[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 8, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H2170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     STRENGTHEN U.S. STEEL INDUSTRY

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as a representative of industrial America, I 
am urging my colleagues today to vote both to strengthen the U.S. steel 
industry and to put on hold plans to ship spent nuclear material to 
Yucca Mountain.
  In an era where our rail beds as well as human error yield major 
train derailments and accidents each year, why authorize Yucca 
Mountain? Why not improve our rail beds, improve our steel industry and 
make this country an industrial leader in terms of rail transportation?
  In an age of terrorism, why have nuclear material moving all over 
this country? And, finally, in my own district, a recent nuclear mishap 
occurred in which boric acid ate through 80 pounds of carbon steel in 
the central container inside the core, I really ask the question--Why 
do we have such poor engineering and poor inspection in the nuclear 
industry? Why do we have a plant reactor that cannot be repaired in 
this country? Why even if we were able to repair it, do we have to send 
the core to Japan to cast a new head and then to France for finishing? 
Why is the nuclear industry exempt with no one responsible under the 
Price Anderson Act, for liability in the event an accident occurs? 
Please, I urge my colleagues today to vote to strengthen the U.S. steel 
industry and vote for nuclear safety.
  Vote to uphold the steel decisoin on limiting imports and to table 
the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage proposal.

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