[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 103 (Monday, July 23, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H4380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           RAILROAD DISASTERS

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
one minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, last weekend downtown Baltimore was shut 
down due to the derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous 
chemicals.
  Madam Speaker, just imagine what could have happened if that train 
was carrying high-level, highly radioactive nuclear waste, the world's 
most toxic, deadliest material known to man. Thousands of people would 
have been exposed to not only heavy smoke and soot but to invisible 
radiation that can kill them as well as any livestock or other crops 
within the area.
  This scenario is not science fiction. The CBS news show ``60 
Minutes'' detailed that train accidents due to track failure are 
happening at a rate of nearly one every 24 hours. That is a train 
accident once every day.
  The Department of Energy wants to ship nuclear waste on our railways, 
past our schools, past our hospitals, through our neighborhoods and 
communities, and past schools and farms.
  Madam Speaker, our responsibility is to protect the American public, 
not endanger them. We cannot allow the DOE to threaten the lives of our 
constituents.

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