Updated: 11/19/2009 12:17:04 PM
By Bill Theobald, Gannett Washington Bureau
Legislation co-authored by Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, that would ban the importation of low-level nuclear waste was approved by a House committee on Thursday.
Gordon introduced the bill after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission received an application to important 20,000 tons of waste from Italian nuclear plants to be processed in East Tennessee and stored in Utah.
The bill was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee 34-12 on a mostly partisan vote with Democrats supporting the legislation and Republicans opposing it. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, voted against the bill.
The legislation is now eligible for consideration by the full House.
