[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 17 (Thursday, January 30, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1809-S1810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRANSMITTING PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION NO. 2002-30, RELATIVE TO THE 
      AIR FORCE'S OPERATING LOCATION NEAR GROOM LAKE, NEVADA--PM 7

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the President of the United States, together with accompanying 
papers; which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works:

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 13, 2002, I issued 
Presidential Determination 2002-30 (copy enclosed) and thereby 
exercised the authority to grant certain exemptions under section 
6001(a) of the Act.
  Presidential Determination 2002-30 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

[[Page S1810]]

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 might require the disclosure of classified 
information.
                                                      George W. Bush,  
The White House, January 29, 2003.

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