Joe Barton: “At the end of the dialogue on this amendment, it is my intention to withdraw it, and I want the House to know that. As…”

“At the end of the dialogue on this amendment, it is my intention to withdraw it, and I want the House to know that. As we all know, we have the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that stipulates that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government, through the Department of Energy, to accept all high-level nuclear waste that has been generated by our civilian reactors. This has not been done, even though we have a law that says it should be done. There is a permanent repository that is located in the State of Nevada. The citizens of that State have serious reservations about accepting high-level waste in their State, and as a consequence, they have managed, through various bills over the years, to prevent that facility from going forward. The amendment that I have before the body today would authorize a pilot program through the Department of Energy, on a competitive basis and its being consent-based by State, to allow interim storage at one or more facilities. The money would come from the nuclear waste fund from which we have collected over $15 billion. This amendment would not preclude Yucca Mountain, in any way, from being the permanent repository.…”