[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 19, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROPOSED BILL FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA, TEMPORARY NUCLEAR WASTE 
          STORAGE FACILITY HAS DISASTROUS IMPACTS ON DISTRICTS

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, early on in the 106th session of Congress, 
in the first few weeks, we have already seen a disastrous bill 
introduced to establish a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in 
Nevada. Several problems, Mr. Speaker, become very evident when this 
legislation is examined.
  First, it is moving nuclear waste from 109 reactor sites, which would 
traverse 43 States and endanger the lives of every person along these 
routes. Also, the geologic suitability of the site is in question. In 
the last 20 years there have been more than 621 earthquakes within a 
50-mile radius of the proposed site.
  The Congressional Budget Office estimates a central interim storage 
facility like this will cost $2.3 billion, seven times more expensive 
than expanding the current on-site storage at these power generating 
facilities.
  The facts demonstrate some of the major problems associated with this 
bill: the safety of every American, and the fleecing of every taxpayer 
in this country. Educating the American people on issues as important 
as this should be every Member's responsibility, because they are the 
ones who will be held responsible for the devastating impacts on their 
districts.

                          ____________________