NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2000 -- (Extensions of Remarks - March 28, 2000)

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SPEECH OF HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Wednesday, March 22, 2000

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, today I rise in opposition to the Nuclear Waste Amendments Act of 2000. This
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bill will establish the largest nuclear waste shipping program in U.S. history. It also endangers the health of our citizens and the environmental integrity of our lands. I cannot in good conscience support a bill that undermines the welfare of our people to provide the expeditious disposal of nuclear waste.

This bill continues to support interim storage of nuclear waste and does not provide the utilities the choice of interim storage in Nevada so that they can begin to remove waste from reactors and Department of Defense sites around the country by the year 2003. Pursuant to this measure, nuclear waste would be shipped to Yucca Mountain before the permanent construction of a repository. We should not place the lives of innocent people in jeopardy prior to the completion of a permanent repository. The safety of human life should be our number one priority not the premature removal of extremely dangerous nuclear waste.

Furthermore, this bill if passed will initiate the shipment of nuclear waste shipments with extraordinary amounts of radioactivity by rail and truck. This activity will potentially expose 50 million people to high levels of radiation for over 30 years. Our Nation's localities are not trained nor equipped to deal with a serious radioactive contamination event. Response teams in our nation's hospitals, police forces, firemen, and schools would be placed in an unfortunate position resulting in human suffering. We should not support a bill that does not provide for the training, equipment, and study needed to give the public reasonable assurances that their children will be safe from any possibility of radiation exposure due to a nuclear waste accident.

This bill also seeks to undermine the EPA's ability to set strong radiation standards. The measure delays the proposed standard of 15 milirems for a year until the next President takes office. The EPA can only issue a standard before the year's end if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] agrees; however, the NRC proposes standards that do not provide adequate drinking water protections.

Finally, the selection of the Yucca Mountain site as the nuclear repository was a poor choice. Yucca Mountain happens to be located in an active earthquake zone. An earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale in Yucca Mountain caused $1 million worth of damage to an Energy Department field office near the repository site. Imagine what would happen if nuclear waste was stored in the mountain. It is even possible for radiation to contaminate drinking water for the region for years to come.

For these important reasons, I cannot support the Nuclear Waste Amendments Act of 2000. The people of this country deserve better.
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