Sustain the veto flier

S1287 Threatens Public Health And Safety

This bill strips the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to protect public health by forcing the EPA to wait until 2001 to set a radiation standard for the proposed repository. President Clinton has VETOED S1287 because it does not ensure the protection of public health and safety.

S1287 Would Launch The Largest Nuclear Waste Shipment Campaign In World History

The bill’s "backup storage" provision could put nuclear waste on our roads and rails as early as 2007, beginning a transportation of nuclear waste through 43 states for 25 years, and exposing 50 million Americans to dangerous levels of radiation in their communities. Radioactive waste would be shipped through over 100 cities with populations of 100,000 or more.

Over 200 environmental organizations petitioned the DOE to disqualify Yucca Mountain from consideration as a permanent repository for nuclear waste in November 1998. In addition, environmental groups are specifically opposed to S1287 because of its blatant sacrifice of public health and environmental standards to appease the nuclear industry.

S1287 will establish an "Office of Spent Nuclear Fuel Research" with the mission of researching and developing technologies to reprocess irradiated nuclear fuel. Further, this office would fund and collaborate with other countries that want to develop these same technologies. Reprocessing technologies could be used to produce weapons-usable material and are contrary to more than 20 years of U.S. non-proliferation policy.

S1287 Ignores Scientific Evidence That Yucca Mountain Is Not A Safe Place To Store Radioactive Waste

Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yucca Mountain region, with 621 occurring at magnitudes of 2.5 or higher within 50 miles of the Yucca Mountain site from 1976 to 1996. In 1992, a 5.6 earthquake struck on a previously unmapped fault line only eight miles from the repository study site, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to a Department of Energy building.

Rather than continuing to allow politics alone to shape America’s decisions about nuclear energy and nuclear waste, Congress should initiate a comprehensive review of federal nuclear policy. Lawmakers should commit to making decisions based on sound science, citizen involvement, and protection of public and environmental health. S1287 will not allow this—it is a bill written by the nuclear industry for the nuclear industry, and it forces bad decisions in order to perpetuate bad policy.

SUSTAIN THE VETO on S1287 and protect our nation, our environment, and future generations!