Political Quotes

“On June 6, 2012, I offered an amendment to the Energy and Water appropriations bill to do the final scientific study to certify Yucca Mountain as the repository for high-level nuclear waste in this country, and I was joined by a large bipartisan amount from this Chamber, 326 ``yes'' votes, which I appreciate my colleagues who supported this amendment. Among those in the Michigan delegation, which has 15 Members, there were 11 ``yes'' votes and only four ``no'' votes. Why is this all important? Because what I've tried to do over the past year and a half is help the educational process in explaining where nuclear waste is in this country and where it should be. We did pass a law back in 1982. I wasn't here then. Many of us were not. Then there were amendments to that law in 1987 that said Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be our repository, a long-term geological repository for high-level nuclear waste. In Michigan, there are five nuclear power plants. They are all located along the Great Lakes. There's three on Lake Michigan, one on, I think, Lake Erie, right next to large bodies of water. Let's compare one of those, Cook, which has high-level nuclear waste on-site next to Lake Michigan, to where it should be, which is Yucca Mountain. Currently at Cook, there are 1,433 metric tons of uranium of spent fuel on-site. At Yucca Mountain, which should be our single repository, there's currently none. Again, we started this in 1982.…”