Political Quotes

“My amendment would reinforce the Department of Energy's already existing legal obligations when it sells or transfers excess uranium from the Federal inventory. One of these legal obligations is called the ``Secretarial Determination'' that the uranium transfers will not have an adverse material impact on the domestic uranium industry. The other obligation is to comply with the public notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. The Department's actions regarding uranium have come under justified scrutiny, so I will take both of them in turn. First, my amendment reinforces the required Secretarial Determination that uranium transfers do not adversely impact the domestic uranium industries. Congress decided to require a Secretarial Determination because, if the government dumps too much uranium onto the market, it can artificially distort the market and hurt domestic uranium industries. These include uranium mining, uranium conversion, and uranium enrichment industries, all crucial to developing a more robust domestic uranium supply chain to feed our nuclear power plants. Right now, 90 percent of the uranium used to provide electricity in this country is imported, but it doesn't have to be that way. Here in the United States, including my home State of Wyoming, we have abundant uranium resources.…”