All of the nation's current nuclear reactors were built under a two-step licensing process -- affected citizens could request public hearings before construction, and again before an operating license was granted. Public participation frequently brought to the attention of the regulators problems that they had missed, and the plants were made safer as a result.

The "one-step licensing" provision of the Senate energy bill (S. 2166) takes away citizens' rights to hold post-construction public hearings. Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Wyche Fowler (D-GA) proposed a compromise amendment that, while not returning to a full two-step system, would have preserved the right to safety hearings on significant issues that had not been considered before reactor construction.

The vote was on Senator Bennett Johnston's (D-LA) motion to table (kill) the Graham-Fowler amendment The motion to table was agreed to 52-43 on February 6, 1992. NO is the pro-environment vote.