S6648 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 15, 1995 

the White House. They are supposed to 

provide leadership in this area also. 

But they do not want to. So it is our 

burden in the Republican majority to 

provide commonsense leadership, to 

take the hits, to make the tough votes. 

Mr. President, one of the newspapers 

in South Dakota this morning reported 

that the Federal Government—the 

Treasury—released how much my 

State would suffer if some of the budget cuts were made. I say to my fellow 

South Dakotans, that is the oldest 

trick in the book by the Federal bureaucracy. They release how much people are going to suffer, and how much 

money is going to be lost. They do not 

say that they might have to reduce the 

number of bureaucrats in Washington 

or at the Denver regional headquarters. 

They do not say that they are counting 

as part of the budget impact the elimination of bureaucrats and regulators 

whose work may involve South Dakota, but actually live in Washington, 

DC, or Denver. They merely say, ‘‘Your 

State is going to be hurt this much,’’

and, ‘‘Senator, if you vote to cut us, 

you are hurting your State.’’ Those 

numbers that are released in such a 

timely fashion show how skillful the 

Federal bureaucracy is at trying to 

protect themselves by politically hurting Senators and Congressmen who 

vote for cuts in the budget. 

So I urge all South Dakotans, and all 

Americans, to take a close look at exactly what they are talking about. 

In conclusion, Mr. President, on the 

budget, we face a very painful choice. 

On the one hand, we can go broke as a 

nation and see the value of the dollar 

decline and leave a great debt for future generations. We also can keep 

spending in Medicare at the same level 

without making changes and have it go 

broke by the year 2002. 

On the other hand, we can take a responsible course. We can follow the 

outline of PETE DOMENICI’s budget, 

which he is bringing to this floor. 

The Republicans in the Senate have a 

plan. The Democrats do not. They are 

criticizing our plan. That is fine. We 

will take the criticism. But I want to 

say to the people in my State and to 

this country that I hope they give us 

the understanding and the credit for 

taking leadership, for taking the tough 

votes we will soon take, because the 

other side is merely throwing rocks at 

us as we are trying to climb up the hill. 

Let us remember that our country is 

at a historic point. We could choose to 

go bankrupt, with a $4 trillion debt 

this year. With many programs such as 

Medicare going broke, we can keep 

doing what we are doing, and if so, it is 

going to lead to a cataclysmic event. 

Or we can take some tough medicine, 

and take some tough votes. 

In the next 6 months, I believe that I 

will be casting the toughest votes of 

my Senate career. I ask for the understanding of my constituents because it 

is not easy. I would rather be voting to 

give everybody everything. It must 

have been fun to be a Senator in the 

1960’s, when you could vote for amendments without having any budget offset. Now, with every amendment we 

have, if we add something to the budget, we have to say where we are taking 

it from. We have to state under the 

budget rules what this is going to do to 

the Federal budget. 

So the whole tone of the next 6 

months in this Chamber is going to be 

a very difficult one. We are going to see 

Senators struggle in their votes. It is 

going to be easier to demagog and to 

say let us wait until next year, or 

delay it 3 or 5 years. But the time has 

come to stand up and be counted. I believe that we can do a great deal for 

the future of the United States if we do 

so. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

Mr. BRYAN addressed the Chair. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada. 

f 

ORDER OF PROCEDURE 

Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent to speak for a period not to exceed 10 minutes as if in 

morning business. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there 

objection? Without objection, it is so 

ordered. 

Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I thank 

the Chair. 

f 

PRAIRIE ISLAND DRY CASK 

Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I would 

like to bring to the attention of my 

colleagues a little noticed, but I think 

significant, event that occurred last 

week. 

Last Thursday, Northern States 

Power transferred spent nuclear fuel 

from its reactor pool at Prairie Island 

into a new dry storage cask located at 

the reactor site. 

Prairie Island, near Red Wing, MN, is 

the location of two of Northern States 

Power’s three nuclear power reactors. 

Licensed to operate starting in 1973 

and 1974 respectively, Prairie Island 1 

and Prairie Island 2 share a spent fuel 

storage pool. 

Today, 20 years into the 40-year licensed life of the reactors, the pool is 

filling up. 

Northern States Power needed to find 

more storage for the waste generated 

at Prairie Island. Fortunately, licensed 

technology, dry cask storage, was 

available which would allow the utility 

to move the oldest spent fuel assemblies out of the pool. 

NSP proposed to locate the casks at 

the reactor site. 

Thursday’s announcement of final 

NRC approval to load the casks is the 

final chapter in a prolonged political 

and public relations effort by NSP to 

resolve until the year 2002 its Prairie 

Island waste problem. 

The public outcry that erupted after 

NSP proposed to expand on-site storage 

is every utility executive’s nightmare, 

and led to the perception of the Prairie 

Island situation as the poster child of 

the nuclear power industry’s current 

propaganda campaign for interim storage of high-level nuclear waste in Nevada. 

In spite of the obvious solution available to NSP, on-site dry casks, the 

Prairie Island situation has, for several 

years now, been held up as the prime 

example of why Congress must immediately reopen the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to speed up progress on moving 

high-level nuclear waste to Nevada. 

Twenty percent of the Nation’s electricity power supply, we have been 

told, is at risk if Congress does not act 

soon. 

Reactors will shut down, cities will 

go dark, and electricity rates will skyrocket, if Congress does not take the 

waste off the hands of the utilities 

soon—according to the nuclear power 

industry. The nuclear power industry’s 

shameless campaign to get the Federal 

Government to take responsibility for 

its waste is not new. 

In 1980, at the same time Congress 

was considering options for the permanent disposal of high-level waste, the 

nuclear power industry was pushing for 

away-from-reactor storage, or AFR. 

Without a Federal AFR facility, according to the industry, reactors would 

begin closing by 1983. 

Of course, no Federal AFR was built, 

and no reactors closed for lack of storage. 

Besides creating the misleading impression of a crisis, of impending doom, 

the nuclear power propaganda campaign has always sought to create the 

impression that there is only one solution, one option for avoiding the supposedly catastrophic consequences of 

reactor shutdowns: move the high-level 

nuclear waste to Nevada. That is the 

only proposal that is offered. 

First, we as a State were targeted for 

a permanent repository. 

That program is an acknowledged 

failure. 

Now we are targeted for interim storage. 

For the nuclear power industry, that 

means 100 years, subject to renewal. 

That amounts to de facto permanent 

storage. 

According to the nuclear power industry, interim storage in Nevada is 

the only salvation for the future of nuclear power. 

Nevadans have made it crystal clear 

that we want no part of the nuclear 

power industry’s solution to its waste 

problem. Nuclear waste is not welcome 

in Nevada. 

Nevertheless, the nuclear power industry, and its surrogate for this matter, the Department of Energy, has 

been relentless in its efforts to force 

Nevadans to bear the health and safety 

risks of solving a problem we had no 

role in creating. 

Mr. President, there are solutions to 

the nuclear waste storage problem that 

do not include Nevada. Last weeks 

events at Prairie Island make that 

abundantly clear. 

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May 15, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S6649 

For all their propaganda, and all 

their complaining to Congress, the nuclear utilities find a way to handle 

their waste, and keep reactors open 

and running. 

The CEO of Northern States Power, 

John Howard, has said ‘‘Resolution of 

interim storage for spent nuclear fuel 

from our country’s commercial power 

plants has reached crisis proportions.’’

Mr. Howard’s assessment—that interim storage of nuclear waste is an 

impending crisis, and, thus, Congress 

must act to move this waste to Nevada 

as soon as possible—is a common 

theme in the nuclear power industry. 

As the Prairie Island situation demonstrates, however, the crisis scenario 

is simply not true from a technical or 

scientific perspective. 

Of course, I do not expect many of 

my colleagues will hear much about 

the resolution of the supposed crisis at 

Prairie Island. 

The resolution of the Prairie Island 

waste situation simply does not track 

with the contrived crisis scenario developed by the nuclear power industry 

and its lobbyists. 

To admit that nuclear utilities can 

find ways to take care of their own 

waste would shatter the carefully constructed fiction that interim storage in 

Nevada is the only possible alternative 

to shutting down the reactors. 

It should be acknowledged that 

Northern States Power paid a price for 

the approval of additional storage at 

Prairie Island. 

The debate over increased storage 

was intense, and many are still not 

happy. 

NSP was forced to make concessions, 

such as building more renewable energy sources. 

Other utilities are not anxious to go 

through what NSP went through. 

The unfortunate fact for nuclear utilities is that nuclear power, and nuclear 

waste, are not popular. 

The public relations and political 

problems associated with expanding 

storage capacity at reactors is an inescapable cost of nuclear power. 

Northern States Power also paid a financial price for expanding storage at 

Prairie Island. 

As other utilities do the same, especially after the 1998 goal for operation 

of a permanent repository included in 

the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, 

some action ought to be taken to provide some relief to the ratepayers who 

have paid in the first instance into the 

nuclear waste fund and who are not receiving the storage at that fund which 

they contemplated would be operational by the year 1998. 

I might say parenthetically, as the 

distinguished occupant of the chair 

knows, under no scenario, under absolutely none, will a facility be opened by 

the year 1998. 

So I believe as a matter of fairness 

that ratepayers are entitled to some 

relief in terms of payment into the nuclear waste fund. 

I have reintroduced in this Congress, 

as I have on previous occasions, legislation which this year bears the number 

of S. 429 which will provide a credit 

against nuclear waste fund contributions for utilities forced to build onsite storage after 1998. 

Under S. 429, ratepayers will not be 

financially penalized for the misguided 

and mismanaged efforts of the nuclear 

power industry and the Department of 

Energy to build a permanent repository in Nevada. 

I urge my colleagues to reject the nuclear power industry’s newest assault 

on the people of Nevada, and support 

S. 429. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. President, I suggest the absence 

of a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 

KEMPTHORNE). The clerk will call the 

roll. 

The bill clerk proceeded to call the 

roll. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I understand there are two bills due their 

second reading. 

f 

MEASURE PLACED ON THE 

CALENDAR—S. 761 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will read the first bill by title. 

The assistant legislative clerk read 

as follows: 

A bill (S. 761) to improve the ability of the 

United States to respond to the international terrorist threat. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I object to further proceedings on this matter at this time. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. That bill 

will be placed on the calendar. 

f 

MEASURE PLACED ON THE 

CALENDAR—S. 790 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will report the second bill by 

title. 

The assistant legislative clerk read 

as follows: 

A bill (S. 790) to provide for the modification or elimination of Federal reporting requirements. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I object to further proceedings on this matter at this time. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill 

will be placed on the calendar. 

f 

DISASTERS 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, last 

Friday, President Clinton declared a 

major disaster for the State of Mississippi, due to damage resulting from 

severe storms, flooding, and related 

problems, weather problems that occurred on May 8 and during the days 

following. This declaration is deeply 

appreciated by the people of Mississippi and the State of Mississippi because very severe damage has occurred 

in our State as all of us know who had 

an opportunity to watch television and 

read about the devastating floods that 

occurred all across the gulf coast, from 

New Orleans to Mobile and beyond. Included in this area of severe weather 

damage was my State of Mississippi. 

All of the coast counties and some of 

those counties that are more inland received severe damage. 

This declaration makes it possible 

now for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, led by James Lee 

Witt, to provide private, individual assistance to those disaster victims who 

qualify under Federal legislation. The 

letter also states that additional public 

assistance may be added at a later 

date. 

It is my understanding that the Governor’s office and his staff are working 

with Federal agents at this time in 

Mississippi, to try to ensure that all 

possible assistance, emergency and 

otherwise, is made available to these 

disaster victims. I commend the Governor and his staff for the fine work 

they are doing. 

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent a copy of the President’s letter to 

our Governor, Kirk Fordice, be printed 

at this point in the RECORD. 

There being no objection, the letter 

was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, May 12, 1995. 

Hon. KIRK FORDICE, 

Governor of Mississippi, 

State Capitol, Jackson, MS. 

DEAR GOVERNOR FORDICE: As requested, I 

have declared a major disaster under the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act) for 

the State of Mississippi due to damage resulting from severe storms, tornadoes, and 

flooding on May 8, 1995, and continuing. I 

have authorized Federal relief and recovery 

assistance in the affected area. 

Individual Assistance will be provided. 

Public Assistance may be added at a later 

date, if warranted. Consistent with the requirement that Federal assistance be supplemental, any Federal funds provided under 

the Stafford Act for Public Assistance will 

be limited to 75 percent of the total eligible 

costs in the designated areas. 

The Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) will coordinate Federal assistance efforts and designate specific areas 

eligible for such assistance. The Federal Coordinating Officer will be Mr. Michael J. 

Polny of FEMA. He will consult with you 

and assist in the execution of the FEMAState Disaster Assistance Agreement governing the expenditure of Federal funds. 

Sincerely, 

BILL CLINTON. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this 

also brings to mind legislation that I 

introduced recently to bring under the 

purview of the Public Safety Officers 

Benefits Act the employees of FEMA, 

the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, as well as employees of State 

and local emergency management and 

civil defense agencies. 

Senators may not realize this, but 

State and local police officers, firefighters, State and local rescue squads 

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