Sam Gibbons: “I must say strong opposition, to this closed rule. This is, first and foremost, a matter of fairness. Nevada has not had…”

“I must say strong opposition, to this closed rule. This is, first and foremost, a matter of fairness. Nevada has not had a voice in this issue, the issue of storing nuclear waste from other facilities, which, by the way, Nevada has never benefitted from any of the power generated. Secondly, we have never had a hearing on this bill, the Senate bill 1287, and, as a result, we have not had an opportunity to have input into this. This is a 1-hour debate today without the opportunity even to offer an amendment to this rule. The bill itself is fatally flawed. It creates an interim storage facility, which would, in and of itself, require early shipment of nuclear waste to the State without even so much as putting a roof over the material that is going to be stored there. And there is an inadequacy in terms of the fee that is being charged to pay for the storage of that nuclear waste down the road. This is material that has a half-life of 10,000 years. Transportation across America is going to occur. We are going to be transporting this material through some of America's most natural wonders.”