Frank Pallone

I rise for the purpose of engaging in a colloquy with the chairwoman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on the policy restricting travel and communications of United States Government…

The country lost a substantial amount of time that was very valuable and billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars, of hardworking taxpayer money after the previous administration shut this program down.

For the sake of the communities holding stranded commercial fuel wishing to redevelop their sites and others holding high-level defense waste, we must move forward and allow Nevada's technical concerns with Yucca Mountain to be heard by…

My friend and Republican leader of this subcommittee, John Shimkus, led the work in the House to pass the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act by a vote of 340 to 72.

I appreciate your moving forward on examining legislative reforms that can help to restart this process.

I commend Representative Matsui for her efforts and leadership on this issue.

Interim storage is the best near-term solution to stop the nuclear waste stalemate.

We must find a path forward to begin the process of moving nuclear waste out of these communities.

It has been over 30 years since Congress last made significant changes to this law.

Only by showing the public the full information from this process can we build the trust in the sites, the decisions we make, and the eventual success of our nuclear waste program.

The more money diverted from that fund to interim storage, the more ratepayers - or taxpayers - will have to pay in the future for permanent disposal.

I strongly believe interim storage can be successful if moved in parallel with Yucca Mountain.

Politicizing this issue has stymied progress for far too long. We must allow the science, not politics, to guide us forward.

I am pleased to see the past work has informed the current work, particularly in H.R. 2699, led by Mr. McNerney.

This bill prioritizes the removal of spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear plants in areas with large populations and high seismic hazard.

Shortcuts lead to dead ends.

It will be very difficult to gain acceptance for interim storage if it is not directly linked to permanent disposal.

If CPSC's authority doesn't allow it to respond quickly and completely to new hazards, we should consider revising that authority.

Product safety is not a partisan issue.

Kids and consumers simply cannot afford to wait that long.

It should not take a congressional hearing or an accidental disclosure of information to get a deadly product off the shelves.

CPSC has let industry set its own rules, and the results have been predictably disastrous.

I thank our witnesses for being here today and look forward to your testimony.

The current state of affairs is a mess, especially in the PJM market where New Jersey participates.

I think what we need to do is incentivize using newer technologies and nontransmission alternatives.