This plan will not stop contamination of the Colorado River, which is expected to continue for hundreds of years.

The National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and many state and local government agencies have all expressed concerns about the quality of scientific data and information upon which NRC decisions have been based.

Over the past century, irresponsible and unwise mining operators have devastated over half a million acres of land--by acting without thought for the future or by simply walking away from played-out mines.

The majority refused to even hold hearings on these bills during the last Congress, instead focusing on crushing Clinton administration policies that would have made miners accountable for their actions and decreased the level of environmental destruction that accompanies mining activities.

Public opinion--even in Western states with large mining activities--is strongly in favor of mining reform that includes a royalty that raises substantial revenues to be used for abandoned mine clean-up.

The NRC has seems determined to perpetuate rather than resolve this dangerous situation in the case of the Atlas site.

Today, Reps. Filner, Pelosi, Gutierrez, and I am introducing legislation to require the Department of Energy to move the tailings to a safe location.

Lack of Congressional action to reform this archaic law is indefensible--albeit a testament to the strength of the mining industry's influence on certain key Members who have consistently blocked any attempt to amend or replace the law during the past two Congresses.

This antiquated relic allows mining operators nearly unlimited access to our Nation's hard rock minerals, no matter what other values (such as fish and wildlife habitat) may also be present.

The problem is that an aggressive minority has thrown in its lot with the Communists, looking to the Soviets and their own Cuban henchmen to help them pursue political change through violence.

El Salvador is on the front line of a communist encroachment into Greater America.