[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 174 (Tuesday, December 10, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        PROTECTING MINNESOTA RATEPAYERS FROM WASHINGTON INACTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, recently, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled in 
favor of America's energy ratepayers.
  For more than 30 years, the Department of Energy has assessed a 
special tax and a special assessment on my constituents and the 
residents of 40 other States around the country who receive their 
electricity from nuclear power. Minnesotans have paid over $400 million 
alone. The stated reason for this tax: to pay for the disposal of used 
fuels generated from nuclear energy. To date, the total amount 
collected is more than $24 billion, but little of that money has even 
been spent.
  Since 1987, the law of the land remains that Yucca Mountain is the 
site for geological storage of nuclear spent fuel. Unfortunately for 
ratepayers, partisanship and bickering in Washington have nearly halted 
the program from moving forward. In classic Washington fashion, even 
with all of this inaction, the tax has continued to be assessed and the 
moneys have continued to be collected.
  Fortunately, this court action will bring an end to this, but just 
for now. I have long been an advocate of stopping these payments. The 
government is not doing what it promised to do with used fuel; yet 
millions of ratepayers are still being forced to foot the bill. 
Minnesotans and Americans should not be taxed for a service that the 
government is not providing.
  Mr. Speaker, we should be expanding the development of nuclear 
energy. It is safe, it is clean, and it is renewable. Storing these 
used fuels is a critical piece of that effort, and we need a permanent 
solution, whether it is at Yucca Mountain or somewhere else.
  It is reasonable and fair that if the administration is going to 
continue to drag its feet on a permanent storage site, as they have for 
several years now, then ratepayers and taxpayers should not be forced 
to fund inaction.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud the court's decision to protect Minnesota 
ratepayers and stopping these payments. In addition, it is time to get 
serious about the future of nuclear energy and moving forward with safe 
and proper storage facilities for the waste.

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