Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague and friend Mr. Reed. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment, which would provide an adequate level of funding for the Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup program. The Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup program addresses the environmental legacy of former civilian and non-defense nuclear programs at sites across the country. The large quantity of hazardous and radioactive waste generated at these sites and the contamination that remains is one of our Nation's largest environmental liabilities. The Department of Energy has an obligation to clean up this nuclear waste and protect local communities against risk to human health, safety, and the environment. And Congress has an obligation to fund the program at a sufficient level to clean up these sites thoroughly and expeditiously. However, quite simply, the amount of money appropriated in this bill is insufficient to do so. Mr. Chairman, continuing to underfund the cleanup of these nuclear sites will delay and extend project schedules, cause commitments to State governments and local communities to be missed, and increase the overall costs in the long run. In my community of western New York, the West Valley site was established in the 1960s in response to a Federal call for efforts to commercialize the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from power reactors.…”