This morning, 5/10/2018, the House voted overwhelmingly to pass Illinois Rep. John Shimkus’s H.R. 3053 bill, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017. Or as we’ve been calling it here at NIRS–the Nuclear Waste America bill.
The House passing this bill has grave implications for nuclear waste and vulnerable communities in this country. H.R. 3053 moves us much closer to mass transportation of lethally radioactive waste. Whether headed for Yucca Mountain, Nevada or supposedly “interim” nuclear junkyards, waste will travel via truck, train, and barge through 370 of the 435 congressional districts across the U.S.
The bill restarts the licensing of the unsuitable Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump that is located on sacred Native American land near volcanoes, on high-risk earthquake fault lines, and vital water systems.
And the bill ignores environmental concerns, Native American land rights and sovereignty, states’ rights to protect their residents and natural resources, and attempts to truncate public review in order to force failed, illusory false-solutions on the American people.
It does nothing to make storing and managing nuclear waste less dangerous, wherever it is. Now, more than ever, we need your support of our Don’t Waste America campaign.
We need to mobilize NOW to fight Congress’s decision and demand real solutions to our country’s nuclear waste problem!
While the House vote on H.R. 3053 is bad news, we can and must stop it in the Senate. And there is still hope that — with your support — we can get our nuclear waste problem on the right track.
Nuclear Information
and Resource Service
6930 Carroll Ave, Ste. 340
Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 270-6477
www.NIRS.org
