[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 137 (Monday, October 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H8362]]
                       IN OPPOSITION TO H.R. 1270

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, this week the Committee on Resources will 
mark up H.R. 1270, the Nuclear Waste Act of 1997. This bill tramples 
the Constitution and violates the basic fundamentals this great country 
was founded upon.
  Whatever happened to States rights? Whatever happened to the tenth 
amendment? How can this body mandate upon the State of Nevada that it 
must accept nuclear industry waste when Nevada does not even have a 
nuclear power plant of its own?
  What about private property rights? In New Mexico a man won a lawsuit 
which entitled him to $884,000 because nuclear waste was shipped next 
to his private property and devalued his land. Again, this garbage will 
travel through 43 States along the most heavily populated highways in 
this country. Guess who is going to pay off all these private property 
owners? The American taxpayer.
  H.R. 1270 is an unfunded mandate, a tax increase, a dangerous idea 
and a very bad policy. Do not be misled by the nuclear industry lobby. 
Get the facts. Vote ``no'' on 1270.

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