Political Quotes

“I thank Chairman Shimkus for his work on this legislation. I have long been an advocate for nuclear waste policy like this for Yucca Mountain. Since 1982, when the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was created, ratepayers in this Nation have paid, as part of their utility bill, over $40 billion. In South Carolina, that means ratepayers have paid $1.3 billion for the construction and operation of what we now know as Yucca Mountain. Currently, in South Carolina, there are over 4,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel in temporary storage from commercial reactors. At the Savannah River Site, we have both research and military nuclear waste sitting in vitrified glass ready to go to a long-term repository. The law of the land, passed in 1992, is for Yucca Mountain to be a long-term repository for this Nation's waste. It is time to move forward and give the ratepayers--not the taxpayers, but the ratepayers--what they paid for, and this legislation moves in the right direction. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to my colleagues supporting this bipartisan legislation.”