Political Quotes

“I want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Tonko. I rise in support of H.R. 3053. Congress first passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act back in 1982, but more than 35 years later, we still do not have a national solution to address the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. Instead, it continues to sit on site at our Nation's nuclear power plants. This becomes a concern as more and more nuclear power reactors are scheduled to shut down in the coming years, including the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. As these reactors shut down, the surrounding communities are realizing that the nuclear waste currently stored at these sites will be there indefinitely when the plant closes, absent a workable national solution. This situation underscores the need for interim storage solutions to bridge the gap until a permanent repository is licensed and constructed. The bill before us today is a bipartisan compromise that was reported out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 49-4. Democrats on the committee, especially Representative Matsui, worked with Mr. Tonko to craft a bipartisan compromise that establishes an interim storage pilot program, which will allow for consolidated temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, with priority given to waste currently stored at decommissioned nuclear power plants. This will allow us to consolidate waste at a single site instead of 121 sites in communities around the country.…”