[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 23, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRAIN DERAILMENTS PROVE NUCLEAR WASTE SHOULD NOT BE SHIPPED ACROSS 
                                AMERICA

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, this morning our Nation witnessed yet 
another tragic train accident. A commuter train collided with a freight 
train in southern California with at least one dead and hundreds 
injured. This latest accident follows two other serious train 
accidents, one in northeast Florida killing four and injuring hundreds, 
and one yesterday when a freight train derailed in Wells, Nevada.
  Madam Speaker, these events are not just isolated incidents. Instead, 
they show that accidents can and do happen. While these recent 
accidents certainly are unfortunate and tragic, the death toll and 
environmental damage that could have occurred if the freight train was 
shipping high-level nuclear waste would have been absolutely 
devastating.
  We should not take that risk. We should not ship nuclear waste across 
our entire country to a hole in the ground that will not even solve our 
nuclear waste problem. It is time to prevent a disaster.
  For the good of our country, it is time to stop the Yucca Mountain 
project.

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