Sam Gibbons: “this week the Committee on Resources will mark up H.R. 1270, the Nuclear Waste Act of 1997. This bill tramples the…”

“this week the Committee on Resources will mark up H.R. 1270, the Nuclear Waste Act of 1997. This bill tramples the Constitution and violates the basic fundamentals this great country was founded upon. Whatever happened to States rights? Whatever happened to the tenth amendment? How can this body mandate upon the State of Nevada that it must accept nuclear industry waste when Nevada does not even have a nuclear power plant of its own? What about private property rights? In New Mexico a man won a lawsuit which entitled him to $884,000 because nuclear waste was shipped next to his private property and devalued his land. Again, this garbage will travel through 43 States along the most heavily populated highways in this country. Guess who is going to pay off all these private property owners? The American taxpayer. H.R. 1270 is an unfunded mandate, a tax increase, a dangerous idea and a very bad policy. Do not be misled by the nuclear industry lobby. Get the facts. Vote ``no'' on 1270.”