Political Quotes

“I was prepared to offer a floor amendment to this bill, S. 936, to address a very critical program at the Department of Energy site at Hanford. As the chairman is aware, a major and costly cleanup effort is underway at that site as a result of its contributions to the cold war achievements. Part of the cleanup effort will address the highest threat to human health, at the site, the 177 underground storage tanks that not only hold hazardous waste, but high and low levels of radioactive wastes. The Hanford tank waste remediation system project, known as TWRS, is the most critical and costly element in the cleanup of the Hanford site. Those underground tanks contain at-risk nuclear wastes, which have already leaked into the environment. Adequately addressing this situation is absolutely essential, and is in fact codified in the Tri-Party Agreement entered into by the DOE, EPA, and Washington State. Regardless of the method of contracting selected, the time line required in that agreement must be met.”