[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 15589-15590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-49. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Maine urging the President, the Secretary of 
     Energy, and Congress to review national policy on used 
     nuclear fuel; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
     Resources.

                            Joint Resolution

       Whereas, nuclear utility ratepayers have committed more 
     than $31,000,000,000 in fees and interest, as mandated under 
     the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, for the purpose 
     of establishing a permanent repository for storage of used 
     nuclear fuel from commercial reactors and defense-related 
     high-level radioactive waste; and
       Whereas, the ratepayers of Maine Yankee, Maine's former 
     nuclear power facility, now decommissioned, paid $65,500,000 
     into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund for nuclear fuel used 
     after the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was enacted in 1982 and 
     are continuing to make payments into the Spent Nuclear Fuel 
     Disposal Trust Fund to fund a $185,000,000 obligation for the 
     disposal of spent nuclear fuel used prior to 1983; and
       Whereas, the United States Government failed to begin 
     accepting commercial used fuel by 1998 as required by the 
     Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and by contracts with used 
     fuel owners, and only in 2008 did the United States 
     Department of Energy finally submit an application to the 
     federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct a 
     permanent used fuel repository; and
       Whereas, the expected funding levels for the permanent fuel 
     disposal program in the fiscal year 2009 federal budgets and 
     statements by the Federal Government concerning the fiscal 
     year 2010 federal budgets point to continuing chronic delays 
     for the Yucca Mountain repository, if not the outright 
     termination of the project; and
       Whereas, the Federal Government's failure to meet its 1998 
     statutory and legal obligations to accept used fuel has led 
     to the Federal Government's being found in partial breach of 
     the contracts with nuclear utility owners, leading to federal 
     taxpayer payments to the utilities of about $1,000,000,000 
     thus far; and
       Whereas, in light of the Federal Government's failure to 
     meet its responsibility, the commercial nuclear industry has 
     embraced an integrated nuclear fuel management program 
     incorporating:
       1. Continued safe and secure storage of used fuel at 
     commercial plant sites;
       2. Development of 2 Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed 
     private or government-owned centralized interim storage 
     facilities in communities that would host such facilities 
     voluntarily;
       3. Continued public and private sector efforts on research, 
     development and deployment of technologies to recycle used 
     fuel in a safe, environmentally responsible, proliferation-
     resistant and commercially viable way; and
       4. Continued review of the permanent repository license 
     application by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 
     continued policymaker engagement to ensure the safety and 
     security of whatever facilities or sites ultimately are 
     chosen for permanent disposal of the by-products of the once-
     through or close nuclear fuel cycle; and
       Whereas, several prominent national state officials' 
     organizations, the National Conference of State Legislatures, 
     the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 
     and the American Legislative Exchange Council, have all 
     endorsed immediate establishment of centralized Nuclear 
     Regulatory Commission-licensed interim fuel storage 
     facilities in voluntary host communities and continued 
     research on the recycling of fuel and other advanced fuel 
     management technologies: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge and 
     request the United States Government to protect nuclear 
     utility ratepayers by immediately reducing the fee that 
     sustains and overfunds the Nuclear Waste Fund to a level that 
     will cover only the costs incurred by the Department of 
     Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and local Nevada 
     government units that provide oversight of the permanent used 
     fuel repository program; and be it further
       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, also respectfully 
     urge the United States Government to immediately enact 
     legislation expediting the establishment of 2 Nuclear 
     Regulatory Commission-licensed, private or government-owned 
     interim storage facilities for used commercial nuclear fuel, 
     with community incentives funded by the Nuclear Waste Fund, 
     and requiring the Department of Energy to take possession of, 
     safely transport and store used fuel at these facilities by 
     leasing space at these facilities, and giving first priority 
     to moving fuel from decommissioned plants; and be it further
       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, also respectfully 
     urge the United States Government to enact legislation 
     creating an independent panel of esteemed public policy, 
     scientific, environmental, engineering and affected community 
     leaders that would be charged with conducting a long-term 
     strategic assessment of the Nation's used fuel and defense 
     waste management practices and developing specific 
     recommendations on how to proceed in the future while interim 
     storage facilities are being developed; and be it further
       Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution, duly 
     authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to 
     the Honorable Barack H. Obama, President of the United 
     States, to the United States Secretary of Energy, to the 
     President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 
     United States House of Representatives and to each Member of 
     the Maine Congressional Delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-50. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the General 
     Assembly of the State of Tennessee urging the President and 
     Congress to oppose legislation relative to the Employee Free 
     Choice Act; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
     Pensions.

                        Senate Resolution No. 26

       Whereas, the right to private elections is the cornerstone 
     of American democracy; and
       Whereas, private ballot elections are the most democratic 
     way to determine employees' wishes and guarantee an outcome 
     unaffected by outside pressures; and
       Whereas, federally supervised elections conducted by the 
     National Labor Relations Board have been the accepted law 
     governing union recognition campaigns for sixty years, 
     providing detailed procedures that ensure a fair election, 
     free of fraud, where employees may cast their vote 
     confidentially without peer pressure or coercion from unions 
     or employers; and
       Whereas, limiting union recognition to signing 
     authorization cards (``card check'') in the presence of union 
     officials, coworkers, and employers does not reflect the 
     unbiased will of employees; and
       Whereas, in recent years, the vast majority of businesses 
     targeted by union organizing campaigns have been small 
     businesses with fifty or fewer employees; and
       Whereas, small businesses are more likely to be held 
     captive at the will of union organizing efforts, as they have 
     less resources for the lengthy legal process of union 
     recognition campaigns; and
       Whereas, efforts to eliminate private elections are an 
     attack on the free speech rights of business and workers' 
     individual rights; and
       Whereas, compulsory binding arbitration, which would force 
     employers to accept the terms of a first contract if the 
     employer and the union cannot agree, is fundamentally 
     unconstitutional, and will dramatically undermine the ability 
     of any employer to negotiate; and
       Whereas, compulsory arbitration discourages the parties 
     from offering compromises in bargaining for fear that they 
     may prejudice their position in arbitration: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved by the Senate of the One Hundred Sixth General 
     Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the General Assembly 
     and the people of the State of Tennessee oppose proposals 
     seeking to eliminate the private election phase of union 
     recognition campaigns and implement compulsory binding 
     arbitration on employers. Be it further
       Resolved, that the Senate and the people of the State of 
     Tennessee support democracy in the workplace by maintaining 
     every worker's right to privately decide whether or not to 
     allow a particular union to represent their interests. Be it 
     further
       Resolved, that the Senate urges the President of the United 
     States and the United States Congress to oppose legislation 
     that is detrimental to the rights of workers and is an 
     offense against democratic principles by opposing the 
     Employee Free Choice Act and any of its components in 2009 
     and in future years.

[[Page 15590]]

     
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       POM-51. A resolution adopted by the City Council of Port 
     Townsend, Washington urging state and federal elected 
     officials to suspend expanded Border Patrol activity until 
     the utility, legality, and constitutionality of the expansion 
     can be determined by Congress; to the Committee on the 
     Judiciary.

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