Letter to Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Kevin McCarthy - Duckworth, Schneider Call on Congressional Leadership to Include Aid for Nuclear-Affected Communities in Upcoming COVID-19 Legislation

Letter

Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:

We write to urge you to include robust policies that provide assistance for communities housing stranded nuclear waste in the next stimulus package. Specifically, we request that you include the STRANDED Act, a bipartisan and bicameral piece of legislation that would deliver assistance to these communities without delay. These communities have become de facto interim storage sites as Congress and the Nation have failed to deliver a permanent solution for our Nation's nuclear waste.

We understand that Congress, under your leadership, and the Administration are working together to unite behind a plan that will bring economic security to all Americans. We applaud the bipartisan action Congress has taken to date and believe a critical part of our response efforts will be to provide financial resources directly to State and Local Governments. Nuclear-affected communities have already shouldered the financial burden of safely storing our nuclear waste for decades. These entities are now responsible for ensuring millions of Americans can safely shelter in place while also operating without their expected tax revenue and increased emergency costs related to COVID-19. Communities like Zion, Illinois have long faced financial hardship from the burden of storing spent nuclear waste -- the increased strain from the coronavirus is pushing these communities to the brink.

The STRANDED Act will help make these communities whole by establishing a noncompetitive grant program to provide financial assistance to offset the significant economic and social impacts of stranded nuclear waste in affected communities. This money would go to local governments at a rate of $15 for each kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored in the affected community, consistent with the rate for impact assistance established under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Additionally, the STRANDED Act establishes a Federal task force to identify existing public and private resources and funding that could benefit affected communities and a competition to award prizes to proposals for affected communities to carry out alternatives to nuclear facilities, generating sites and waste sites.

We must provide additional financial support to state and municipal governments and ensure that funding is flexible to meet their diverse needs. Communities across the Nation that have been hit hard by the economic impacts of stranded nuclear waste are now being dealt another blow caused by the COVID-19 crisis. By including the STRANDED Act in the next stimulus package, Congress will help secure the future and prosperity of these communities and enable them to provide the critical government services Americans are relying on right now.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.

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