Political Quotes

“Now I'm going to turn to my colleague from Georgia, who also serves with me on the Energy and Commerce Committee. We have jurisdiction over this. My subcommittee is the Environment and the Economy. I deal with a lot of these waste disposal issues, nuclear waste being one of those. My colleague from Georgia has followed this issue as long as I have. The last time I came to the floor, I mentioned a couple facilities in Georgia, but the one that I have highlighted is the Savannah River. As I finish, I'll get this picture up to my colleague. But the point we're trying to make today is that here you have Yucca Mountain, which is a mountain in a desert. Then you have nuclear waste all over this country. Look at this one. It's right next to the Savannah River. At Yucca Mountain, we have no nuclear waste on site. At the Savannah River, there are 6,300 canisters of waste on site. The waste would be stored, as my colleague Bob Dold said, 1,000 feet underground; whereas, at the Savannah River, it's stored right below the ground. At Yucca Mountain, it's 1,000 feet above the water table. At the Savannah River, it would be zero to 160 feet above the water table. The waste at Yucca Mountain is 100 miles from the Colorado River. Well, you can see that it's adjacent to the Savannah River. So I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia, Congressman Gingrey, for joining me; and I yield to him to enter into the colloquy.”