[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              THE ISSUE IS SAFETY ON NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, the issue of nuclear waste is simply one 
of the safety. H.G. Wells once said that human history becomes more and 
more a race between education and catastrophe. Let me say that nothing 
in the history of mankind has withstood the test of time and the 
construction of 10,000 years.
  What was state-of-the-art technology and engineered safe as late as 
1970 has often been shown and proven to be an unsafe solution today. 
Americans should never allow short-term safety issues that are as 
serious as nuclear waste to become long-term problems hundreds of years 
from now.
  I believe that standards based on sound science, along with the 
protection, the safety and the welfare of this Nation's citizens, 
should be the fundamental threshold when we address nuclear waste 
storage. H.R. 45, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1999, will mandate 
upon the State of Nevada and this Nation the most environmentally 
egregious and deadly decree, a death sentence that preempts the 
National Environmental Policy Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and any 
other Federal, State, or local laws that may be inconsistent with this 
bill.
  Vote ``no'' on H.R. 45.

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