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   (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, most of us see earthquakes in real tangible terms: A natural disaster, an unpredictable violent force of nature that mankind has been trying to predict, and outwit, for centuries. We see earthquakes as a cause of billions of dollars worth of structural destruction and the cause of death for untold thousands of people.

   It seems now that the scientists over at the Department of Energy are seeing earthquakes in other terms. Now they are just ``part of the plan,'' part of the plan to ``hasten the process,'' I quote, to cover up high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

   Folks, Yucca Mountain is the heart of 32 known earthquake faults, just hundreds of feet from our groundwater levels, and just miles away from the homes of thousands of Nevada residents. Boy, talk about con men and city slickers.

   For the better part of a century, DOE has been trying desperately to fit a square peg in a round hole, knowing they are unable to develop structures that can withstand the crushing force of earthquakes. Now they are telling us they are trying to cash in on the destructive power of earthquakes. I guess that means that the mountain, when it collapses, will help coverup the waste. That is unbelievable.

   Albert Einstein once said, ``There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and stupidity. And I am unsure about the universe.''

   Mr. Speaker, to store nuclear waste at a hot bed of earthquakes in Nevada is stupidity, and I am doubly sure about that.

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