May 8, 1969
Page 11846
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON NUCLEAR AND SEISMIC SAFETY
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with the junior Senator from Alaska (Mr. GRAVEL) in cosponsoring his resolution to create a National Commission on Nuclear and Seismic Safety.
If we were not aware before, the recent oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel has taught us the dangers of tampering with the San Andreas fault. Yet the Atomic Energy Commission continues to claim that continued underground nuclear testing in Amchitka, Alaska, presents no danger.
The State of Alaska has suffered two major earthquakes in recent years, and the State of California has been assured that it will suffer a major disturbance in the near future. Nature can cause enough trouble along the San Andreas fault without our helping it along. We cannot afford to tamper blindly with the environment.
If we do not break our habit of basing our decisions concerning environmental risk on what we do not know, rather than on what we do know, disaster will follow upon disaster. I urge the Senate to take quick and favorable action on this resolution.