Thomas Daschle: “for the last several days the Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Murkowski, and the Ranking…”

“for the last several days the Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Murkowski, and the Ranking Member, Senator Bingaman, have been working to come to an agreement on legislation to resolve how our nation will provide long-term storage for deadly nuclear waste that is currently stockpiled near nuclear reactors around the country. Despite many hours of hard work, an agreement was not reached. The legislation before the Senate today will not ensure the safety of the American public or deal with the critical issues of liability that first led us to consider this legislation. I would like to take a few moments this morning to explain why I will be opposing the substitute amendment to S. 1287, the Nuclear Waste Amendments Act of 2000. As Senator Bingaman explained last night, this legislation was proposed because the federal government was unable to meet its obligation under the law to provide a long-term storage site for nuclear waste. In 1982, Congress directed the Department of Energy to begin accepting waste at a long-term storage site by 1998. This deadline has not been met, and as a result, the taxpayers are facing billions of dollars in potential liability. Originally, this bill would have allowed the Department to settle these lawsuits by taking title to the waste in its current sites pending completion of a long-term storage facility. This provision has now been removed from the bill.”