Broyhill (R-NC) - Fuqua (D-FL) amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (H.R. 3809). The bill as written allowed a state to veto its selection as a permanent nuclear waste repository. Only a vote by the House and Senate could override such a state veto. If Congress took no action, the veto would stand. The Broyhill amendment reduced the power of the states by saying that a state could not veto a site unless it could get either the House or Senate to vote to agree. If Congress took no action, there was no veto.

No safe and permanent way to dispose of nuclear wastes has yet been demonstrated by either industry or government. The federal government has repeatedly tried to locate disposal sites in places that turned out not to be completely safe, only to back off as public resistance increased. The bill provided only limited safeguards for local residents living near a nuclear waste site. Environmentalists wanted to strengthen the hand of the states, because they fear that the federal government will rush into a premature siting decision without adequate study, in its eagerness to declare that the nuclear waste problem is "solved." Amendment adopted 213-179; December 2, 1982. NO is the pro-environmental vote. The Senate passed identical language, but Senator Proxmire got it removed in the Conference Committee.