Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

Parish where the Rayburn dome is located there are 17,226 people living harmful to t ir minds as well and that they will be able to lead normal
on 858 square miles or 20.1 people per square mile. Those areas are populated and aniety livs. W bliv that whrvr th rpository is locatd,
and at present are primarily agricultural. The people of these areas have
and anxiety l.,e lives. We believe that wherever the repository is located
historically been poor people and in particular the minority groups have
suffered economic deprivation. Louisiana has moved into a period of
prosperity for all our citizens because of our status as an energy producer for
the rest of the country. With the aggressive mining of coal, reclamation, and
the industry which will develops in the coal producing area, these people
compensation .o both the residents and the governments of the area should be
made to redu.. the economic and environmental burdens imposed.
Th The Depn,tment of Energy signed a letter of agreement last year with
our governor, agreeing not to use our salt domes for radioactive waste
disposal witl.,ut the states permission. We would hope that the department
under this any new administration
under
will continue to honor
this
that agreement
al.1 any n e w will be able to look forward to a prosperity that they have never known. A
administration will continue to honor that agreement.
Thank for this opportunity to make these coents which I hope
Th a n k y radioactive waste repository will probably put an end to their dreams of
prosperity and to their expectations of a better way of life.
f o r t h s sel i opportunity to make these comments which I hope
will give you some guidance as you prepare to make decisions regarding
the first of o t the repositories for storage of radioactive waste.
h e With all the environmental problems that I have mentioned, it is clear
repositories for storage of radioactive waste.
that Louisiana cannot accept the additional environmental burden of storing
radioactive waste in our salt domes within the near future. We have willingly
Yours truly,
accepted the environmental problems of producing energy for our nation and
Rep. W. J. auzin
we feel that our citizens have done more than their share in the area of Chairman, House Natural Resources Committee
shouldering the energy needs of the rest of the country.
We are further concerned that our salt domes are an important natural
resource and may be useful for many better purposes than storage of
radioactive waste which use would eliminate all alternate uses known and
yet to be discovered. We would encourage additional research as to the
nature and alternative uses of salt domes. We would not want to foreclose
other alternative uses which might be of greater benefit to cur citizens.
Regardless of the outcome of any EIS, as to the environ=renal suitabillty
of an area, the most important environmental factor to be cc-sidered is the
acceptance of the people living in the area. Without that acceptance, no
facility will possibly be safe and useful. Whether the facility is harmful
to the bodies of. our citizens or not, we must be assured th-a it is not
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