[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 112 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1590-E1591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     POLLUTING A NATIONAL RESOURCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CHARLIE NORWOOD

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 1997

  Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, on a recent trip to foster environmental 
partnerships, Vice President Al Gore visited China. This is a nation 
that burns more than a billion tons of coal a year--one-third more than 
it did just a decade ago.
  As coal burns, it sends millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the 
atmosphere, where the chemical traps heat and warms the earth. We 
Americans, though, are in a poor position to cast blame. For every 
year, the average U.S. resident breathes a portion of the 1,442 million 
metric tons of carbon the United States emits. Because there are no 
boundaries in the atmosphere, we breath the same air into which we 
casually spill carbon, sulfur dioxide, and other gases. Carbon dioxide 
invades the air like a filthy pall that blankets the Nation's urban 
pockets and others throughout the world.
  But there is a technology that makes clean air entirely effortless--
one that Americans take for granted because its merits too often go 
unnoted. It is nuclear generation of electricity.
  Nuclear energy already supplies 20 percent of the Nation's 
electricity. And in at least seven States, unplugging that power would 
darken the majority of the States' homes, industries, and office 
buildings without a readily available backup supply.
  We live in a world where one-third of the world's inhabitants cook, 
clean, and work without electricity. Within the next two decades, they 
will seek to change their cycle of energy poverty. A 1996 report by the 
International Nuclear Societies Council projects that increased energy 
demand in developing nations will be three times the 1990 level in 2020 
and about six times greater than that level by 2050.
  It is no surprise that the need will be greatest in the developing 
world. The cheapest power option is fossil fuel. And who will convince 
leaders in developing countries that the byproducts of fossil fuels 
could cause more harm to the environment than good derived from an 
energy supply that would fuel economic growth?
  Each year, U.S. nuclear power plants prevent the discharge of 146 
million metric tons of carbon. The power generated by one nuclear plant 
keeps 1.4 million metric tons of carbon out of our air. Imagine how 
clean our air would be if nuclear power provided more electricity.
  Nuclear power alone isn't the answer. But it is part of an essential 
mix of energy sources in countries that must assume the responsibility 
for others that will not or cannot protect our air.
  My purpose today is simple, Mr. Speaker. I want to urge action on 
H.R. 1270, the Nuclear

[[Page E1591]]

Waste Policy Act of 1997. This legislation, through its used nuclear 
fuel management program, would ensure that we can continue to produce 
energy cleanly at nuclear power plants--many of which are running out 
of storage capacity for used reactor fuel. This legislation would make 
us guardians of a cleaner planet. Supporting H.R. 1270 is the right 
thing to do.

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