i believe we are too far down the yucca mountain road to turn back now. if we are not going to pursue yucca, we need to work on another strategy and we need to stick with it. that is why i am disappointed that the blue ribbon commission is unable to participate today. i am hoping they will have some concrete solutions to offer. it is in the committee also best interests to have them back as soon as possible. it will -- it is in the committee's best interests to have them back as soon as possible. i yield back my time. >> as mr. barton makes his way up here -- that is okay. the chair would like to recognize congressman barton for the five minutes he will apportion out to mr. gardner. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank our distinguished first panel. it is good to see you. we are glad that congressman hastings is back. just remember, this is the energy and commerce committee. no more shenanigans as you were trying earlier. our nation is sitting on 13,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. our nation is sitting on over 65,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel f

lyons, is it true they were given an alliance not to expedite yucca mountain? > they were given a mandate to not consider yucca mt.? >> are simply not a citing commission sir. >> so that the gas? >> that is the statement i would make him. not the interim storage, nothing can start with yucca mountain? is a decentralized regions storage states coming up tonight and could not be considered? >> i didn't say that. isn't this that they're not deciding committee. >> it's my understanding of blue ribbon commission was given explicit directions not to consider yucca not in. >> it is not deciding committee. they are not considering sites. >> my concern as more of a statement than a question as we have followed the country insights to in text as where we are actually storing on-site and we would hope that we would have some long-term permanent storage. i support recycling so we don't have budget. that's unavailable in our country, but that is making your is by starting over a year and a half ago, it could be 25 years, maybe longer. even now are looking years away even our

with yucca mountain. with such an independent organization have to be created by statute or does the administration have the authority to create it? >> currently no administration or separate authorities, so i think it would have to be created. >> you might eliminate some of the political capriciousness by granting this agency predictable mandatory funding but eventually the decisions to cite a depository would be inherently political, and we all understand that. that said, outside of the funding how could this independent agency be able to overcome the political hurdles with any greater efficiency than the department of energy? >> we sort of had to lessons learned and that's part of it, that's the first lesson that perhaps some consistent leadership policy on where we are going would be a mechanism to get there. overcoming the factors including public acceptance which is recognized by many as a hurdle that should be addressed as well as the technical and safety issues. the key to those sort of things is

did you evaluate whether was appropriate to close the yucca mountain generally? >> no. >> the report said it was wrong? >> no, sir. >> this is the second time i have noticed that and administration takes leave under continuing resolution. did your investigation discuss anything about the administration using liberal interpretations of the continuing resolution? >> no, sir. >>ome of my colleagues has said it decided to close up the process for some nefarious purpose. this was done at the behest of the president for political purposes. did you find indication that the president reached out to the chairman and personally asked him to stop reviewing the yucca mountain application? >> no, sir. >> i think we need to take the allegations seriously. the report doe not find a legal conduct nor does that make assertions about whether the administration opposed the decision was proper. i think our committee needs to look at the nrc and general government. there have been me cases, like with nasa, some decisions were made based on the budget but it did not pass the house of

so basically what we had was congress writing aaw that yucca mountain was a nuchal came trez from -- nuclear alcatraz but scientists said it was more like a nuclear sieve. we heard that from the national academy of sciences in 1986 and heard it from them here but this committee and others ignored that warning. the obama administration that moving record with yucca muenten -- mountain and was not the appropriate political direction to take. but congress decided to slash funding for the project. the chairman greg yasgow did whatever office would do when a building plan a canceled, he topped spending money, processing the permit. though members of this community accud him of doing something legal. but the general council found it was bell and entirely within his authority to do so. mr. bell, you said earlier that chairman's press release on your report wasis alone and you had no input. but isn't it true that you and your deputy saw the statement before it went out. upon chairman yasgow and you told the chairman's chief of staff you had no objections, is that true? no, that's not true. i

mountain licensing application. >> that's fair. i would like to say when i summed up and said, so you did not work directly on yucca, i did not mean you were in the mountain taking tests on it, i meant were you working on the whole subject and you were. this is troubling to me, i will leave it at that. the focus should be on ensuring the safe operation of the reactors in communities across our nation, not on old issues. to insure that everyone is clear that no laws were broken, i would ask you, chairman, to questions about the inspector to report. did they find that the general council supported your decision to direct staff to follow the fiscal year 2011 to guidance on closing out yet and this was consistent with the statute, guidance, and did a ministration's decision to terminate yet the? >> yes. >> was this a budgetary matter within your purview. >> yes. >> thank you. according to an article in "the new york times," of the chairmen of the task force said that past studies by safety experts have analyzed the risks or from on- site emergency generators but not both at the same time. i now stand this scenario with a loss of offsid

then will need to either reopen yucca mountain or find some other ones.e should not keep charging billions of dollars to ratepayers and not using it for its independent -- its intended purpose. we need to know more. we have heard from secretary to, our secretary, a nuclear physicist, that spent fuel can be stored safely on site for up to 100 years. it is important for americans to hear that from the top officials in our country, who know about such things. but we need to bring to a close a discussion about whether spent fuel pools or dry cask storage or a long-term repository is the right way to deal with the fuel that we have. we need to take advantage of this panel. the president was appointed to recycle used nuclear fuel in an even better way. we need to explore and learn from our commissioners how the next generation of reactors can improve safe passive technologies. we need to learn how the small nuclear reactors, the ones that might be 125 megawatts instead of 1140 -- how they might be a way for the united states to get back in the business of leadi

did you evaluate whether was appropriate to close the yucca mountain generally? >> no. >> the report said it was wrong? >> no, sir. >> this is the second time i have noticed that and administration takes leave under continuing resolution. did your investigation discuss anything about the administration using liberal interpretations of the continuing resolution? >> no, sir. >> some of my colleagues has said it decided to close up the process for some nefarious purpose. this was done at the behest of the president for political purposes. did you find indication that the president reached out to the chairman and personally asked him to stop reviewing the yucca mountain application? >> no, sir. >> i think we need to take the allegations seriously. the report does not find a legal conduct nor does that make assertions about whether the administration opposed the decision was proper. i do think our committee needs to look at the nrc and general government. there have been some cases, like with nasa, some decisions were made based on the budget but it did not pass the h

he testified your confirmation hearing, what i ask you a series of questions about yucca mountain and said, you did not work directly on yucca and you said i did not,no. now there is a report out in the media message you co-authored a technical report entitled "acceptance of waste disposal in the potential of the united states repository at yucca." this report was used in the site characterization of yucca which eventually led to secretary abraham and president bush of proving it. also, according to ease documents, while at the department of the environment, your task to conduct technical work related to radioactive waste materials that could be stored in yucca and you remember -- you were a member of the task team tasked with resolving technical issues related to yucca. so it is important to me, since i said to you, so you did not work directly on the yucca, and you said i did not, and years later, this comes out. could you explain this to me? >> i am aware of the document you are referencing and it has caused me to go back and look back at my testimony to you and the exchange we had

as of 2010, the taxpayers have spent $15 billion to research and develop the yucca mountain site. in addition, even while the administration is attempting to terminate the place, the energy industry and, therefore, ratepayers are still contributing to the nuclear waste fund that was established to pay for a nuclear waste repository. according to the congressional budget office, the nuclear waste fund is holding over $25 billion of ratepayers' money. to date no one has stated whether or not the energy industry or the ratepayers will be refunded those fees, and it's likely the taxpayer will end up footing the bill for the lawsuits filed against the federal government by those that have been unfairly charged. the need for a permanent waste repository remains clear. in fact, a draft subcommittee report from the president's blue-ribbon commission on nuclear waste stated -- and i quote -- "permanent disposal of nuclear waste is needed under all reasonably forseeable scenarios and that we do not believe that new technology developments in the next three to four decades will change the un

ground water from yucca mountain flows into my state. there were tests that showed that water was leaks from the site. to me it was a closed matter, but since the subject was raised, i felt it was important to bring everybody up to date that a g.a.o. investigation said this was an appropriate decision. i have some questions here. i am going to focus on fukushima and then move to california. i will try to cover all those bases. chairman, 34,000 children in japan have been issued personal radiation monitors. those children live within -- they live 40 miles from the plant itself, well outside the 12-mile exclusion zone. why do you think 34,000 kids were given radiation monitors? is your mic on? >> it is my understanding there has been a lot of discussion about the protective actions for children in japan, as well in general with all of the people living in japan. the japanese government continues to evaluate the actions that they have taken with regard to protecting all of their population. this is a very complicated situation. i think as t

a house energy subcommittee will look at the yucca mountain issue and management of the nrc. live coverage begins today at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span3. later here on c-span2 former national security adviser brent scowcroft talks about foreign policy challenges. he'll be at the national press club for the ford presidential foundation journalism awards. live coverage at 1 p.m. eastern. >> next month on booktv's "in depth," author, activist linda hogan. her week books include "the woman who watches over the world, ""dwellings, and her latest, "rounding the human corners." join our three-hour conversation taking your phone calls, e-mails and tweets for linda hogan, sunday july 3rd at noon ian on c-span2. >> to me, it's just unconscionable. this is treason bl action on the part of the bastards that put it out. it involves secure information, a lot of ore things. what kind of people would do such things? >> 40 years ago this week "the new york times" published the first installments of the pentagon papers, and today at the c-span video library you can watch perspectives from the peo

inspector general's report on how the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission dealt with the yucca mountain repository license application. that is on c-span 3 in about three hours at 10:00 a.m. eastern. on c-span 2 at 1:00 p.m. eastern, former national security adviser brent scowcroft talks about foreign policy following the annual gerald ford foundation journalism award. the senate commerce committee will look at threats to real security as members here from the heads of the transportation security administration and the amtrak police. that is on c-span 3 at 2: 30 eastern p.m.. up next, today's headlines and your call "washington journal slide on." the house is in session for general speeches at 10:00 eastern with legislative business beginning at noon. members plan to finish the military construction and veterans affairs bill and move on to the agriculture spending bill that we mentioned a few moments ago. in about 45 minutes, we will be joined by the republican rep jason chaffetz. he will take questions about military action in

that was supposed to be yucca mountain. that fell apart as an option politically and otherwise and so we just keep creating the stuff with no place to put it. >> jim, you said the critical word. you said they were waiting to be transported to another interim facility. everything we've done with nuclear waste has been interim. none of that reflects the planning you need for something as potentially dangerous as this radioactive waste. despite what i said before, always great to have you join us. >> thank you. >>> coming up, we're leaving afghanistan eventually, but we're leaving behind a mess. as kabul recovers from last night's hotel attack, i'll ask a witness just how big that is mess. plus get up to 15% off all other brands and save $1150 on this kenmore elite. thinking of going somewhere else to buy appliances? think again. sears. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorp

. >> one of the things had to do with yucca mountain in the law clearly states that when these licenses and other things goforth, action is to be taken. now we hear a new standard coming out that was supposed to look at issues of consensus and social consensus in those areas. and yet, what she said as he don't have the authority to overturn laws. i am assuming the department of energy is one of those areas you have site over? do you intend to have any discussion with them with regard if they decide to ignore the law based upon a new standard of in the law? >> well, i should say that fidelity to god is our first foundation. that is the requirement of everything we do. we oversee d.o.e. rulemaking. so if there is rulemaking activity and that domain, we would as a matter of course engage with that. if there is something as a matter of course, we'd be happy to engage with them. >> it is extremely valuable if you could report to this committee on that very specific issue because lott is quite clear that demands the department of energy is supported not welcome at a new standards son-in-law i

inspector general's report on how the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission dealt with the yucca mountainuclear repository application. that is on c-span 3 at 10:00 a.m. eastern. on c-span 2 at 1:00 a.m. eastern, but scowcroft talks about foreign policy following the annual gerald ford foundation journalism awards. also tomorrow, the senate commerce committee looked at threats to real security as members here from the heads of the transportation security administration and the amtrak police. that is on c-span 3 at 2:30 p.m. eastern. now, a hearing on improving bus safety that comes following recent accidents in the northeast and northern virginia that resulted in the deaths of several passengers. witnesses include the head of the motor carrier safety administration, safety advocates, and industry representatives. this is two hours. >> good afternoon. i would like to call this hearing of the house transportation and infrastructure committee to order. today's hearing is entitled how to best improve bus safety on our nation's highways. the order of business today will be opening statements b

. >> one of the things we had a hearing on the other day had to do with yucca mountain and this law clearly states when these licenses and other things go forward action is as is to be taken and yet now we hear a new standard coming out that we are supposed to look at issues of consensus and social consensus in those areas. and get what you just said was you don't have the authority to overturn laws.. i'm assuming that the department of energy is one of the serioush you can have oversight over? >> yes. >> you intend to have any discussion with them with regars to if they decide to ignore the law based on a new standard that is not in the law? law? >> i should say fidelity to lock is ever first foundations and that's the requirement of everything we do we oversee the doe rulemakings, so if there is rulemaking authority in the demand we would as a matter of course engage with them and if there isn't something as an honor of course we would engage with them on, we would be happy to engage with them. >> i think it's extremely valuable if you can report to the committee on that issue because law