[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 105 (Wednesday, September 8, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H6877-H6878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IMPORTANT VICTORY FOR PEOPLE OF NEVADA REGARDING YUCCA MOUNTAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark an important victory 
for the people of Nevada in our 20-year struggle against becoming the 
Nation's nuclear waste dump.
  Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously upheld its decision 
that radiation standards for the proposed nuclear waste repository at 
Yucca Mountain were not based on sound science and would not protect 
the health and safety of the American people. In ruling for Nevada, the 
court found that the Bush administration deliberately set radiation 
standards for Yucca Mountain that were not in keeping with the findings 
of the National Academy of Sciences as required by law.
  The Academy reported to Congress in 1995 that waste stored at a 
repository would remain deadly for 300,000 years or more, and concluded 
that radiation standards for the Yucca Mountain project should reflect 
these scientific standards. Rather than incorporating the findings of 
the National Academy of Sciences when crafting safety guidelines, the 
Bush administration ignored the law, ignored the science, and knowingly 
ordered the EPA to draft a radiation standard not based on the science, 
but an arbitrary period of 10,000 years. The gap between the science 
and the EPA standard? A mere 290,000 years.
  The court's ruling voids the radiation standard established by the 
Bush administration and is the latest in a series of setbacks that have 
clouded the future of Yucca Mountain. These include the lack of funding 
in Congress, a refusal by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to certify 
an electronic database required for licensing the repository, and a 
lawsuit filed by the State of Nevada challenging a portion of the 
administration's transportation plans for Yucca Mountain because they 
do not meet necessary NEPA standards.
  On their own, any one of these issues is significant enough to stop 
the Yucca Mountain project in its tracks. But the nuclear industry has 
friends in the White House and is in control of Congress, and they are 
gearing up for a fight.
  The administration's only option for addressing the court's ruling is 
to have the EPA revise the radiation standards to reflect the danger 
identified by the National Academy of Sciences. Such a standard will 
require that the repository isolate waste for 300,000 years or more. 
Yucca Mountain cannot possibly meet this science-based standard. The 
nuclear industry also knows that this court ruling would doom plans to 
ship nuclear waste to Nevada.
  They are already planning a push in Congress to waive the requirement 
that radiation standards for this repository conform with the science. 
Changing the rules in the middle of the game seems to be standard 
operating procedure for this Congress. Putting politics over the safety 
of those people I represent and denying Nevada the protection of our 
courts and our court system of checks and balances is something this 
House of Representatives has done before. It must stop.
  Changing the law will allow the administration to continue to 
railroad Nevadans by allowing Congress, not the National Academy of 
Sciences, to determine radiation standards for Yucca Mountain. There is 
not one Member of this esteemed body who knows anything, not one thing, 
about radiation standards or how to store nuclear waste safely at Yucca 
Mountain, not for 3 minutes, much less 300,000 years. Will Congress 
choose a 10,000-year standard? 5,000? Maybe Congress in its infinite 
wisdom is going to opt for no radiation standard at all.
  When it comes to Yucca Mountain, there is no limit to the hoops this 
administration and Republican leaders in this House will jump through 
or the lies and misrepresentations they will tell to move this project 
forward.
  I say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, there will come a 
time in the near future when you will be asked

[[Page H6878]]

to decide whether politics or science should prevail in establishing 
radiation standards for Yucca Mountain. I urge you to respect the role 
of the courts in its decision determining the EPA did not follow the 
law, and respect the right of those who live in Nevada to challenge the 
notion that Yucca Mountain is safe.
  Science, not politics, should guide this Nation's policy on nuclear 
waste disposal. That is what George Bush promised when he first 
campaigned for President in the year 2000, and that is what he said 
when he came to Nevada just 3 weeks ago. He said he would respect any 
court ruling against Yucca Mountain.
  The courts have spoken. Now it is time for the President to act on 
his promise as well. The second highest court in the Nation has spoken. 
Work on licensing Yucca Mountain cannot continue until a new radiation 
standard is crafted that incorporates the work of the National Academy 
of Sciences.

                              {time}  2045

  The President ought to stop this folly and stop it now and demand 
that the EPA comply with the U.S. Court of Appeals decision.
  As Members of Congress, we have a responsibility to make decisions 
that are in the best interests of our Nation. Waiving a science-based 
radiation standard to expedite this project means waiving the health 
and safety protection that we have promised all of Americans. The last 
time I checked, the great State of Nevada is in the United States and 
deserves the same protection as any other State.

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