Political Quotes

“last Thursday, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I introduced legislation, along with my colleague, Senator Johnston, the ranking member of that committee, to sell 1,000 acres of Federal excess land out in a California desert at a fair market value in order that Californians may finally begin to work for their low-level radioactive waste facility at a place called Ward Valley. This is a step that the Governor of California, Gov. Pete Wilson, had asked us to take after the State of California has suffered from some 2 years of frustration at the hands of the Department of Interior. The measure that Senator Johnston and I have introduced to end this stalemate is virtually identical to the language the Senate previously agreed to in the reconciliation bill conference report. But there is an important difference, Mr. President. That important difference is that we want to remove the latest excuse of the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Babbitt, who has voiced refusal to convey that land, and the rationale for that is pretty hard to explain at this time. Perhaps we will have some justification from the Secretary, but we certainly do not have it now.”