CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript

Interview

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Well, we're going to turn now to Congressman Ed Markey, one of the leading voices on energy in Congress. I must say, Congressman, to think that this story would be the second story we'd be dealing with this morning just underlines how big both these stories are.

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY (D-Massachusetts/Energy and Commerce Committee): No, it's-- it's historic. Obviously, what's happening in Libya, but it's also historic what is happening in Japan. Because, obviously, there's a tragedy and we care for the people over there. But at the same time it is calling into question the viability of nuclear power in the United States as--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): And you have called for a moratorium. Why?

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY: Well, I've called for a moratorium on the siting of new nuclear power plants on earthquake-prone areas of our country. And that is because we should just be humble in the face of Mother Nature. We should understand that it's very difficult for us to guarantee that a catastrophic meltdown cannot happen in our country. And we should ensure
that we act cautiously given the Japanese meltdown and given their kind of technological equivalency with the United States in terms of our ability and their ability to deal with what might-- Mother Nature might present to either of our countries as a challenge.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And talking about big stories. The overwhelming impact of both of these stories has kind of caused us to not pay much attention to what's been going on up on Capitol Hill, where-- where they've been dealing with budgets and such. What's been happening up there?

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY: Well, up there unbelievably the nuclear industry was able just three weeks ago to convince the Republican House representatives to zero out the loan guarantee money for wind and solar and geothermal and to put in eighteen billion dollars in taxpayer guaranteed, loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. Well, that's ancient history already because it's pretty clear that the nuclear industry as an electrical-generating part of our mix for the future is now going to meet its maker in the marketplace. It won't be protestors. It will be Wall Street investors that are going to be raising real questions about its viability going forward.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me go back to-- to the situation in Japan. Are you confident that we know what's happening there? Are we to believe the reports coming out of the Japanese government?

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY: I think the transparency has been increasing. I think that there is increasing cooperation between the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in our country and what is going on in Japan. You can never have one hundred percent confidence, especially where there is an electric utility involved because they're always trying to look at their own long-term financial well being. We saw that in the United States at Three Mile Island, but I think right now there is a level of cooperation that is helping to reduce the likelihood that the problem is going to get worse.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do we know what the radiation levels are in the food, for example or--

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY : I-- I've called upon the Federal Drug Administration to begin monitoring of-- of food coming in from Japan and for fish that is caught in Pacific waters near Japan, because we should now have some knowledge about what is happening. Obviously, in spinach and in milk, some miles away from that plant, they're now picking up radiation in those
food products so we should act with some caution here as well.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you-- do you see any danger to the United States in the atmosphere from what's happened there?

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY: At this point, there's no reason to panic, without question. I think right now we're still at safe levels. But in the future, I think it does make the case for the implementation of my 2002 law, which requires that the dis-- this-- to have potassium iodide given to people from the ten to twenty mile radius around nuclear power plants in order to
protect against thyroid cancer being contracted in children. Right now that has not happened. The Bush administration did not implement my law. But I think what we're seeing in Japan with radiation levels going out twenty miles and beyond that we should act with some caution in the future and ensure that potassium iodide is made available.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Congressman, thank you so much for bringing your insight this morning--

REPRESENTATIVE ED MARKEY (overlapping): Thank you.

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