[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 26160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     SWEETHEART NUCLEAR WASTE DEALS

  (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, today I rise dismayed and appalled by the 
illegal sweetheart deals being made by the Department of Energy and the 
nuclear power industry.
  These backroom agreements between the Clinton-Gore administration and 
the nuclear industry ignore the public safety and health of millions of 
Americans, and run completely contrary to the laws passed by Congress.
  This Congress has always maintained that any nuclear waste repository 
project must be based on sound science and safety. However, documents 
recently released by the DOE show that the Department is not concerned 
at all with safety or science. Their prime concern is ``selling'' 
Nevada's Yucca Mountain project as a permanent nuclear waste dump, even 
though the final suitability studies have not been completed.
  The DOE has chosen to risk the health and safety of millions of 
Americans and expose them to a devastating environmental disaster 
because it is an expedient answer to a problem faced by the nuclear 
industry.
  Once again, Mr. Speaker, this administration has misled Congress, 
ignored the law, and jeopardized the safety of America.

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