Sam Gibbons: “Madam Speaker, passage of H.J. Res. 87 will undoubtedly put a process in place that will exceed the $58 million…”

“Madam Speaker, passage of H.J. Res. 87 will undoubtedly put a process in place that will exceed the $58 million threshold outlined in section 425 of the act. Instead of looking at what the CBO score tells us, let us look at what it does not tell us. What the CBO is unable to tell us is how much it will cost our local community to implement the Nuclear Waste Management Act, as far as preparing our State and local governments for the enormous cost of safety monitoring these tens of thousands of high level nuclear waste shipments that are going to occur throughout our community. Madam Speaker, by the CBO's inability to score the total cost of this project, again a project receives a green light upon passage of the legislation currently before us, there might as well not even be a CBO score. The chairman of the committee has fulfilled his obligation to publish a cost estimate for H.J. Res. 87; however, the CBO cost only gives the House the recommended 5-year cost projection. As we know, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, shipments of high level nuclear waste to Nevada will not even begin until the year 2010, about 8 years from now. With the CBO unable to give a cost estimate on the Yucca Mountain project's total price tag, passage of H.J. Res. 87 provides the Federal government a blank check to proceed with this project.”