of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Mr. Bradshaw, welcome back, and your prepared statement will
be placed in the record and you may proceed for 5 minutes as you
like.

Mr. Bradshaw. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. I am from the University of California at Irvine, and
I want to point out that we are, although not a traditional power-
house, leading the bid west this year and looking for our first
NCAA bid.

I am here today to represent the Federation of the American So-
cieties of Experimental Biology, often known better by its acronym
FASEB, which is an organization of 10 scientific societies with over
44,000 members. We are the oldest and largest organization of
working bioscientists in this country.

Now, the DOE supports research projects that rely on the unique
multidisciplinary facilities of the national labs in collaboration with
universities and research institutes. The biomedical research, al-
though only a relatively small part of the DOE activities, dem-
onstrates the effective use of the agency's resources for fundamen-
tal research in the fields of emerging importance. My testimony
today will focus on the biomedical activities of DOE, which come
under the agency's Biological and Environmental Research divi-
sion.

Funding for this is administered by the Office of Health and En-
vironmental Research, and I would like to begin with our rec-
ommendations for funding for this portion of the agency. We rec-
ommend that OHER, in fiscal 1997, receive an increase of approxi-
mately 6 percent in its budget, bringing it to a level of about $184
million, over the 1996 funding level of $173.5 miUion. The full de-
tails of this recommendation are in our report, Mr. Chairman,
which you have been provided with.

A few words about the biomedical research programs of the DOE
and some of their accomplishments.

The major program is certainly the Human Genome Program,
which is conducted in collaboration with the NIH. It develops in-
strumentation and provides resources for discovering, mapping,
and sequencing human genes. I think we are all aware this is a
major scientific effort which promises to pay great dividends in
human health in the next century. The DOE's computational abili-
ties have been particularly useful in handling the large amounts of
data that have been generated by this project.

Also important to the DOE program is the Structural Biology
Program, which supports the beam lines and facilities at its ad-
vanced energy sources and allows a structural determination of bio-
logical molecules and matter that really cannot be determined in
any other fashion. These facilities are unique and used each year



946



by hundreds of academic and industrial researchers throughout
this Nation.

Two other divisions, the Medical Applications Research division,
develops powerful tools for diagnosis in disease; and the Health Ef-
fects Research division, which is the agency's original biomedical
research mandate, examines the effect of energy use and develop-
ment on human health.

Let me note a few examples of successes in the past year. DOE-
sponsored research has been responsible for the development of
monochromosomal libraries of human chromosomes with large
DNA inserts that have continued to be a major resource for DNA
mapping, sequencing, and gene discovery. I point out the BRCAl
breast cancer gene came from these libraries.

They have been involved in the identification of the gene for AT,
the acronym is a lot easier than the disease. Ataxia-telangiectasia,
which is a rare, inherited disease characterized by extreme sen-
sitivity to ionizing radiation. These genes are clearly related to can-
cer as well, as noted previously.

Finally, they have determined the structure of the signaling por-
tion of the insulin receptors, the biological switch which controls
the hormone insulin, and this information will be of great use in
studying diabetes and related diseases. For all these discoveries
and advances, we can expect new and useful therapies in our fight
against cancer and other debilitating human diseases.

The 104th Congress has proposed initiatives to realign DOE ob-
jectives, including transferring selected DOE programs and facili-
ties into a Department of Science. Any recognition of the DOE
should recognize that the national laboratories are the most impor-
tant scientific asset of the agency and one of the most valuable as-
sets of the Federal Government.

There have been four bills introduced into the House that deal
with these laboratories. In one of these, the DOE Laboratory Mis-
sions Act, the act assigns the Secretary of Energy responsibility for
streamlining the operations of the laboratories to accomplish speci-
fied missions, while leaving latitude for input by the scientific com-
munity and other citizens. FASEB strongly supports the passage of
this or a similar measure.

We also continue to affirm that the process of streamlining DOE
operations and paring of expenditures would be greatly assisted by
reviewing the regulations governing the handling of waste. This is
probably a continuing theme for this committee. We believe that
many of these regulations are overly broad, inappropriate, and ex-
pensive.

Let me close by saying, Mr. Chairman, that we would like to em-
phasize a number of the DOE programs, notably the genome and
structural biology programs, are emerging importance to U.S.
science and technology, and they hold great promise for improving
health in this country and we plead for your support in continuing
these important activities. Thank you.



947



Mr. Myers. Thank you, Dr. Bradshaw. This committee has been
very much aware of the tremendous work being done by your uni-
versities and we will help you all we can. Thank you for your testi-
mony.

Mr. Bradshaw. Thank you.

[The statement of Mr. Bradshaw follows:]



948



FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY



Executive Director



1 Society for Pharmacology and
1 Society Tor Invtsligalivc Paihok



President and Board Chairman




Professo<


Deparlmenl of Biological ChBfnislrv


Univers.lv of California, Irvine


College of Medicine




Tel 714/8246236


Fa« 714/824-8036





The Amencan Society fof Cell Biology
Biophysical Society

The Protein Society

FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY

(F A S E B)

TESTIMONY BY:

RALPH A. BRADSHAW, PhD
President of FASEB

Before

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

February 29, 1996
10:30 A.M.



9650 RockviUe Pike • Bethesda. Maiyland 20814-3998
Telephone 301-530-7075 • FAX 301-530-7190



949



Mr. Chairman and Subcommittee members:



I am Dr. Ralph A. Bradshaw, professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of California,
Irvine. I appear before you today as President of the Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (FASEB), an organization of 10 scientific societies with 44,000 members.
FASEB is the oldest and largest organization of working bioscientists in the nation.

The Department of Energy (DOE) supports research projects that rely on the unique
multidisciplinary capabilities and facilities of the National Laboratories, and also supports
collaborative researchers at universities and other institutes. Biomedical research, although a
relatively small fraction of DOE activity, demonstrates the effective use of the agency's
resources for fundamental research in fields of emerging importance. My testimony focuses on
the biomedical activities of DOE within the agency's Biological and Environmental Research
(BER) division.

BER analyzes health and environmental consequences of energy use and development, and
applies the department's facilities to solve major scientific problems in the environment,
medicine, and biology. Funding appropriated under the BER category is administered by DOE's
Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER), and about half of the office's operational
budget is administered in four biomedical research programs: Human Genome , Structural
Biology , Medical Applications , and Health Effects Research .

The operating expenditure for OHER's biomedical research programs in FY 1995 was
approximately $184 million, supporting nearly 380 research projects. About 65% of this $184
million was used to fiind experimentation at the National Laboratories and 35% supported
university-based research projects. There were 120 such university-based research projects in
FY 1995. Only one new request for grants was issued in FY 1995, under the Ethical, Legal,
and Social Issues portion of the Human Genome Program. Twenty-six of 68 applications
received in response to this solicitation were funded.

FASEB's recommendation for OHER in fiscal 1997 is almost $184 million, a six
percent increase over the FY 96 funding level of $173.5 million. The full details of
our recommendations may be found in the FASEB Funding Consensus Conference
report which I have supplied to the Subcommittee.

The DOE Human Genome Program , conducted by OHER in collaboration with the NIH,
develops instrumentation and provides resources for discovering, mapping, and sequencing
human genes. The unique capabilities of DOE and NIH continue to complement each other.
DOE is building on its computational strengths to develop new computer and informatics tools to
manage the voluminous genome data from humans and other important organisms for
agriculture, industry, and medicine. The DOE Structural Biology Program supports beamlines
and facilities at its advanced energy sources for determining the structure of biological

1.



950



molecules and matter. These facilities are unique national core research facilities used each year
by hundreds of academic and industrial researchers throughout the nation to identify the structure
of components of cells and viruses.

Medical Applications Research includes development of powerful tools such as radiotracers,
positron emission tomography, and single photon emission computed tomography. It also
includes advanced image processing and informatics for non-invasive diagnosis as well as tools
for molecular therapies including genetically engineered monoclonal antibodies and boron carrier
compounds. Health Effects Research , the agency's original biomedical research mandate,
examines the effects of energy use and development on human health. Through these programs,
DOE collaborates with university -based researchers and uses the resources of the National
Laboratories to make basic discoveries that foster broad national interests in areas such as human
health and economic competitiveness. Notable recent accomplishments of DOE-sponsored
research include:

* The development of monochromosomal libraries with large DNA inserts of all human
chromosomes using unique DOE-developed resources for sorting individual chromosomes.
These have been made widely available and continue to be the major resource for DNA mapping,
sequencing, and gene discovery. Interestingly, they were the source the DNA used to isolate the
BRC A 1 breast cancer gene.

* The successful engineering of Taq polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase, so that it
ignores DNA sequences called terminators. This achievement, one of the most economically
significant protein engineering accomplishments to date, is already resulting in a considerable
and significant reduction in the cost of reagents needed for DNA sequencing.

* The identification of the gene for AT (Ataxia-telangiectasia), a rare, inherited disease
characterized by extreme sensitivity to ionizing radiation, by researchers at UCLA working with
an international consortium. There is evidence that women who carry one copy of a defective AT
gene have five fold higher rates of breast cancer. The investigators are now exploring the
possibility that the selective disabling of the AT gene in cancer cells might make them more
sensitive to therapeutic radiation.

* The determination of the three-dimensional structure of the signalling portion of the human
insulin receptor using the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory
by scientists from Columbia University and Texas A&M . This is one of a large family of
biological switches that control cell growth and development, and this new information has
marked significance for the treatment of diabetes and cancer as well as other disorders of himian
development and metabolism.

Other promising research in progress includes a university-industry collaboration that is
developing a novel microchip, coated with thousands of pieces of DNA, to improve the utility of
DNA analysis chips. They are useful in DNA diagnostics. The technology has the potential for

2.



951



widespread applications in the purification of DNA products and for managing other classes of
charged macromolecules including proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids.

The 1 04th Congress has proposed initiatives to realign DOE objectives and has considered
eliminating the Department, curtailing support in areas of environmental and commercial R&D,
and transferring selected DOE programs and facilities into a newly created Department of
Science. Any reorganization of the DOE should recognize that the National Laboratories are the
most important scientific asset of the agency and one of the most valuable assets of the federal
government. Four bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives that would
reorganize the nation's laboratories. One of these bills, the DOE Laboratory Missions Act,
includes the following as one of five missions for the National Laboratories: To conduct basic
research in energy-related science and technology, in the fundamental understanding of matter,
and in emerging scientific fields, including construction and operation of unique scientific
instruments and facilities for use by the federal Government, academia, industry, and other
appropriate non-federal institutions. The Act assigns the Secretary of Energy responsibility for
streamlining the operations of the laboratories to accomplish specified missions, and leaves
latitude for input by the scientific community and other citizens. FASEB supports the passage of
this act or similar measures that would preserve the scientific instruments and facilities of the
National Laboratories and their availability to the broader research community.

Last year, FASEB concluded that the process of streamlining DOE operations and paring
expenditures would be greatly assisted by reviewing regulations governing the handling of
hazardous wastes. The role of regulations in protecting workers and local areas is paramount, but
many regulations affecting research are overly broad, inappropriate, and expensive. FASEB
reaffirms that regulations must be revised so that they are appropriate to the size and mission of
individual facilities.

FASEB believes that th . quality of the biomedical research of DOE is enhanced by the
competitive, merit review of research projects. DOE has redirected considerable amounts of
funding toward particularly promising research areas. To do this in the current climate of
budgetary stringency required great strength of purpose and involved many difficult decisions. _
FASEB applauds these efforts and encourages DOE to reallocate its resources to areas of greatest
scientific impact. FASEB cautions that these laudable efforts could be undermined seriously if
past practices of earmarking substantial fractions of DOE health-related research funds continue.

A number of DOE programs, notably the genome and structural biology programs, are emerging
as critical components of the U.S. science and technology infrastructure. The full benefit of these
programs is yet to be realized. The FY 1 996 allocation for biomedical research programs within
DOE's Office of Health and Environmental Research was almost $ 1 74 million. Funding for
these programs needs to be increased to a total of almost $184 million, a 6% increase, so that
they can achieve their extraordinary promise.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my testimony. 1 will be pleased to answer any questions.

3.



952



Thursday, February 29, 1996.
CLEANUP OF URANIUM MILL TAILINGS PILES

WITNESS

PAT MORGAN, GENERAL COUNSEL, UMETCO MINERALS CORPORA-
TION

Mr. Myers. Pat Morgan, Umetco Minerals Corporation. Your
prepared statement will be placed in the record and you may pro-
ceed for your 5 minutes as you like.

Mr. Morgan. My name is Pat Morgan, and I am the General
Counsel for Umetco Minerals Corporation. I am appearing in place
of Curtis Sealy, whose testimony I am submitting for the record.
He could not be with us today. He is the General Manager of
Umetco.

This is the fourth appearance of Umetco before this committee in
support of the decommissioning and decontamination fund which
was established under Title XI of the National Energy Policy Act
of 1992. Congress appropriated $40.6 million in fiscal 1994, $41.7
million in fiscal 1995, and $42 million last year to reimburse ura-
nium and thorium site licensees for that portion of the cost of re-
claiming tailings related to government purchases of uranium and
thorium during and following the Manhattan Project.

There are 13 uranium sites and there is 1 thorium site located
in east Chicago, Illinois, that are authorized to receive reimburse-
ment under Title X of the National Energy Policy Act. Umetco
owns 2 of these 13 sites which are being reclaimed. One is located
at Uravan, Colorado; the other is located at Gas Hills, Wyoming.
Fifty-five percent of the tailings at Uravan, and approximately 20
percent of the tailings at Gas Hills are related to government pur-
chases for the Manhattan Project AEC.

To date, Umetco has spent over $90 million to clean these two
sites, and before we have finished we expect to spend over $130
million. We appreciate the support of this subcommittee in the past
and through fiscal years on this program, and we request contin-
ued funding of the Title X reimbursement program, which is part
of the D&D fund.

In closing, I would like to wish you. Chairman Myers, and former
Chairman Bevill very well on your post congressional activities.
Thank you very much.

[The statement of Mr. Sealy follows:]



953



Statement

of

Curtis O Sealy

General Manager

Umetco Minerals corporation

Concerning

FY '96 Appropriations for Energy & Water Development

Before the

Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development

Committee on Appropriations

U.S. House of Representatives

February 29, 1996



Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Appropriations Committee's
Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development, my name is Curt Sealy. I am General
Manager of Umetco Minerals Corporation. I am here today to present testimony in
support of continued appropriation for the Decommissioning and Decontamination
("D&D") fund established under Title XI of the National Energy Policy Act of 1992.
(P.L. 102-486). The D&D fund was established by Congress for the clean-up of the
Federal government's three civilian uranium enrichment plants which are located at Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio, and to reimburse uranium
mill tailings site licensees for the costs of reclamation relating to the Manhattan Project
(1942-45) and national security purchases of uranium from 1947 to 1970.



This year marks the 5 1st anniversary of our nation's entry into the Atomic age
which brought World Word n to an end. Umetco played an important role in the
Manhattan Engineering District project and later supplied some 50 million pounds to the
old Atomic Energy Commission ("AEC") for national security. The uranium was
produced under contracts which contained no provision for mill tailings reclamation
because there were no environmental clean-up laws at that time. It was not until 1978 that
the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act became law. So, in a sense, we and
others, got stuck with the clean-up tab notwithstanding the fact that the entire nation
benefited fi^om our activities.



954



In a report titled, "Cleaning Up Uranium Mill Tailings: Is Federal Assistance
Necessary?" Congress' own General Accounting Office ("GAO") concluded that: "In
order to assure that the uranium mill tailings are controlled in a safe and environmentally
sound manner, we recommend that the Congress provide assistance to the active mill
owners to share in the cost of cleaning up the portion of the mill tailings that were
generated under Federal contracts. These are the tailings for which the Federal
Government has a strong moral responsibility." (Emphasis supplied.)



For FY '96, this subcommittee appropriated $278,807,000 for the D&D Fund of
which $42,000,000 was allocated for reimbursement of companies, like Umetco, for the
mill tailings clean-up. For FY '95, this subcommittee and Congress appropriated
$41,700,000 and $40,600,000 was appropriated for FY '94.



In Title XI of the National Energy Policy Act, Congress authorized an
appropriation of $480,000,000 annually, indexed to inflation, for 15 years to go into the
D&D fund. Money would come from an annual $330,000,000 appropriation from the
U.S. Treasury and $150,000,000 per year "Special Assessment" on nuclear utilities based
on past utilization of the civilian enrichment facilities. I would like to point out that the
staff of the House Energy & Power subcommittee estimated during enactment of the
uranium provisions of the National Energy Policy Act that the new government-owned
uranium enrichment corporation would contribute in excess of $330,000,000 per year to
the U.S. Treasury. This more than off-sets the government's contribution to the D&D
fund.



In Tide X of the National Energy Policy Act, Congress authorized an
appropriation of $3 10,000,000 to reimburse site licensees for that portion of the clean-up
of 13 uranium mill tailing sites located in the state of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New
Mexico, Washington and South Dakota and one thorium site in Illinois related to the sale
of uranium of the AEC. Title X was unanimously adopted by the House and Senate
committees involved in the energy legislation. Funding for the mill tailings clean-up has
been supported by both the Bush and Clinton administrations. The mill tailings clean-up
has been supported by uranium mining companies, organized labor, environmental groups
and the National Taxpayers Union. It has also been supported by the GAO, the Western
and National Governors' Associations and the Michigan legislature.



955



To date, Umetco has spent in excess of $90,000,000 at our Uravan, Colorado, and
Gas Hills, Wyoming, reclamation sites. When we are finished, the total costs will exceed
$130,000,000. Over 55%, or 5.7 miUion tons, of the 10.2 million tons of mill tailings at
Uravan, Colorado, relate to the Manhattan Project and national security purchases. The
Gas Hills, Wyoming, site has 11. 2 million tons of tailings of which 2.1 million tons, or
nearly 20%, relate to the Manhattan Project and national security purchases.



Mr. Chairman, Umetco Minerals Corporation was a pioneer in the
uranium/vanadium mining industry in the United States. We began mining
uranium/vanadium bearing ores on the Colorado Plateau in 1929. We discarded the
uranium component of the ores into the mill tailings piles because it had no significant
value until the Manhattan Project was undertaken. Vanadium, by the way, is used as a
hardening agent in steel related products.



In 1942, when the Manhattan Engineering District contracted with us for uranium
production from our Uravan facility, we reprocessed the uranium-bearing mill tailings
fi-om previous production of vanadium, which combined with continuing mine production,
supplied uranium to the U.S. Government. After World War 0, we continued to produce
uranium for the AEC weapons program.



We began clean-up at Uravan in 1980 and Gas Hills in 1982. This was shortly
after UMTRCA became law which imposed very costly clean-up standards on the uranium
industry. As mentioned, when we are finished the total clean-up cost wiU exceed
$130,000,000.



In summary, this subcommittee has supported an appropriation of reimbursement
clean-up in FY '96. The uranium provisions (EX, X and XI) in the National Energy Policy
Act provided a revenue stream for the D&D fund and the legislation was supported by a
broad-based coalition consisting of the mining companies, organized labor, environmental
groups and the National Taxpayers Union. We hope the subcommittee will support the
continued appropriations for the D&D fund of which a portion would go for continuing