mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. and before my freshmen colleagues get to too concerned, i'm only going to go a couple of minutes and talk about what i've been coming to the floor once each week is to hold debate of the high level of nuclear waste and a national repository that is defined in law, a law passed in 1982, that national repository would be at yucca mountain. so i've been going through a geography lesson about where we have nuclear waste in this country and comparing it to the site at yucca mountain and then addressing how our colleagues on the senate side from those states, what their positions are. the house has spoke be on yucca mountain and again this year in a vote in which 297 of my colleagues joined me in ensuring that we had enough money to finish the scientific study to finally bring closure to yucca mountain and start, if the science is sound, then start moving high level nuclear waste from all over this country to a single repository. so, today i come to the floor to highlight another location a

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. can madeian transport via pipelines play a major role in supplying the energy needs of southern illinois. two weeks ago i visited the oil sands in alberta, canada. here's exactly what we saw. on monday, of this week, i visited three facilities also but before i talk about those three facilities, daniel yergenn "washington post" said this about the oil sands of canada. oil sands production in canada today is 1.5 million barrels per day, more oil than libya exported before the civil war. canadian oil sands output could double to three million barrels per day by the beginning of the next decade. this increase along with its other oil output would make an in a da a larger oil producer than iran, becoming the world's fifth largest behind russia, saudi arabia, the united states, and china. on monday of this week i visited three facilities in southern illinois that utilize canadian oil sands, robinson refinery, and the wood river refinery, and others. pipelines play a vital role in providing

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. in today's reuters report, secretary of state hillary clinton wednesday urged clinton administrationants to the south china sea not to resort to intimidation to push their cause in oil rich waters ahead of the summit. why are we concerned about crude oil in dangerous places of the world? it's because we do not have north american energy security. hence the whole keystone x.l. pipeline debate. we have good news on that front. two days ago as in lincoln, nebraska, another reuters article said nebraska and transcanada corporation agreed on monday to find a new route for the stalled keystone x.l. pipeline that would steer clear of environmentally sensitive lands in the state. why is that important? energy security. expediting the permitting process, 20,000 new jobs immediately. private capital. caterpillar mining trucks. refinery. if you live in the midwest states of missouri, illinois, indiana, ohio, and michigan this oil goes directly to refineries in that which decreases the reliance o

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. i come down to the floor once a week to talk about the high level nuclear waste issue in this country and the fact that this country still doesn't have a sing real pozzer to to store high level nuclear waste. throughout this week, i have talked about hanniford, washington, that has high levels of nuclear waste. i went to zion nuclear power plant, right off lake michigan, to talk about its nuclear waste right off its waste. -- right off the lake. i went to savannah, georgia, to talk about the plant that sits right next to the river. i went to the pacific ocean between los angeles and san diego, where there's a nuclear power plant right on the pacific ocean. today, i take the nation to idaho, for idaho national -- where idaho national laboratories is located. comparing this site as i do weekly to the defined location under federal law in the 1982 nuclear waste power act, yucca mountain. look what we have at idaho national labs. at the national labs we have 5,090 canisters of nuclear was

mr. shimkus. we do have the votes on the floor. but the timing is perfect. e recognized -- i recognize mr. markey. >> i thank the chair. what we all want is a common- sense rule here where you do not have your phone ringing all night long. >> agreed. >> if, looking back 20 years and the changes that have taken place, we may want to tweak it here and there, but i think people love the peace and quiet of their phone. since people have to pay for the right to have all of these communications now, it is a bit of a safety zone for people. the only people who know your cellphone number of the people here you give it to. it is not in the phone book for everyone to know. it is not going off 40 or 50 times because it is just some sort of public phone booth. if we can work together to accomplish the limited goals that people may have and not open this thing wide open but still preserve their right to be able to give hoosiers additional protection if they would want to do so because of the independent nature of that state that they may just want to have more protection