Gene Green

It has been targeted because of lengthy delays and because sometimes the politicalization--surprise, surprise--in Washington what should be scientific process.

Risk assessment is a critical component in the protection of public health and the environment.

This is not the first hearing that our committee has had on IRIS and it is an important program that has been subject to review by the GAO and the National Academy of Sciences Committee for years.

Both Houses of Congress seem to be interested in addressing the IRIS recommendations whether it is strengthening IRIS or suspending it.

Today's hearing should be an opportunity for Solyndra to clear its name.

It is clear that they were disingenuous at best.

Ensuring the security of our Nation's ports is a top priority in Congress and we have all worked together to secure these key assets that are critical to our economy.

I am pleased it is a bipartisan piece of legislation.

Europe doesn't require that. We do. And I think that is really a fundamental difference in the two processes.

I know medical device companies who produce in our countries but there are rules particularly in Europe that they can't market a device there that is not admitted into the home country.

I have been a supporter of sunset legislation, although it has never passed both the House and the Senate.

Maybe that is an entitlement we need to look at.

There has been a lot of discussion on this committee on the decision by the administration not to proceed with Yucca Mountain.

I appreciate you being here. I am frustrated because we spent $15 billion in a decision made by Congress in the 1980s, for good or bad, and we are just throwing that out and starting over again.

I appreciate hearing from staff. I have read the testimony, and this is beginning to sound like we are airing the NRC's dirty laundry.

I think Congress needs to take away that authority that they are using.

I think we ought to have the opportunity as elected officials to make that decision.

It is frustrating, our country being the largest emitter of nuclear waste in the world.

It should be the Commission.

Some of my colleagues have charged the chair decided to close out the Yucca Mountain licensing review process for some nefarious purpose and some have alleged this was done directly at the behest of the President for political purposes.

the U.S. alone produced 806 billion kilowatt hours of nuclear power in 2008 making us the biggest producer of nuclear power in the world.

We still need somewhere to put the waste 50 or 1,000 years from now.

Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing and I want to thank the witnesses for appearing before the committee to discuss the issue of Yucca Mountain.

I believe in America, and I believe that if the world did not have the United States of America, we would have to create it.

I introduced the Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Study Act which required the National Park Service to study the area.