On July 11, the House Committee on Natural Resources approved by unanimous consent to advance H.R. 5987, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act, to the full House for consideration. The bill would establish a national historical park at Manhattan Project sites in Los Alamos, NM; Oak Ridge, TN; and Hanford, WA. H.R. 5987 was introduced by the Committee’s chairman, Representative Doc Hastings of Hanford. Its bipartisan cosponsors include Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Oak Ridge and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of Los Alamos.
In a press release, Rep Hastings explained, “Today’s committee approval moves the Historical Park another step forward with our eye on enacting the bill into law before the end of this year. The goal of this bill is to officially declare the importance of preserving this history of the Manhattan Project, provide access to the public, and involve the unique abilities of the Park Service to help tell this story. By establishing this Park, we seek to fully open the doors to the American people, as well as the world, to provide enhanced public access to these facilities where history unfolded.”
The Atomic Heritage Foundation expects that the House will pass H.R. 5987 by unanimous consent soon. We are also hopeful the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resource will markup Senator Jeff Bingaman’s companion bill, S. 3300, in the near future. Both are critical steps towards having the legislation enacted by the 112th Congress.
To view more photos of the Committee markup session, please click here.