Nuclear Waste Legislation Alert

[Lisa Marina Brooks <lbrooks@essential.org>]

  ******* CRITICAL MASS ENERGY PROJECT *******
  
  Nuclear Waste Legislation Making a Comeback?
  
  The end of 1996 is quickly approaching and now we must look ahead
  to the 105th Congress. The defeat of the Nuclear Waste Act of
  1996 was a great victory, but potentially a short-lived one with
  a more conservative Senate.  The nuclear industry is gathering
  steam to force the nuclear waste issue into Congress's hands and
  derail health, safety, and environmental safeguards.
  
  S. 1936, and its counterpart H.R. 1020, would have made for a
  disastrous law because they would have authorized interim storage
  at the Nevada Test Site, thereby placing additional political
  pressure on making Yucca Mountain the permanent repository for
  high level nuclear waste.  In addition, the bills would have
  forced transportation of nuclear waste across 43 states and would
  have raised the repository radiation exposure level to 100
  millrem/yr, which the International Council on Radiological
  Protection associates with one excess cancer death for every 286
  individuals exposed over a lifetime.
  
  Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich recently said that passage of
  nuclear waste legislation would be one of his top priorities in
  the new Congress.  Congressional staff confirm that the nuclear
  industry hopes to introduce a bill early in 1997 and quickly push
  it through the committee and onto the floor for a vote.  We
  expect the new industry backed bill to be at least as bad as the
  previous bills in the 104th Congress.
  
  The election outcome sets up another Senate battle.  33 votes
  against S. 1936 remain in the Senate while 15 freshmen will take
  office.  Efforts to communicate with the Senators-elect are under
  way.   Remember that we only need 34 votes to sustain the veto. 
  And finally, the President has given no indication of changing
  his veto threat.  Yet, the nuclear utilities are putting pressure
  on him and we need to counter this pressure. 
  
  The following 33 Senators who voted against S. 1936 should be
  contacted by letter and asked for their support again in the
  future to protect health, safety, and environmental safeguards.
  
  AR   Dale Bumpers        D
  CA   Dianne Feinstein    D    
  CA   Barbara Boxer       D 
  CO   Ben Campbell        R 
  CT   Christopher Dodd    D 
  CT   Joseph Lieberman    D 
  DE   Joseph Biden        D
  HI   Daniel Inouye       D
  HI   Daniel Akaka        D
  IN   Dan Coats           R
  KY   Wendell Ford        D
  LA   John Breaux         D
  MA   Edward Kennedy      D
  MA   John Kerry          D
  MD   Paul Sarbanes       D
  MD   Barbara Mikulski    D
  MN   Paul Wellstone      D
  MT   Max Baucus          D
  ND   Kent Conrad         D
  ND   Byron Dorgan        D
  NE   Bob Kerrey          D
  NJ   Frank Lautenberg    D
  NM   Jeff Bingaman       D
  NV   Harry Reid          D
  NV   Richard Bryan       D
  NY   Daniel Moynihan     D
  OH   John Glenn          D
  OR   Ron Wyden           D
  RI   John Chafee         R
  SD   Thomas Daschle      D
  WI   Russell Feingold    D
  WV   Robert Byrd         D
  WV   John Rockefeller    D
  
  The following Senators-Elect should be contacted by letter and
  asked for their support against industry backed bills that
  curtail health, safety, and environmental safeguards
  
  AR   Tim Hutchinson      D  
  CO   Wayne Allard        R  
  GA   Max Cleland         D  
  IL   Richard Durbin      D  
  KS   Sam Brownback       R  
  KS   Pat Roberts         R  
  LA   Mary Landrieu       D  
  ME   Susan Collins       R  
  NE   Chuck Hagel         D  
  NJ   Robert Torricelli   D  
  OR   Gordon Smith        R  
  RI   Jack Reed           D  
  SD   Tim Johnson         R  
  WY   Mike Enzi           R  
  AL   Jeff Sessions       D  
  
  
  The address for the Senators and Senators-elect:
  
  The Honorable ______
  United States Senate
  Washington, DC, 20510
  
  Dear Senator-elect ____
  
  For more information on nuclear waste issues please refer to our
  web site at:
  http://www.citizen.org/CMEP/
  
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