S/ 1271 Could Hit Senate On Thursday

[Michael Grynberg <grynberg@Essential.ORG>]

  ACTION ALERT
  
  S. 1271 Could Hit the Senate Floor on Thursday; 
  Calls and Faxes Needed to Keep Nuclear Waste Off Roads
  
  S. 1271, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996, could be voted
  upon as early as Thursday.  The legislation slashes environmental
  standards, preempts local and state laws, and forces an
  unnecessary high-level waste "interim" storage facility at the
  Nevada Test Site (NTS) before a decision is made on nearby Yucca
  Mountain's suitability as host for a proposed repository.  Nevada
  Senators Bryan and Reid plan to filibuster the bill, which will
  then need 60 votes to cut off debate and permit passage.  Despite
  the fact that S. 1271 is opposed by both the environmental
  community and the Clinton Administration, the vote is likely to
  be very close thanks to extensive pressure on Congress from the
  nuclear industry.  CALLS AND FAXES TO THE SENATE ARE NEEDED NOW
  MORE THAN EVER.
  
  The Capitol Switchboard number is (202)224-3121.  Direct line and
  fax numbers as well as email addresses for Senators can be found
  on Critical Mass' voting index (http://www.essential.org/CMEP).
  
  Be sure to tell your Senator to OPPOSE CLOTURE on S. 1271.  If a
  staffer tells you that his/her boss will support cloture but vote
  against S. 1271, tell him/her that A VOTE FOR CLOTURE IS A VOTE
  FOR S. 1271.
  
  S. 1271 would:
  
  - Mandate the transportation of radioactive waste through
       communities across the country
  - Establish a repository radiation exposure standard that allows
       members of the public to receive radiation doses four times
       that allowed by current regulations for radioactive waste
       storage facility.  The standard set by S. 1271 poses a
       lifetime risk of one cancer death for every 286 exposed
       individuals
  - Forbid the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing
       standards for a repository
  - Transfer title and liability for high-level waste to the
       taxpayer before a repository opens
  - Eliminate repository site suitability standards
  - Carve loopholes in the National Environmental Policy Act
  - Preempt local and state laws
  - Preempt or curtail all federal and state environmental laws
  - Order the DOE to begin interim storage construction without
       NRC approval
  - Curtail public participation
  - Open the door to renewed reprocessing of civilian irradiated
       fuel and leave taxpayers with title to the resulting wastes 
  
  * Opening a so-called interim nuclear waste dump in Nevada would
  mandate the largest nuclear waste transportation enterprise in
  history.  Over 95 percent of the radioactivity in the nation's
  nuclear waste would hit the roads and rails of 43 states,
  exposing millions to unwarranted risk.  Safety standards for the
  transportation casks are inadequate and do not require compliance
  testing of full-scale models.   
  
  * If citizens are to accept the risks of transportation, there
  must be some substantive rationale for moving high-level nuclear
  waste.  Currently, no such reason exists.  Every operating
  reactor will remain a high-level waste so long as it continues to
  split atoms.  
  
  * Taxpayers should not have to assume liability for irradiated
  fuel in the absence of a long-term plan for the nuclear waste's
  ultimate disposition.  Until such a plan is in place, title and
  liability should remain in the hands of those who chose to
  generate the materials.
  
  * Shipping waste to the seismically active NTS is premature. 
  Studies to determine whether nearby Yucca Mountain is suitable
  for a repository are incomplete.  If Yucca Mountain proves
  unsuitable, waste shipped all the way to Nevada may have to be
  shipped again.
  
  * Nevada, which has no nuclear reactors, vigorously opposes the
  dump.  If Congress forces the facility upon the state, the
  Republican rhetoric of "returning power to the states" will be
  exposed as rank hypocrisy.  The only way to place a dump in
  Nevada is over the objections of its citizens, state government,
  and entire Congressional delegation.
  
  * Congress already targeted Nevada as a repository host for
  political, not scientific, reasons.  Current law, however,
  forbids the location of an interim facility in Nevada, a
  prohibition designed to ensure the integrity of the studies at
  Yucca Mountain.  Congress shouldn't break faith with a state that
  has already fallen victim to the nuclear industry's whims or run
  roughshod over environmental standards to do so.  
  
  For more information, contact Michael Grynberg
  (grynberg@citizen.org); (202) 546-4996
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
  To receive regular energy policy alerts, summaries and updates
  from Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, send the
  following message to listproc@essential.org: SUBSCRIBE CMEP-LIST
  [your name - organizational affiliation - home state]
  
  The Critical Mass home page is located at
  http://www.essential.org/CMEP
  
  
  Michael Grynberg 
  Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project
  215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
  Washington, D.C. 20003
  Internet: grynberg@citizen.org