Newsroom: Press Releases

Salt Lake City, UT—Congressman Jim Matheson added language to a bipartisan nuclear energy research bill today that requires the Energy Department to look for ways to minimize water usage in new nuclear power plants. Matheson is a member of the House Science and Technology Committee which today advanced HR 5866—the Nuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 2010.

"As we seek alternative power sources that lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and address reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power is an important part of our energy future," said Matheson. "Current technology requires large amounts of water, which, in the West, is a scarce and often over-allocated resource. We need to look at alternative cooling methods."

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Jim Matheson’s legislation to increase the use of life-saving carbon monoxide alarms received overwhelming support in the House today.

The bill is HR 1796 – the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act.

“Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in this country,” said Matheson. “There is a simple way to lower that number—installation of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in homes and residences.”

Salt Lake City, UT—Congressman Jim Matheson said Utahns’ long-held opposition to becoming the graveyard for foreign nuclear waste has paid off today, with the announcement that a Utah company has dropped plans to import 1,600 tons of Italian radioactive waste. Matheson’s bill to ban the importation of foreign waste—the Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act—has passed the House and an identical bill is pending in the Senate.

“Utahns have spoken out loudly and clearly that our state is not the place for the world’s radioactive garbage. No other country in the world takes another’s nuclear waste and I see no good reason, as public policy, why we should either,” said Matheson.

Matheson and Tennessee Representative Bart Gordon—who chairs the House Science and Technology Committee—successfully fought for passage of the bipartisan RID Act. It passed the House last December with overwhelming support.

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Jim Matheson’s legislation to increase the use of life-saving carbon monoxide alarms today received approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. The action moves HR 1796—the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act—closer to passage by the full House.

“Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in this country,” said Matheson. “There’s a simple way to lower that number—installation of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in homes and residences.”

Bill toughens oversight, promotes transparency

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Jim Matheson today voted for the strongest set of Wall Street reforms since the 1930s, including protections for consumers from harmful business practices by mortgage lenders and banks. Matheson supported HR 4173—The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

“Nearly two years ago the subprime mortgage meltdown triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve been living under the same set of rules that were in place before the financial crisis sparked the job-killing recession. Now, that is about to change,” said Matheson.

Salt Lake City, UT—Congressman Jim Matheson, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, and a US Forest Service official today told the House Natural Resources Committee that legislation expanding watershed protection in the Wasatch Front canyons is a shared priority. Matheson’s bill – HR 5009 The Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act—was introduced in April.

Matheson said the bill designates an additional 26,000 acres of wilderness and special management area protection, representing the first major Wasatch Front watershed protection effort since the Utah Wilderness Act of 1984.

“From the time of the Mormon pioneer settlement, Utah’s growth in arid Northern Utah relied on this life-giving source of pristine water flowing down these canyon streams,” Matheson told the Committee.

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Jim Matheson is putting the federal agency that regulates radioactive waste on notice that Utah law prohibits storage of “hotter” waste, and a proposal to “blend” waste levels raises red flags.

Matheson’s concerns are contained in a letter to the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and it is signed by House members Bart Gordon, Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, and Ed Markey, Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.

Matheson’s letter references next week’s NRC staff meeting in Maryland on proposed rule changes to waste disposal for low-level radioactive waste facilities. The site at Clive, Utah is only licensed to take Class A waste.

Lake Powell Pipeline a plot to send Utah water to Las Vegas? Really?

In a meeting with the editorial board of the Salt Lake Tribune, Ms. Wright warned that building the Lake Powell Pipeline would aid Las Vegas in grabbing Utah’s water.

That statement has everyone scratching their heads and wondering how she could take a stand on such a major issue based on a bizarre rumor, from unnamed sources.

The headline in the newspaper today: Specter of water grab puzzling.

Salt Lake City, UT — Congressman Jim Matheson said today his bill clearing a roadblock to the development of hydropower within the Central Utah Project’s Diamond Fork system is a win for the state’s need for additional clean, affordable electricity. The bill –HR 2008—“The Bonneville Unit Clean Hydropower Facilitation Act”—passed by voice vote today in the House. It is cosponsored by Utah 3rd District Congressman Jason Chaffetz.

Matheson said the bill resolves impediments to construction of hydropower facilities that were included in the Central Utah Project (CUP).

Salt Lake City, UT—Congressman Jim Matheson today stated his strong disagreement with language in an annual defense bill that equates no new nuclear weapons with weakened national security. Matheson submitted a statement for the record during debate on H.R. 5136 - Fiscal Year ’11 Defense Authorization Act.

“I am disappointed with a Sense of Congress that was added to this bill during the House Armed Services Committee vote, stating that the recently released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) weakens our national security. I disagree with that position,” Matheson’s statement says.