[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 28, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S83-S85]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      JUST FOUR DAYS FROM NOW: THE NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE COUNTDOWN

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, the American taxpayers sat down last night 
to listen to their Chief Executive speak about the state of the union 
and the future of our country. Bill Clinton knows how to give a good 
speech, and as we have come to expect, last night's was filled with 
lots of proposals and promises and reminders of some of the successes 
of the past year.
  It is true--our nation has seen some good times recently. By 
returning accountability to Washington, we have brought the Federal 
deficit under control and reduced unemployment to its lowest levels 
this decade. We have cut taxes for working families for the first time 
in 16 years. The markets have soared to all-time highs and the economy 
is churning out rewards for anyone willing to work. Americans are 
feeling good about their country and about their futures.

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  Unfortunately, their President failed to warn them last night--even 
once during his 75-minute speech--that many of the achievements he 
acknowledged are at risk, threatened by a Federal Government failure so 
massive that it may take the taxpayers years, even decades, to burrow 
out from underneath it. What could be so potentially devastating? The 
failure of the U.S. Department of Energy to begin accepting the 
Nation's spent commercial nuclear fuel.
  And, Mr. President, the taxpayers will inherit the responsibility for 
that failure just 4 days from now.
  After 16 years of denials, delays, and indifference on the part of 
the U.S. Department of Energy, combined with the politics of special 
interest groups, the American taxpayers are about to find themselves 
saddled with the liability for our Nation's nuclear waste. It is a 
liability they do not deserve, and one they most certainly cannot 
afford.
  The clock has been ticking relentlessly for 16 years, and on Saturday 
night, at midnight, the clock will finally run out on the taxpayers on 
this issue. After a decade and a half of playing ``cat-and-mouse'' with 
the Congress and the courts, it appears as though the DOE may be 
successful in ducking out of its responsibility. But that can only 
happen if Congress allows this Administration to get away with it 
unchallenged.
  Mr. President, I stand before you today to pledge that this Senator 
will not let that happen.
  For 16 years, the public has been assured that by January 31st, 1998, 
just 4 days from now, the Federal Government would take responsibility 
for storage of the Nation's commercial spent nuclear fuel. Since 
enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, energy ratepayers 
have been charged a one-mill fee per kilowatt-hour in exchange for this 
``promise.'' Each dollar collected is from a consumer located in one of 
the 34 States that benefit from nuclear energy. Only those who benefit 
from the lower-cost nuclear power--not the general public--would 
supposedly fund the waste storage.
  Dutifully, ratepayers around the country have paid their fees--to the 
tune of some $13 billion. For Minnesota alone, this translates into 
more than $271 million. For 16 years, these fees have poured into the 
Nuclear Waste Fund based upon a legal--and contractual--obligation that 
the waste would be removed.
  Today, with $7 billion of those ratepayer dollars already spent, the 
waste is piling up. Nobody at the DOE wants it, nobody at the DOE is 
prepared to claim it, and because there is no place to put it, nobody 
at the DOE would be ready to take it by January 31 anyway. Again, that 
is just 4 days from now.
  At the same time, energy consumers are pouring billions into the 
waste fund, ratepayers and utilities are continuing to pay for on-site 
storage at more than 70 commercial nuclear plants throughout the 
country.
  In other words, ratepayers are being forced to pay twice for nuclear 
waste storage, all because the Department of Energy has failed to meet 
its legal obligations to the American people.
  As troubling as this expensive delay has been, that fact alone is not 
the greatest affront to the American public. What I find most troubling 
is the financial risk the DOE has dumped at the feet of the taxpayers, 
because suddenly, every one of them will soon be on the hook for the 
nuclear waste debacle.
  Since coming to Congress in 1993, I have watched the Energy 
Department play a protracted game of ``would not, could not, should 
not'' with the States, the ratepayers, and the Congress. It is a bob-
and-weave strategy the DOE has had 16 years to perfect.
  In 1994, the DOE argued that it would not accept the nuclear waste by 
1998 because the law did not require it to do so. At that time, 
Minnesota was threatened with a premature shutdown of its Prairie 
Island nuclear facility, again, due to a lack of on-site storage. The 
DOE's claim exacerbated an already difficult situation for the State 
legislature and Minnesota residents, as the State faced the very real 
possibility it would lose up to 30 percent of its energy resources.
  But the Energy Department's flippant response at the time was, ``It's 
your problem, not ours.''
  And so the States went to court. They sued and they won. In July of 
1996, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the nuclear waste was 
the DOE's problem and that the January 31st deadline did apply. When 
the DOE argued that they would not take the waste, the court told them, 
``yes, you will.''
  Over the next few months, the DOE was silent on the issue. And so the 
States wrote to the department asking of its plans to comply with the 
court decision. The following month, the Department of Energy responded 
by writing to utilities soliciting their ideas on how they would cope 
with a failure by the agency to meet the deadline. Having exhausted the 
``would not'' argument, the DOE was now arguing in essence that they 
``could not'' comply with the law.
  In June of 1997, the DOE, in direct defiance of the 1996 court order, 
again asserted that delay was unavoidable due to ``acts of Government 
in its sovereign capacity,'' and once again made it the States' and 
utilities problem, not theirs.
  So back to court went the States and utilities.
  Last November, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that 
ruled the year before, again affirmed that the Department of Energy's 
obligation to accept the nuclear waste. The panel stated explicitly 
that the federal government could not surrender its responsibility or 
liability, and alluded to whether the DOE was putting the taxpayers on 
the hook for its failure to comply.
  Mr. President, the estimates of potential damages and awards have put 
the dollar figure as high as $80 billion, and some believe it could go 
significantly higher. That is a public bailout of immense proportions 
that would rival the savings and loan bailout.
  It was never the intent of Congress to put the taxpayers at risk when 
it enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Nor is that the desire 
of the 34 States that have nuclear waste stored on-site; they would 
rather see the waste removed so the production of low-cost power can 
continue. Still, the Energy Department persists in opposing the people 
at every turn.
  Mr. President, on December 29th, 1997, just a few weeks ago, the 
Department of Energy filed a ``Petition for Rehearing'' in an effort to 
nullify the earlier court rulings. This most recent stunt by the DOE 
reflects their new position that they ``should not'' be held 
responsible--technically or financially--primarily because these 
lawsuits have been heard in the wrong court.
  After the DOE's cries of ``would not, could not, should not,'' it is 
now up to Congress to respond in the positive: we will protect the 
taxpayers; and we can develop a solution for resolving the nuclear 
waste storage crisis; and we must enact the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 
1997 as soon as possible, legislation I have coauthored with my friends 
and colleagues, Senators Craig and Murkowski.
  Mr. President, our legislation would set in motion the implementation 
of a timely and environmentally sound waste solution, and was adopted 
by overwhelming, bipartisan votes last year in the Senate and House. 
Nevertheless, with conferee appointments pending, a veto threat from 
the administration may yet derail the bill. So once again, the 
Department of Energy is blocking the will of the people.
  The taxpayers have the most to lose if the Department of Energy 
prevails and we accept the status quo. These are hard-working Americans 
who have to keep a budget and account for their spending, and they 
expect the Federal Government to exercise that same accountability with 
their tax dollars as well. With so many Government agencies and 
programs fighting for limited funds, how can the taxpayers possibly 
afford a multi-billion-dollar bailout of the Energy Department? How can 
the Nation's energy consumers afford additional on-site storage, early 
decommissioning costs, alternative fuel purchases to compensate for 
lost power? How can they afford refinancing the billions wasted from 
the Nuclear Waste Fund? How will the economy handle the loss of jobs 
and productivity that will certainly follow when energy costs begin to 
soar and generating facilities begin to shut down?
  How is it possible that all of this will be set into motion just 4 
days from now, and yet it did not merit a single sentence in the 
President's State of the Union Address last night?

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  The President last night also failed to mention that these costs will 
be borne as much by grandma and grandpa as they will by any corporate 
executives or Members of Congress. He did not mention that nuclear 
power is a fuel that burns nothing, thereby helping us achieve cleaner 
air and a better environment. He failed to mention that the costs of 
his global warming treaty will be even higher for every American if we 
continue to shut down nuclear power plants in favor of coal-burning 
technologies. And most regrettably, he failed to offer any kind of 
explanation into why his administration supports the Department of 
Energy as they unlawfully stick it to the American taxpayers.
  While the DOE waits, and hides behind courtroom appeals, and shirks 
its responsibilities that it is legally bound to accept, Americans 
across our country can expect yet more rate increases and yet higher 
taxes from a government that is either too afraid or too incompetent to 
act.
  How can we face ourselves come Sunday morning--just 4 days from 
today--if we simply step back and quietly allow this to happen? We 
could not, we should not, and we will not.
  So finally, Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to reassure their 
constituents that come midnight on Saturday, the people will not be 
forgotten, that they will return to Washington next week and fulfill 
their oath to protect the taxpayers and ensure that their Government 
fulfills its obligation to them, and that we will never allow such a 
failure to happen again.
  Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I yield the floor.

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