Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Mike Simpson for his leadership. I rise today in opposition to the amendment and in support of the mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility, or the MOX project, which is located at the Savannah River site in Aiken and Barnwell, South Carolina, adjacent to Augusta, Georgia. I support the facility for a very simple reason. It is the only viable method of permanently disposing of weapons-grade plutonium and turning it into green fuel for nuclear reactors. Furthermore, it is the only means of upholding our nuclear nonproliferation agreement with the Russian Federation. I say so with the background of myself having served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Energy and the only person currently serving in Congress who has ever worked at the Savannah River site. The citizens of South Carolina accepted nuclear waste under the pledge by the Department of Energy that there would be a facility to process and remove the plutonium. After years of empty promises, the actions by this administration to close MOX with no viable alternative makes South Carolina a repository for nuclear waste, putting the people of South Carolina and Georgia at risk. The facility is nearly 70 percent completed. There has been a shortsighted decision to terminate the MOX project without appropriate considerations. The administration has failed to complete a rebaselining of the MOX project, as required by law.…”