funding request from the Department of Energy this year by $500 

 million for environmental waste and remediation at a time when 

 we were plussing up the rest of the budget by $7.5 billion, so this 

 is a timely hearing for this very committee. 



I want to credit the Clinton administration for several steps it 

 has taken to address this problem. I had the pleasure to go with 

 Vice President Gore when he was Senator Gore under the Arctic 

 Circle with the Navy to see what the Navy was doing in response 

 to the strategic environmental initiative taken by the Senate com- 

 mittee, which Ms. Goodman had a hand in crafting some years ago. 

 We are seeing the fruits of that today with the release of the enor- 

 mous store of infonnation that the Navy has amassed over the 

 years. 



I want to credit the President, too, for taking a bold step and de- 

 claring a moratorium on nuclear testing. It was not a popular step 

 in every quarter but it has had a number of positive effects. The 

 most important, of course, was the extension of the nuclear non- 

 proliferation treaty, but it also gave the Russians a political cover 

 to stop testing, and the testing they were doing at that time was 

 no longer in Kajakistan, it was in the Arctic Circle and it was an 

 active, ongoing source of radioactive pollution. This also gave both 

 countries the opportunity to devote more resources and attention to 

 cleanup and remediation. 



This administration also reversed the longstanding U.S. policy 

 and signed a pledge not to dump nuclear waste in the world's 

 oceans as an addendum to the London Convention, a long overdue 

 step for our Nation. 



And finally, the administration has shown that it is committed 

 to making the cleanup of national waste a budget priority. 



Today, we are looking at just one aspect of the problem in the 

 former Soviet Union, the dumping of nuclear waste at sea. The 

 United States and the former Soviet Union are still paying for the 

 cold war and will do so for decades to come. 



I commend the chairman once again for calling today's hearing 

 so that we have an opportunity to consider the consequences of nu- 

 clear dumping at sea, to begin thinking about what we are going 

 to do about it, and for reminding my colleagues on this committee 

 that this is but one part of an enormous problem which we have 

 only begun to pay for and deal with. 



Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Weldon. Thank you, Mr. Spratt. 



Are there other members who would like to make brief opening 

 statements? Mr. Pallone. 



STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR., A 

 REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW JERSEY 



Mr. Pallone. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I am an original cosponsor of your bill, H.R. 1154, that would 

 amend the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act to 

 close loopholes in our laws relating to the ocean dumping of radio- 

 active waste. I know you have been a leader in this area and I 

 want to commend you for your efforts. 



But I came today, because even more important to me locally, be- 

 cause I represent a coastal district, is the second part of today's 



