[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        STORAGE OF NUCLEAR WASTE AT EARTHQUAKE HOTBED IS STUPID

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, most of us see earthquakes in real tangible 
terms: A natural disaster, an unpredictable violent force of nature 
that mankind has been trying to predict, and outwit, for centuries. We 
see earthquakes as a cause of billions of dollars worth of structural 
destruction and the cause of death for untold thousands of people.
  It seems now that the scientists over at the Department of Energy are 
seeing earthquakes in other terms. Now they are just ``part of the 
plan,'' part of the plan to ``hasten the process,'' I quote, to cover 
up high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
  Folks, Yucca Mountain is the heart of 32 known earthquake faults, 
just hundreds of feet from our groundwater levels, and just miles away 
from the homes of thousands of Nevada residents. Boy, talk about con 
men and city slickers.
  For the better part of a century, DOE has been trying desperately to 
fit a square peg in a round hole, knowing they are unable to develop 
structures that can withstand the crushing force of earthquakes. Now 
they are telling us they are trying to cash in on the destructive power 
of earthquakes. I guess that means that the mountain, when it 
collapses, will help coverup the waste. That is unbelievable.
  Albert Einstein once said, ``There are only two truly infinite 
things, the universe and stupidity. And I am unsure about the 
universe.''
  Mr. Speaker, to store nuclear waste at a hot bed of earthquakes in 
Nevada is stupidity, and I am doubly sure about that.

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