Sam Gibbons: “a new scheme is emerging. Under H.R. 1270, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, American taxpayers will be forced to pay for…”

“a new scheme is emerging. Under H.R. 1270, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, American taxpayers will be forced to pay for the transportation of nuclear waste across this country. At a time when we are trying to reduce the burden on taxpayers, now they will be forced to pay huge sums for the construction of an expensive interim storage facility at Yucca Mountain, NV. And, Mr. Speaker, taxpayers will also be liable for the cost of cleanup of any accident that occurs during transportation, not the nuclear power industry. A DOE contractor report concluded that if an accident were to occur in a rural area during transportation cleanup, costs to the taxpayers could range between $176 million to $19.4 billion. A cleanup in an urban area would cost considerably more, perhaps $9.5 billion just to raise and rebuild the most contaminated square mile. This is a pivotal time in Congress when we are trying to balance the budget and give tax breaks to hardworking Americans. Why then would we want than to shoulder the burdens of H.R. 1270?”