Shelley Berkley: “I cannot believe 12 years from when I first made that speech, I am back in the well of the House talking about why…”

“I cannot believe 12 years from when I first made that speech, I am back in the well of the House talking about why Nevada should not be the site for the nuclear repository for this country. President Obama defunded the Yucca Mountain project, and let me tell you why he took this very bold step: because 77 percent of the people of the State of Nevada do not want nuclear waste stored at Yucca Mountain. There are groundwater issues, seismic activity, volcanic activity, and it is 90 miles from the major population center of Las Vegas. It is dangerous. There are no current EPA standards. And why is that? No current EPA radiation standards, because there is no way to set radiation standards for material that has a radioactive half shelf life of 300,000 years. But the Republican budget that has just been submitted resurrects Yucca Mountain and starts the process of dumping another $100 billion into a hole in the Nevada desert where there will never, ever be any nuclear waste stored.”