Russ Feingold: “I want to share my views on the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2000 (S. 1287). Specifically, I want to explain…”

“I want to share my views on the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2000 (S. 1287). Specifically, I want to explain why I will continue to oppose this legislation in its current form. Let me first express my grave concern about the process by which this legislation has been developed over the last few days. My office received a new version of this legislation, which eventually was proposed as a substitute amendment, nearly every day last week. Closed negotiations have continued even while the bill has been on the floor. For those of us who have utilities in our states that are grappling with nuclear waste storage questions, this made it nearly impossible to analyze this bill on behalf of our constituents. The issues presented in this legislation are serious policy issues, and our constituents deserve better information. I am principally opposed to this bill because it does little to address the nuclear waste storage question in my home state of Wisconsin. Wisconsinites want nuclear waste removed from our state and stored in a permanent geologic repository out of state so that it has no chance of coming back to Wisconsin.”