<div class="xtend"><a id="pl.1.1"></a><var>1.1</var>A resolution<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.2"></a><var>1.2</var>memorializing Congress regarding nuclear waste storage.<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.3"></a><var>1.3</var>WHEREAS, nuclear powered electric generating facilities are located in Minnesota at <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.4"></a><var>1.4</var>Monticello and Red Wing; and  <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.5"></a><var>1.5</var>WHEREAS, spent nuclear fuel is currently being stored in dry casks only 600 yards from <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.6"></a><var>1.6</var>the Prairie Island Indian Community; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.7"></a><var>1.7</var>WHEREAS, dry cask storage will be required to continue to operate the Monticello nuclear <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.8"></a><var>1.8</var>plant after the expiration of its current license; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.9"></a><var>1.9</var>WHEREAS, continued storage of spent nuclear fuel in dry casks at Prairie Island and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.10"></a><var>1.10</var>Monticello is not in the best interests of the citizens of Minnesota; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.11"></a><var>1.11</var>WHEREAS, in 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) established policy that the <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.12"></a><var>1.12</var>federal government is responsible for safe, permanent disposal in a geologic repository of all <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.13"></a><var>1.13</var>high-level radioactive waste, including spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.14"></a><var>1.14</var>WHEREAS, the 109th Congress failed to enact a budget for the nuclear waste disposal <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.15"></a><var>1.15</var>program for the current fiscal year and took no action on proposed legislation to reform the <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.16"></a><var>1.16</var>Nuclear Waste Fund to provide more reliable financing of the repository program; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.17"></a><var>1.17</var>WHEREAS, the Federal Accountability for Nuclear Waste Storage Act of 2007 (S. 784) <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.18"></a><var>1.18</var>has been introduced in this Congress requiring the federal government to assume legal ownership <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.19"></a><var>1.19</var>of all spent nuclear fuel in the country and providing for the transfer of nuclear waste to dry casks <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.20"></a><var>1.20</var>on the site of nuclear generating facilities; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.1"></a><var>2.1</var>WHEREAS, the Department of Energy (DOE) now indicates that in order to begin <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.2"></a><var>2.2</var>repository waste disposal no sooner than 2017, 19 years past the NWPA statutory mandate, <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.3"></a><var>2.3</var>DOE will need to submit a construction application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.4"></a><var>2.4</var>June 2008; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.5"></a><var>2.5</var>WHEREAS, in order to meet the 2008 license application milestone, the president's budget <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.6"></a><var>2.6</var>for fiscal year 2008 requests $202.5 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund and $292 million from <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.7"></a><var>2.7</var>the Defense Waste Fund; NOW, THEREFORE,<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.8"></a><var>2.8</var>BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota  that it hereby urges the <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.9"></a><var>2.9</var>United States Congress to fully appropriate the $494.5 million budget request for the civilian <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.10"></a><var>2.10</var>radioactive waste management program.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.11"></a><var>2.11</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress should enact legislation that will enable <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.12"></a><var>2.12</var>repository appropriations to match annual Nuclear Waste Fund fee revenue with any surplus <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.13"></a><var>2.13</var>being assured for future availability.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.14"></a><var>2.14</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota opposes S. <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.15"></a><var>2.15</var>784 and any proposal for the federal government to take title to spent nuclear fuel in this state if <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.16"></a><var>2.16</var>the effect of such an action would be to assure that spent nuclear fuel would be kept in Minnesota.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.17"></a><var>2.17</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the  State of Minnesota is <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.18"></a><var>2.18</var>directed to prepare copies of this  memorial and transmit them to the President and the Secretary of <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.19"></a><var>2.19</var>the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United  States House of Representatives, <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.20"></a><var>2.20</var>and Minnesota's Senators and  Representatives in Congress.<br />
         		
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