Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, last September, the House approved an identical bill, H.R. 2389, in the 115th Congress, by a voice vote. Unfortunately, that bill did not move in the Senate. Today, we will reconsider H.R. 1138, which has been reintroduced by my New York colleague and friend, Mr. Reed. The Western New York Nuclear Service Center in West Valley, New York, has been the center of disputes and legislative actions since the 1980s. This site is a difficult reminder that we are still dealing with the consequences of our Nation's entry into the atomic age. While the site is owned by New York State, between 1966 and 1972 it was operated by a private business to reprocess spent nuclear fuel primarily provided by the Federal Government. Those reprocessing activities ended decades ago, but high-level waste and transuranic waste continue to be stored at the site. A cost-sharing agreement for the site's remediation has been resolved, but disposal of the waste remains a point of contention. Since 1986, DOE has classified the waste as commercial rather than waste deriving from atomic energy defense activities. Under this classification, DOE believes that the cost for disposal of the wastes should be borne by the State of New York.…”