[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 760-761]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             YUCCA MOUNTAIN

  (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, yesterday in the Washington Post John W. 
Bartlett, an engineer who headed the Yucca Mountain project for the DOE 
from 1990 to 1993 stated:
  ``The rock formations were found to be far inferior to that 
originally expected in terms of preventing contamination.''
  Mr. Bartlett is not the only former DOE official opposed to Yucca 
Mountain. Kenneth Davis, Energy Under Secretary from 1981 to 1983, has 
also said that Yucca Mountain as a waste repository is not reasonable 
in his view and should be put in mothballs. Former senior DOE geologist 
Jerry Szymanski has found that an earthquake could dramatically elevate 
the water table, potentially flooding the repository.

[[Page 761]]

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and the GAO have also said 
that the DOE's science is weak to moderate and that recommendation is 
not prudent or practical.
  Mr. Speaker, it disturbs me to think that the Energy Secretary is 
willfully ignoring the concerns of his own experts. Unless the DOE 
stops the Yucca Mountain project when it comes time, and Mr. Abraham is 
quoted saying that Yucca Mountain was a mistake, it will be too late 
for the American people.

                          ____________________