Political Quotes

“I advise my colleagues that yesterday another significant step was taken in the process to address relief for nuclear energy by the approval of the Yucca Mountain process--and I emphasize process because it is a step-by-step effort. The Governor of Nevada came to Washington to deliver his veto over the President's recommendation to site this Nation's high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Further, Chairman Bingaman, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today took yet another step in introducing a resolution, S.J. Res. 34, to override the Nevada veto. Senator Bingaman's action sets in motion the congressional fast-track procedure in both the House and Senate to approve this resolution, which is done by a simple majority. We finally may approve a safe, remote, central facility for our Nation's nuclear waste. Without this repository, our nuclear plants would have to shut down, and I do not think we can address that risk, recognizing nearly 20 percent of our Nation's energy is generated by nuclear power. Without Yucca Mountain, the cold-war legacy sites throughout the U.S. will not get cleaned up because we will have no place to put the waste. The Federal Government has an obligation for the spent fuel and the DOE waste, and to meet this obligation we must open that repository, and we must do it soon. To date, we have spent over 20 years and over $4 billion to investigate and characterize the site.…”