Political Quotes

“last summer the U.S. Court of Appeals issued a ruling that confirmed something that many of us already understood. The Federal Government has an obligation to provide a safe, centralized storage place for our Nation's spent fuel and nuclear waste, beginning less than 1 year from today. This is a commitment that Congress and the Department of Energy made 15 years ago. We have collected $12 billion from the American ratepayers for this purpose. But, after spending some $6 billion, the Federal Government is still not prepared to deliver on its promise to take and safely dispose of our Nation's nuclear waste by 1998. Hardworking Americans have paid for this as part of their monthly electric bill. They simply have not gotten any results. So a lawsuit was filed and the court confirmed that there is, indeed, a legal obligation as well as a moral one. We have reached a crossroads. The job of fixing this program and this injustice is ours. The time for fixing the program is now. Today in this country, high-level nuclear waste and highly radioactive used nuclear fuel is accumulating at over 80 sites in 41 States, including waste stored at the Department of Energy's weapon facilities. It is stored in populated areas near our neighbors, near our neighborhoods, near our schools, on the shores of our lakes and rivers, in the backyards of constituents young and old across this land.”