[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION 99-37 REGARDING EXEMPTIONS UNDER RESOURCE 
CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
                                 STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Commerce.

To the Congress of the United States:
  Consistent with section 6001(a) of the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) (the ``Act''), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6961(a), 
notification is hereby given that on September 20, 1999, I issued 
Presidential Determination 99-37 (copy enclosed) and thereby exercised 
the authority to grant certain exemptions under section 6001(a) of the 
Act.
  Presidential Determination 99-37 exempted the United States Air 
Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any Federal, 
State, interstate, or local hazardous or solid waste laws that might 
require the disclosure of classified information concerning that 
operating location to unauthorized persons. Information concerning 
activities at the operating location near Groom Lake has been properly 
determined to be classified, and its disclosure would be harmful to 
national security. Continued protection of this information is, 
therefore, in the paramount interest of the United States.
  The determination was not intended to imply that in the absence of a 
Presidential exemption, RCRA or any other provision of law permits or 
requires the disclosure of classified information to unauthorized 
persons. The determination also was not intended to limit the 
applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law applicable to 
the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake except those 
provisions, if any, that would require the disclosure of classified 
information.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, January 31, 2000.

                          ____________________