.--The term ``private owners'' means a
group of investors organized into three corporations formed
for the purpose of developing and operating a private storage
facility for commercial high-level spent nuclear fuel and
surplus plutonium in accordance with the provisions of this
Act.
(6) Private Storage Facility.--The term ``private storage
facility'' means a facility designed, constructed and
operated by private owners for the receipt, handling,
possession, safeguarding and storage of commercial high-level
spent nuclear fuel in accordance with the provisions of this
Act.
(7) Storage.--The term ``storage'' means retention of
commercial high-level spent nuclear fuel with the intention
of recovering the components of that fuel for subsequent use,
processing or disposal. This term is not to be confused with
the term ``final disposal,'' which refers to high-level spent
nuclear fuel whose toxicity has been reduced to an as yet
theoretical level that poses no possible danger to life,
health or environment.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION FOR SITING, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION
OF A PRIVATE STORAGE FACILITY.
(A) Authorization.--
(1) The private owners may site, design, license,
construct, operate and decommission a private storage
facility on Palmyra Atoll for the storage of commercial high-
level spent nuclear fuel in accordance with the regulations
of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(2) In order to facilitate this authorization, title VI,
section 605(a) of Public Law 96-205 (48 U.S.C. 1491(a)) is
amended by adding the words ``or to the Atoll know as
Palmyra'' to the end of the last line of section 605(a).
(3) License.--On application by the private owners, the
private storage facility shall be licensed by the Commission
in accordance with its regulations governing the licensing of
independent spent fuel installations as modified in
accordance with section 9 infra.
(b) Designation of Private Storage Facility Site.--The site
designated by the private owners for a private storage
facility is Palmyra Atoll, which is owned in fee by them and
is not under the jurisdiction of any State.
(c) Activities.--The private owners shall be authorized to
conduct specified activities at the private storage facility
site, including the design, licensing, construction,
operation and decommissioning of the private storage
facility, with the scope of activities to be determined by
the private owners.
SEC. 5. FUNDING OF THE PRIVATE STORAGE FACILITY.
Source of Funding.--The private owners will obtain funding
for the design, licensing, construction and operation of the
private storage facility from private sources. Income will be
derived from user fees.
SEC. 6. DESIGN OF PRIVATE STORAGE FACILITY.
(A) Storage Capacity.--The private storage facility shall
have a storage capacity of not less than 200,000 metric tons
of commercial high-level spent nuclear fuel and plutonium.
This capacity shall be expandable as necessary to meet
storage requirements.
(b) Canister System.--the design of the private storage
facility shall provide for the use of such containment and
transportation technologies as are licensed and certified by
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for use in handling
transportation and storage of high-level spent nuclear fuel.
SEC. 7. TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.
At the time that spent nuclear fuel is transferred to the
canisters belonging to the private owners, ownership of that
fuel shall vest in the private owners.
SEC. 8. TRANSPORTATION.
Upon acceptance by the private owners of spent nuclear
fuel, the spent nuclear fuel shall be transported to the
private storage facility in the safest, most cost-efficient
manner in accordance with the regulations for such transit of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of
Transportation.
SEC. 9. ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION.
(a) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act the Commission shall amend its
regulations governing the licensing of independent spent
nuclear fuel storage installations, as necessary, to provide
for the licensing of the private storage facility upon
application by the private owners.
(b) Contents.--The regulations issued under subsection (a)
shall incorporate the following provisions:
(1) Location of facility.--The private storage facility
shall be located at the site specified in section 4 supra.
(2) Term of license.--The private storage facility shall be
licensed for the maximum period consistent with applicable
law.
(c) Licensing.--On application by the private owners for a
license for construction and operation of the private storage
facility at the designated site, the Commission shall review
the license application and issue a final decision on it at
the earliest practicable date, to the extent permitted by law
and regulation, but not later than 18 months after receipt of
the license application.
(d) Compliance With the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969.--Preparation of an environmental impact statement by
the Commission under section 102(2)(C) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) in
conjunction with the licensing of the private storage
facility authorized by this Act shall not be required.
(e) Dredging Permit.--The issuance of a permit under
section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) for
dredging of the lagoon in the Palmyra Atoll in conjunction
with this project shall not be required.
SEC. 10. PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT BY MINATOM.
It shall be a condition binding on the private owners that
Minatom, the nuclear energy facility of the Russian
Federation, be offered a substantial equity position in the
real estate and global services of this project in exchange
for its agreement to deny nuclear weapons technology and
materials to any nation whose interests and policies are
inimical to the security interests of either the United
States or the Russian Federation as determined by their
respective heads of state. In exchange for equity
participation in the project, Minatom also will not make any
commitment for reprocessing high level spent nuclear fuel
from sources outside of the Russian Federation after the time
that this Act becomes law.
SEC. 11. PLUTONIUM STORAGE AND PROCESSING FACILITY.
For the purpose of implementing a global policy of nuclear
non-proliferation, the private owners will design and build
at their own cost, using revenues derived from storage fees,
a facility for storage, conditioning, stabilizing and
conversion of plutonium that is surplus to the security
requirements of the United States and Russia. The private
owners will not operate this facility, but it will be
available for joint operation by the United States Department
of Energy and Minatom.
[[Page H6278]]
SEC. 12. TRUST FUND FOR FINAL DISPOSITION.
From revenues received from storage fees, the owners will
contribute to a trust fund to be administered by the United
States Department of Energy the sum of $100,000 for each
metric ton of high level spent nuclear fuel deposited in the
private storage facility, which fund shall be used to defray
the cost of making final disposition of the high-level spent
nuclear fuel existing in the private storage facility at the
time the disposition decision is made.
SEC. 13. TRUST FUND FOR BENEFIT OF PACIFIC ISLAND NATIONS.
In recognition of the interest in and support of this
project on the part of the Pacific Island nations, the
private owners will establish a trust fund, to be
administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United
States Department of the Interior and based in Hawaii, that
will receive a share of the profits from each metric ton of
spent nuclear fuel placed in the private storage facility.
This trust will be funded by an initial contribution of
$100,000,000 plus an increment of $25,000 for each metric ton
deposited in the private storage facility up to a maximum
payout of $250,000,000 per annum. This fund will be used to
assist the Pacific Island Nations in economic development,
education and environmental protection.
____________________