[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 5 (Monday, February 2, 2004)]
[Page 159]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on the United States Air Force Operating 
Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada

January 28, 2004

To the Congress of the United States:

    Consistent with section 6001(a) of the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) (the ``Act''), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6961(a), 
notification is hereby given that on September 16, 2003, I issued 
Presidential Determination 2003-39 (copy enclosed) and thereby exercised 
the authority to grant certain exemptions under section 6001(a) of the 
Act.
    Presidential Determination 2003-39 exempted the United States Air 
Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any Federal, 
State, interstate, or local hazardous or solid waste laws that might 
require the disclosure of classified information concerning that 
operating location to unauthorized persons. Information concerning 
activities at the operating location near Groom Lake has been properly 
determined to be classified, and its disclosure would be harmful to 
national security. Continued protection of this information is, 
therefore, in the paramount interest of the United States.
    The determination was not intended to imply that, in the absence of 
a Presidential exemption, RCRA or any other provision of law permits or 
requires the disclosure of classified information to unauthorized 
persons. The determination also was not intended to limit the 
applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law applicable to the 
Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake except those provisions, 
if any, that might require the disclosure of classified information.
                                                George W. Bush
The White House,
January 28, 2004.