The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STOP YUCCA MOUNTAIN” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2114 on May 7, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STOP YUCCA MOUNTAIN
(Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, the issue of Yucca Mountain is safety. H.G. Wells once said that human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. Mr. Speaker, nothing in the history of mankind has withstood the test of 10,000 years.
What was the state-of-the-art technology and engineered as safe as late as 1970, has proven today 30 years later, not to be a safe solution. Let us not allow short-term safety issues to become serious long-term problems hundreds of years from now.
The Department of Energy cannot assure the safety and suitability of Yucca Mountain, not even 10 years from now; and that is why they have turned to basing their proposal on engineered barriers, instead of suitability of the site. Yucca Mountain will not solve our nuclear waste problem; it just creates one additional, yet unsuitable, repository. And our current sites will only have 9 percent less waste than they do today.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to work toward a real solution based on 21st century technology, and reject H.J. Res. 87 tomorrow.
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