David Cay Johnston: “in the original form of our bill, we provided for 100 millirem radioactivity limit from the repository. However, because…”

“in the original form of our bill, we provided for 100 millirem radioactivity limit from the repository. However, because our friends from Nevada stated the EPA should have a role here, we amended that. The present bill now on third reading provides, if EPA finds that the 100 millirem would not be consistent with health or safety, they may set it at another level and, indeed, whatever they would set under the Administrative Procedure Act would be final unless that level is arbitrary and capricious. Madam President, we have provided here for the role of EPA to make the health and safety determination. Why did we set it at 100 millirems to begin with? Because that is the level set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and indeed the EPA in its radiation protection guidance for exposure of the general public, 1994, as well as the International Atomic Agency.”