[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 125 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10583-S10587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 448--DESIGNATING THE FIRST DAY OF APRIL 2005 AS
``NATIONAL ASBESTOS AWARENESS DAY''
Mr. REID submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 448
Whereas deadly asbestos fibers are invisible and cannot be
smelled or tasted;
Whereas when airborne fibers are inhaled or swallowed, the
damage is permanent and irreversible;
Whereas these fibers can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis,
lung cancer, and pleural diseases;
Whereas asbestos-related diseases can take 10 to 50 years
to present themselves;
Whereas the expected survival rate of those diagnosed with
mesothelioma is between 6 and 24 months;
Whereas little is known about late stage treatment and
there is no cure for asbestos-related diseases;
Whereas early detection of asbestos-related diseases would
give patients increased treatment options and often improve
their prognosis;
Whereas asbestos is a toxic and dangerous substance and
must be disposed of properly;
Whereas nearly half of the more than 1,000 screened
firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, and volunteers
who responded to the World Trade Center attacks on September
11, 2001, have new and persistent respiratory problems;
Whereas the industry groups with the highest incidence
rates of asbestos-related diseases, based on 2000 to 2002
figures, were shipyard workers, vehicle body builders
(including rail vehicles), pipefitters, carpenters and
electricians, construction (including insulation work and
stripping), extraction, energy and water supply, and
manufacturing;
Whereas the United States imports more than 30,000,000
pounds of asbestos used in products throughout the Nation;
Whereas asbestos-related diseases kill 10,000 people in the
United States each year, and the numbers are increasing;
Whereas asbestos exposure is responsible for 1 in every 125
deaths of men over the age of 50;
Whereas safety and prevention will reduce asbestos exposure
and asbestos-related diseases;
Whereas asbestos has been the largest single cause of
occupational cancer;
Whereas asbestos is still a hazard for 1,300,000 workers in
the United States;
Whereas asbestos-related deaths have greatly increased in
the last 20 years and are expected to continue to increase;
Whereas 30 percent of all asbestos-related disease victims
were exposed to asbestos on naval ships and in shipyards;
Whereas asbestos was used in the construction of virtually
all office buildings, public schools, and homes built before
1975; and
Whereas the establishment of a ``National Asbestos
Awareness Day'' would raise public awareness about the
prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of
asbestos exposure: Now, therefore, be it
[[Page S10584]]
Resolved, That the Senate designates the first day of April
2005 as ``National Asbestos Awareness Day''.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, Alan Reinstein was diagnosed with
mesothelioma on June 16, 2003 and underwent radical surgery to remove
his affected lung, diaphragm, and other parts of his body. Today, Alan
continues his courageous battle with this terrible illness.
I received a phone call last week from by brother Don, indicating
that a long-time family friend, Harold Hansen, had died from
mesothelioma.
I am submitting a resolution today to designate the first day of
April of next year as National Asbestos Awareness Day.
Harold Hansen was a family friend, such a wonderful man. In fact, my
brother called me a short time ago and said: Harold is sick. He has
mesothelioma.
I said: Did he ever work around asbestos. And he said not that he
remembers.
I knew a lawyer who might be able to help him and referred him to the
lawyer. Now Harold is dead.
This is a terribly difficult problem in America. I talked about Alan;
his wife Linda could not just sit back and watch her husband suffer.
Knowing others were also suffering, she helped create the Asbestos
Disease Awareness Organization to unite asbestos victims. One goal of
the organization is to educate the public and the medical community
about asbestos-caused diseases. The occurrence of asbestos-related
diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer is
growing.
Over the next decade, it is estimated that 100,000 victims in the
United States alone will die of asbestos-related disease. About 30 a
day will die from this condition.
I received many letters from Nevadans with asbestos-related diseases
in their families.
Eleanor Shook from Searchlight, NV, where I was born and reared, lost
her husband Chuck to this dread condition 2 years ago. They found that
Chuck was sick, and 2 months later he died--no cure, no treatment, no
reprieve. He had been repeatedly exposed to asbestos during all the
years he was working to raise his family.
I also got a letter from Jack Holmes, a former teacher from Las
Vegas, who wrote:
I am dying. I have malignant mesothelioma . . . I can expect extreme
pain and suffering before I die.
I also heard from Robert Wright of Henderson, who was exposed to
asbestos in the Navy and now suffers from asbestosis.
These are just a few of the hundreds of Nevadans who are suffering
today from asbestos-related diseases. Every one of these stories is a
tragedy because they all could have been prevented. Asbestos-related
diseases are uncurable, and they are deadly. They can be prevented with
greater awareness and education.
Most Americans think asbestos was banned a long time ago. But
companies use asbestos every day in their water pipes, as insulation,
and in building materials and other substances. Asbestos kills, and
kills invisibly. Asbestos cannot be smelled, tasted, or seen, and moves
through the air in tiny particles and embeds itself in the lining of
the lungs once it is inhaled. It stays there for up to 50 years,
damaging tissue and eventually causing disease. Inhalation of asbestos
is permanent and irreversible. Simply walking by a recently demolished
building that contains asbestos can be enough to breathe in a deadly
amount.
I was in New York and a New York police officer was with me. He was
part of an undercover unit that had New York City policemen dressed in
construction clothes. They were running a construction business. That
was part of what they were undercover doing. One of the reasons they
did it is because there are people in this country so evil, so
malignant that they are willing to take asbestos that these people said
they had--it really wasn't asbestos--and they would take it and dispose
of it. They would dispose of it in school grounds, and they had no
concern where they disposed of what they thought was asbestos. Of
course, they were arrested. But asbestos is a terrible problem. It is
such a difficult problem in New York City alone where they remove
asbestos. They are setting up these undercover operations to catch some
of the people who are trying to make money on the disposal of asbestos.
Exposure to asbestos has had numerous consequences for victims and
their families. Better awareness and education can help to eliminate
future exposure. Early detection can give patients increased treatment
options and often improves their prognosis. For these reasons, I am
introducing a resolution to designate the first day of April as
Asbestos Awareness Day. Asbestos awareness will lead to prevention,
early diagnosis, new treatments, and a cure.
Just as the victims of families of asbestos-related disease joined
together in founding the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, the
Senate must unite in and pay tribute to victims by observing April 1 as
Asbestos Awareness Day. I hope all Senators will join me in this
effort.
______
SENATE RESOLUTION 449--ENCOURAGING THE PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF
REFUGEES
Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. Brownback, and Mr. Leahy) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations:
S. Res. 449
Whereas the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
dated July 28, 1951 (189 UST 150) (hereinafter referred to as
the ``Convention'') and the Protocol Relating to the Status
of Refugees done at New York January 31, 1967 (19 UST 6223)
(hereinafter referred to as the ``Protocol'') provide that
individuals who flee a country to avoid persecution deserve
international protection;
Whereas such protection includes freedom from forcible
return and the basic rights necessary for a refugee to live a
free, dignified, self-reliant life, even while in exile;
Whereas such rights, as recognized in the Convention,
include the right to earn a livelihood, including the right
to engage in wage-employment or self-employment, practice a
profession, own property, freedom of movement and residence,
and receive travel documents;
Whereas such rights are applicable to a refugee independent
of whether a solution is available that would permit the
refugee to return to the country that the refugee fled;
Whereas such rights are part of the core protection mandate
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
Whereas more than 50 percent of the refugees in the world
are effectively ``warehoused'', which means such refugees
have been confined to a camp or segregated settlement or
otherwise deprived of their basic rights in a situation that
has existed for at least 10 years;
Whereas donor countries, including the United States, have
typically offered less developed countries hosting refugees
assistance if they keep refugees warehoused in camps or
segregated settlements but have not provided adequate
assistance to host countries that permit refugees to live and
work among the local population; and
Whereas warehousing refugees not only violates the rights
of the refugees but also debilitates their humanity, often
reducing the refugees to enforced idleness, dependency,
disempowerment, and despair: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the United States Senate--
(1) denounces the practice of warehousing refugees, which
is the confinement of refugees to a camp or segregated
settlement or other deprivation of the refugees' basic rights
in a situation that has lasted 10 years or more, as a denial
of basic human rights and a squandering of human potential;
(2) urges the Secretary of State to actively pursue models
of refugee assistance that permit refugees to enjoy all the
rights recognized in the Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees dated July 28, 1951 (189 UST 150) (hereinafter
referred to as the ``Convention'') and the Protocol Relating
to the Status of Refugees done at New York January 31, 1967
(19 UST 6223) (hereinafter referred to as the ``Protocol'');
(3) urges the Secretary of State to encourage other donor
nations and other members of the Executive Committee of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Programme to
shift the incentive structure of refugee assistance and to
build mechanisms into relief and development assistance to
encourage the greater enjoyment by refugees of their rights
under the Convention;
(4) encourages the international community, including donor
countries, host countries, and members of the Executive
Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees' Programme, to denounce resolutely the practice of
warehousing refugees in favor of allowing refugees to
exercise their rights under the Convention;
(5) calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees to monitor refugee situations more effectively for
the realization of all the rights of refugees under the
Convention, including those related to freedom of movement
and the right to earn a livelihood;
(6) encourages those countries that have not yet ratified
the Convention or the Protocol to do so;
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(7) encourages those countries that have ratified the
Convention or the Protocol but have done so with reservations
on key articles pertaining to the right to work and freedom
of movement to remove such reservations; and
(8) encourages all countries to enact legislation or
promulgate policies to provide for the legal enjoyment of the
basic rights of refugees as outlined in the Convention.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege to join my colleagues,
Senator Brownback and Senator Leahy, in submitting a resolution to call
attention to the plight of the large number of refugees throughout the
world confined to refugee camps or segregated settlements for extended
periods of time. In the vast majority of cases, these refugees are
being ``warehoused,'' often for years, and in violation of their basic
rights under the Refugee Convention adopted over half a century ago.
We know of 300,000 Angolans in Zambia, Congo-Kinshasa, and Namibia,
two million Afghans in Iran and Pakistan, 100,000 Bhutanese in Nepal,
and 500,000 refugees from Sudan who have lived in refugee camps in
various countries for 20 years. Shamefully, of the world's nearly 12
million more than 7 million have been restricted to refugee camps or
segregated settlements for a decade or even longer.
These tragic statistics aren't front page news. Refugees seldom
dominate the headlines. But the reality is that the troubles of our
time are exacting a heavy toll on people fleeing from conflicts and
oppression. Throughout the world, men, woman and children are on the
move, silent witnesses to the cruelties that plague our age.
Refugee camps are often created quickly, to address a crisis. But the
solution sometimes creates a greater problem when temporary refugee
camps turn into long-term places of detention and confinement, often
under extreme conditions with little attention paid to the growing
number of refugees that find themselves in endless and harmful
situations.
Under the Refugee Convention of 1951, refugees have rights, including
the right to earn a livelihood, to engage in wage-employment or self-
employment, to practice a profession, to own property, and to have
freedom of movement and residence. ``Warehoused'' refugees can do none
of these things. Unable to work, travel, own property or obtain an
education, they live unlived lives, without the basic freedoms they are
entitled to have under the Convention of 1951.
Without the chance to obtain an education or earn a living, refugees
becomes easy recruitment targets for terrorist groups. We can be
vigilant against terrorism, and we can do so without abandoning the
basic humanity of refugees and squandering their lives in squalid
warehouses.
The resolution we are offering denounces the practice of warehousing
refugees and urges all nations to grant refugees their basic rights
under the Refugee Convention.
America has a proud history as a haven for refugees, especially since
the end of World War II. Assistance to refugees has been a conspicuous
aspect of our leadership in the world. As a leader in this area, we
need to say to the world that the widespread practice of warehousing
refugees violates international law. As members of the world community,
we have a responsibility to ensure that refugees are able to exercise
the basic rights granted to them under the Refugee Convention.
Over 100 international organizations support the end of warehousing,
including more than twenty U.S.-based agencies. Nobel laureates have
condemned this practice, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South
Africa, and worldwide support continues to grow.
Last year, the United States was the largest global contributor to
agencies assisting refugees. But, there is far more to do. We must
strengthen our own commitment, and work with other countries to meet
the worldwide challenge. To do too little will only add to the
injustice endured by millions of refugees around the world, jeopardize
our own national security, and ignore incalculable human potential that
is being lost.
I urge our colleagues to join us in supporting this resolution, and
help us to give new priority to ending this inhumane practice that has
been festering too long in so many parts of the world.
I ask unanimous consent that editorials from the New York Times and
Washington Times be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the editorials were ordered to be printed
in the Record, as follows:
[From The New York Times, Sept. 28, 2004]
Warehouses for Refugees
The starvation and disease stalking the refugee camps near
the Darfur region of Sudan are a reminder that for many
refugees, conditions where they land are not much better than
the conditions they flee. The world has 12 million refugees,
and 7.4 million of them have been living in camps or
settlements for more than 10 years. Many are prohibited from
traveling or working, confined to crowded, squalid tents, at
the mercy of marauding gangs, and utterly dependent on
handouts of food insufficient to ward off hunger and on
health care that does not prevent cholera and dysentery. Some
people have lived in such camps for generations.
Half a million refugees from Myanmar, for example, have
lived in camps in neighboring countries for 20 years, with no
right to work or travel. The same is true of about 140,000
Somalis, who have lived since 1991 in closed camps in
northern Kenya.
The camps are often established quickly to deal with
refugee emergencies and never get dismantled. The original
goal--allowing refugees to return home when conditions
improve--has had the perverse effect of preventing them from
establishing new lives in a new country. Countries like
Pakistan, Zambia and Chad, which end up accepting the vast
majority of refugees from troubled countries on their
borders, would rather quarantine them than integrate them
into their societies.
It is time to rethink warehousing, and refugee groups and
the United Nations high commissioner for refugees have
recently begun to explore how to help refugees become more
self-reliant. Refugees who learn skills or earn money can be
an asset to their war-torn homelands when they return.
Moreover, there are ways to open up refugee camps without
angering host populations. Zambia, for example, has given
Angolan refugees land to farm. The food they grow has turned
sleepy villages into trading centers, fueling local commerce.
Wealthy countries need to absorb more people for permanent
resettlement. Europe, shamefully, accepts only a handful. The
United States has become far less welcoming over the last 10
years, and particularly since the terrorist acts of Sept. 11,
2001. In 1992, the United States accepted 132,531 refugees;
last year it was 28,422, although this year that number will
almost double.
The security concerns about accepting refugees from the
camps are unfounded. No terrorist would want to spend years
in squalid camps and then undergo a long and uncertain
vetting process simply to infiltrate the United States.
Indeed, the security threat comes from the camps'
concentration of idle, frustrated, resentful young men.
Warehousing itself can breed terrorism; Afghanistan's Taliban
movement was born in the refugee camps of Pakistan.
Initially, reducing warehousing will require commitment
from wealthy countries with the wherewithal to provide land,
training and microcredit. That will cost more than doling out
a weekly ration of rice and cooking oil. But it could reduce
costs later, and it is a way to create a more promising
future for millions.
____
[From the Washington Times, Sept. 10, 2004]
Unwarehousing Refugees
(By Arthur E. Dewey)
Long-staying refugees in rural camps or urban ghettos are
not commodities in a sad state of storage, but vibrant human
beings carving out lives for themselves in exile.
That said, where they lack the right to work legally or
integrate into the community, they can languish in dependency
and lose hope for the future. Refugee ``warehousing'' is an
issue that demands attention--and is getting it.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees has made this issue a
centerpiece of its current advocacy campaign. Meanwhile, the
State Department, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees, UNHCR, and other partner agencies are taking
dramatic steps to address the warehousing problem.
The key step is facilitating voluntary repatriation. Tens
of thousands of long-staying refugees have returned to Sierra
Leone, Angola and Liberia from neighboring countries. More
than 80,000 Iraqis have gone home since the fall of Saddam.
But the biggest success story is Afghanistan, where more than
3 million have returned from long stays in Pakistan and Iran.
This continuing repatriation represents one of the largest
refugee solutions in modern times, and the number of refugees
caught in these dead-end situations has decreased remarkably.
While ``de-warehousing'' refugees--through repatriation,
local integration, or resettlement--is an important first
step, it is not enough. Sustaining repatriation requires
commitment from the international donor community over the
long haul. Returnees need long-term transitional help and
employment opportunities to restore their dignity and self
reliance.
To that end, the U.S. started an employment program called
the Afghan Conservation Corps, ACC. Already, 750,000
seedlings
[[Page S10586]]
have been planted on the dusty hillsides around Kabul by
thousands of returning refugees, internally displaced
persons, demilitarized militias, and Afghan women.
Ultimately, hundreds of thousands will join them in working
on similar projects. The ACC is a model for how to make de-
warehousing irreversible.
There are still critics who charge we are not doing enough
to bring to the United States needy refugees who can't be
repatriated. I say, ``Watch what we are doing.'' Watch, for
example, the rapid response to an unexpected opening in
Thailand to interview 15,000 Lao Hmong stranded for more than
a decade in Wat Tham Krabok. By year's end, most will be
resettled in the U.S. Watch also our admitting Meshketian
Turks from Russia who had been rootless for decades.
Resettlement is costly and labor-intensive, but we have
spared no expense or effort to resettle refugees in the
United States, when that is the most appropriate solution.
We know there remain vulnerable people--especially women
and children--who have waited for years or even decades for
rescue. This administration is committed to overcoming the
obstacles in the way of such a rescue.
We urge other countries to be more generous in giving aid,
admitting refugees and facilitating local integration where
appropriate. As Secretary of State Colin Powell said during
World Refugee Day commemorations in June: ``We join other
nations in easing the plight of all those who will close
their eyes tonight in a strange land to dream of the home
they were forced to flee. It's up to all of us to defend the
non-negotiable demands of human dignity. It's up to all of us
to help the world's refugees feel at home again.''
It takes a home, not a warehouse, to make these dreams come
true.
______
SENATE RESOLUTION 450--TO AUTHORIZE TESTIMONY AND REPRESENTATION IN
UNITED STATES V. DANIEL BAYLY, ET. AL
Mr. FRIST (for himself and Mr. Daschle) submitted the following
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
S. Res. 450
Whereas, by Senate Resolution 317, 107th Congress, the
Senate authorized the Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs to
produce records from its investigation into the collapse of
Enron Corporation to law enforcement and regulatory officials
and agencies;
Whereas, by Senate Resolution 394, 108th Congress, the
Senate authorized testimony and legal representation of a
former employee of, and a detailee to, the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigation in the case of United States V.
Daniel Bayly, et al., Cr. No. H-03-363, pending in the United
States District Court for the Southern District of Texas;
Whereas, in the case of United States v. Daniel Bayly, et
al., subpoenas for testimony have been issued to Claire
Barnard, a former employee of, and Edna Falk Curtin, a former
detailee to, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations;
Whereas, pursuant to sections 703(a) and 704(a)(2) of the
Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 2 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 288b(a)
and 288c(a)(2), the Senate may direct its counsel to
represent employees of the Senate with respect to any
subpoena, order, or request for testimony relating to their
official responsibilities;
Whereas, by the privileges of the Senate of the United
States and Rule XI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, no
evidence under the control or in the possession of the Senate
can, by administrative or judicial process, be taken from
such control or possession but by permission of the Senate;
Whereas, when it appears that evidence under the control or
in the possession of the Senate is needed for the promotion
of justice, the Senate will take such action as will promote
the ends of justice consistent with the privileges of the
Senate: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That Claire Barnard and Edna Falk Curtin are
authorized to testify in the case of United States v. Daniel
Bayly, et al., except concerning matters for which a
privilege should be asserted.
Sec. 2. The Senate Legal Counsel is authorized to represent
Claire Barnard and Edna Falk Curtin in connection with the
testimony authorized in section one of this resolution.
______
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 141--RECOGNIZING THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF
NUCLEAR POWER IN THE NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES AND
SUPPORTING THE INCREASED USE OF NUCLEAR POWER AND THE CONSTRUCTION AND
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW AND IMPROVED NUCLEAR POWER GENERATING PLANTS
Mr. DOMENICI (for himself, Mr. Craig, Mr. Crapo, Ms. Landrieu, Mr.
Graham of South Carolina, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Voinovich,
Mr. Pryor, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Miller, and Mr. Alexander) submitted the
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources:
S. Con. Res. 141
Whereas the Energy Information Administration in the
Department of Energy estimates that by 2025 the United States
will need more than 300,000 megawatts of new electricity-
generating capacity to maintain its current levels of growth
and standards of living;
Whereas Vision 2020, the nuclear energy industry's plan to
increase the use of nuclear energy through the year 2020 to
meet the projected growth in the demand for electricity,
calls for maintaining the Nation's nonemitting electricity
generation at 30 percent, which would require 50,000
megawatts of new nuclear power to be generated;
Whereas meeting the increasing demand for continuous and
reliable, or baseload, electricity is essential for
supporting the economic growth which is necessary to maintain
the Nation's standard of living;
Whereas even the aggressive implementation of energy-
efficiency initiatives cannot replace the need for new
electricity-generating capacity;
Whereas nuclear power generated by the 103 commercial
nuclear power plants operating in the United States provides
the electricity for 20 percent of the United States;
Whereas consumers of nuclear power enjoy a higher level of
price stability compared to consumers of other energy
sources;
Whereas nuclear power plants do not produce harmful
emissions or greenhouse gases and can provide States, and the
Nation as a whole, with flexibility in meeting goals for
clean air and economic growth at lower costs than other
sources of power;
Whereas increasing nuclear power generation will require
designing and building new plants as well as operating the
new facilities, which together will create thousands of new
jobs;
Whereas the nuclear power industry, the Department of
Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are working
together to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new licensing
process for nuclear power plants, which allows full public
participation in decisions about the designs and sites of new
nuclear power plants without causing delays in construction
or commercial operation;
Whereas nuclear energy, science, and technology
applications are vital in the diagnosis and treatment of
disease, food and mail safety, space exploration, structural
inspection, and other important applications;
Whereas for decades, commercial nuclear power generating
facilities have had an unmatched safety record;
Whereas nuclear power plants in the United States use
excess material from Russian weapons programs to generate
power, which is a vital component of United States
nonproliferation policy;
Whereas many countries intend to build new nuclear power
plants, with 29 new plants currently under construction
worldwide and more than twice that many being planned, and
the United States must continue to play a leadership role
both in domestic nuclear power production and in encouraging
the use of nuclear power in other countries; and
Whereas the United States continues to lead the world in
the development, use, and control of nuclear technology: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring), That Congress--
(1) recognizes the essential role of nuclear power in the
national energy policy of the United States; and
(2) supports the increased use of nuclear power and the
construction and development of new and improved nuclear
power generating plants as a means of contributing to
national energy independence and maintaining a clean
environment.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to submit a resolution
recognizing the essential role that nuclear power plays in our national
energy policy and to voice support for this remarkable technology.
America's nuclear power reactors supply electricity for one in five
homes and businesses in the United States and do so affordably,
reliably and without producing any emissions. To ensure that nuclear
energy's important contribution to our nation continues, we must
develop and build new nuclear power plants based on advanced technology
and safety features.
Our Nation will require 40 percent more energy by 2020, requiring the
use of all available energy sources--wind, solar, hydro, natural gas,
coal and nuclear energy. Even the most aggressive conservation and
energy efficient programs will not satisfy all of our increasing energy
needs. We will require significant additional electric generating
capacity to meet this rising demand--electricity generation that is
absolutely necessary to keep our economy growing. And we must provide
this new power while protecting our environment.
America's 103 nuclear power reactors provide safe, clean and
reliable, baseload electricity around the clock. Over the past 50
years, America's nuclear power plants have posted a safety
[[Page S10587]]
record that is unrivalled. In addition, nuclear plants produce
electricity without producing harmful emissions or greenhouse gases.
Nuclear energy is the only major energy source that is both emission-
free and expandable.
The use of nuclear energy also reduces our dependence on foreign
sources of energy. Protecting our Nation's energy independence must
remain at the forefront of our energy policy decisions.
Since scientists first harnessed the power of the atom for the
benefit of mankind, the United States has led the world in the
development of nuclear science and technology. With some 29 nuclear
reactors under construction in other countries, the United State's
leadership role in commercial nuclear power could be diminished. Our
scientists, engineers and technicians must research, develop and build
new nuclear facilities to keep their skills sharp and further their
knowledge. In addition, new plant project also will mean more jobs for
those scientists, engineers and technicians, as well as many other
trades.
America's nuclear power plants contribute to nonproliferation
efforts. Through the public-private ``Megatons to Megawatts'' program,
which this body has strongly supported, 50 percent of the fuel used in
our commercial reactors comes from converted Russian warheads.
Nuclear energy also is one of the most efficient means of producing
hydrogen, another key to our energy future. Hydrogen will help reduce
our dependence on imported petroleum in the transportation sector, and,
like nuclear energy, is a clean air energy.
Therefore, I call upon my colleagues to join me in support of this
resolution recognizing nuclear energy's important contributions to our
Nation, such as maintaining our energy independence and protecting our
environment. And I urge all of you to join me in supporting research,
development and construction of new nuclear power plants today, so that
nuclear energy can continue providing these benefits in the future.
____________________