Ed Markey

Low income and disadvantaged communities, especially those overburdened by pollution, deserve justice and targeted relief from polluted air and water.

We can't help protect all communities if we don't understand all communities.

We have to make sure that all of those promises are kept.

I know why Superfund is different. I was on the Committee in 1980 and 1981 when we drafted Superfund.

Does creating or authorizing emergency planning exemptions while nuclear waste is still cooling in the pool create an unfunded mandate for communities?

Pilgrim in Massachusetts is at the top of the list.

And how good of a job does it do?

What protections are there to ensure that Holtec doesn't cut corners to do the lowest cost decommissioning possible?

The Attorney General did, in setting this precedent.

So if there is a decommissioning that is going to be going on around the country, let's just say Seabrook, where the company keeps ownership of that plant, there is no avenue in for New Hampshire or Massachusetts in terms of how that…

We need to ensure that we have a new rule that we put on the books that has full public participation, full accountability for the companies that are given the responsibility for decommissioning these plants, and that it be transparent in…

I am coming away from this hearing, Mr. Chairman, saying there will not be a million gallons of radioactive water dropped in Cape Cod.

I think that is going to be a big change that we can move forward with and say to the NRC, this is where we should be.

That is a very important statement for you to make.

If you get reimbursed for the cost of spent fuel management, will you commit right now to ensuring that this money is returned to the trust fund and used to support cleanup of the site?

What I have found over the years, Dr. Singh, is that you may be making personal commitments right now, and don't worry about it.

Do you agree that these exemptions are dangerous and allow for money to be siphoned off from ratepayer funded trust funds?

We are setting a precedent. There is a minimum balance, and that the funding is there, and that it is guaranteed.

Let's put a process in place that doesn't necessarily elicit this level of public skepticism because it has been transparent.

We have a chance to rectify that now. Unfortunately, the draft rule doesn't do that.

We have to make sure that we put common sense into the regulatory framework in order to protect the ratepayers, but also the safety and well being of the citizens of Plymouth.

Those are ratepayer funds that were put there to clean up the power plant.

And that is very important, because obviously, you have created multiple limited liability companies, subsidiaries that are each responsible for different plants.

What is the role of the NRC?

And again, people are responding emotionally because they feel they don't have all the information they need.