Joe Barton: “I want to clarify an aspect of section 3303 of the conference report which provides in part for the cleanup of uranium…”

“I want to clarify an aspect of section 3303 of the conference report which provides in part for the cleanup of uranium mill tailings from the former Atlas uranium mine. The bill language directs the Secretary of Energy to prepare a remediation plan with the help of the National Academy of Sciences to determine the right way to remediate this site. Elsewhere in this provision is other bill language which appears to define remediation as being relocation of the tailings pile. I am concerned that someone might view this language as authorizing removal of the tailings pile regardless of the findings of the NAS or the remediation plan developed by the Secretary. My understanding is that we are authorizing an objective threshold determination by the Secretary of Energy, with the advice of the National Academy of Sciences, on whether or not the Atlas pile needs to be moved, and that only if a determination to move the pile is made would the condition apply that the pile must be moved out of the Colorado floodplain to another location in the State of Utah.”