Congressional Record: January 30, 2003 (Senate)
Page S1809-S1810
TRANSMITTING PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION NO. 2002-30, RELATIVE TO THE
AIR FORCE'S OPERATING LOCATION NEAR GROOM LAKE, NEVADA--PM 7
The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message
from the President of the United States, together with accompanying
papers; which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public
Works:
To the Congress of the United States:
Consistent with section 6001(a) of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) (the ``Act''), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6961(a),
notification is hereby given that on September 13, 2002, I issued
Presidential Determination 2002-30 (copy enclosed) and thereby
exercised the authority to grant certain exemptions under section
6001(a) of the Act.
Presidential Determination 2002-30 exempted the United States Air
Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any Federal,
State, interstate, or local hazardous or solid waste laws that might
require the disclosure
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of classified information concerning that operating location to
unauthorized persons. Information concerning activities at the
operating location near Groom Lake has been properly determined to be
classified, and its disclosure would be harmful to national security.
Continued protection of this information is, therefore, in the
paramount interest of the United States.
The determination was not intended to imply that, in the absence of a
Presidential exemption, RCRA or any other provision of law permits or
requires the disclosure of classified information to unauthorized
persons. The determination also was not intended to limit the
applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law applicable to
the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake except those
provisions, if any, that might require the disclosure of classified
information.
George W. Bush,
The White House, January 29, 2003.
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