Gore Urges Bush to Sign Bill on Nuclear Waste

Sen. Al Gore spent Wednesday warming up for what Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton says will be his task in a Clinton-Gore Administration: leading a 100-day drive to pass a legislative agenda.

Gore has pressed President Bush this week on a wide range of issues on the legislative front burner, from cable television regulation to nuclear waste cleanup.

At a campaign stop in Ohio, the Tennessee senator urged the President not to veto legislation designed to enable states to hold federal weapons production facilities to the same environmental standards applied to private corporations.

Gore spoke during a meeting with several families who have been forced from their homes because of radioactive contamination from the Department of Energy-run Feed Materials Production Center, a processor of uranium for nuclear bombs.

They were joined by former Democratic congressman Tom Luken of Ohio, who called the contamination of soil and drinking water in the region “a betrayal by the government” that was compounded by “cover-up and lies.”

In calling for Bush to sign the Federal Facilities Compliance Act, which Congress passed last week, Gore accused the President of having backed such a law during the 1988 presidential campaign, only to reverse his position five months after taking office.

“The so-called environmental President has left a trail of broken promises all across the country,” Gore said.

The author of the best-selling book, “Earth in the Balance,” Gore has made environmental protection a hallmark of his campaign, providing a counterweight to Clinton, whose own environmental record as governor of Arkansas has been less than sterling.

“I hope this visit today will result in Bush being embarrassed enough to sign that legislation,” Gore said.