[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E427-E428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 22, 2000

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, today I rise in opposition 
to the Nuclear Waste Amendments Act of 2000. This

[[Page E428]]

bill will establish the largest nuclear waste shipping program in U.S. 
history. It also endangers the health of our citizens and the 
environmental integrity of our lands. I cannot in good conscience 
support a bill that undermines the welfare of our people to provide the 
expeditious disposal of nuclear waste.
  This bill continues to support interim storage of nuclear waste and 
does not provide the utilities the choice of interim storage in Nevada 
so that they can begin to remove waste from reactors and Department of 
Defense sites around the country by the year 2003. Pursuant to this 
measure, nuclear waste would be shipped to Yucca Mountain before the 
permanent construction of a repository. We should not place the lives 
of innocent people in jeopardy prior to the completion of a permanent 
repository. The safety of human life should be our number one priority 
not the premature removal of extremely dangerous nuclear waste.
  Furthermore, this bill if passed will initiate the shipment of 
nuclear waste shipments with extraordinary amounts of radioactivity by 
rail and truck. This activity will potentially expose 50 million people 
to high levels of radiation for over 30 years. Our Nation's localities 
are not trained nor equipped to deal with a serious radioactive 
contamination event. Response teams in our nation's hospitals, police 
forces, firemen, and schools would be placed in an unfortunate position 
resulting in human suffering. We should not support a bill that does 
not provide for the training, equipment, and study needed to give the 
public reasonable assurances that their children will be safe from any 
possibility of radiation exposure due to a nuclear waste accident.
  This bill also seeks to undermine the EPA's ability to set strong 
radiation standards. The measure delays the proposed standard of 15 
milirems for a year until the next President takes office. The EPA can 
only issue a standard before the year's end if the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission [NRC] agrees; however, the NRC proposes standards that do 
not provide adequate drinking water protections.
  Finally, the selection of the Yucca Mountain site as the nuclear 
repository was a poor choice. Yucca Mountain happens to be located in 
an active earthquake zone. An earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter 
scale in Yucca Mountain caused $1 million worth of damage to an Energy 
Department field office near the repository site. Imagine what would 
happen if nuclear waste was stored in the mountain. It is even possible 
for radiation to contaminate drinking water for the region for years to 
come.
  For these important reasons, I cannot support the Nuclear Waste 
Amendments Act of 2000. The people of this country deserve better.

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