Supreme Court docket steps right into a struggle over plans to retailer nuclear waste in rural Texas, New Mexico
The Supreme Court docket agreed on Friday to step right into a struggle over plans to retailer nuclear waste at websites in rural Texas and New Mexico.The justices mentioned they may evaluation a ruling by the fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals that discovered that the Nuclear Regulatory Fee exceeded its authority beneath federal legislation in granting a license to a personal firm to retailer spent nuclear gas at a dump in West Texas for 40 years. The result of the case will have an effect on plans for the same facility in New Mexico.Political leaders in each states oppose the services.Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, has mentioned his state “won’t turn out to be America’s nuclear waste dumping floor.”The push for non permanent storage websites is a part of the difficult politics of the nation’s thus far futile quest for a everlasting underground storage facility.Roughly 100,000 tons (90,000 metric tons) of spent gas, a few of it courting from the Eighties, is piling up at present and former nuclear plant websites nationwide and rising by greater than 2,000 tons a yr. The waste was meant to be stored there briefly earlier than being deposited deep underground.A plan to construct a nationwide storage facility northwest of Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain has been mothballed due to staunch opposition from most Nevada residents and officers.There are two points earlier than the justices in a case that might be argued early subsequent yr.The NRC contends that the states forfeited their proper to object to the licensing selections as a result of they declined to affix within the fee’s proceedings.Two different federal appeals courts, in Denver and Washington, that weighed the identical problem dominated for the company. Solely the fifth Circuit allowed the circumstances to proceed.The second problem is whether or not federal legislation permits the fee to license non permanent storage websites. Texas and environmental teams, unlikely allies, each relied on a 2022 Supreme Court docket choice that held that Congress should act with specificity when it needs to offer an company the authority to manage on a problem of main nationwide significance.
The Supreme Court docket agreed on Friday to step right into a struggle over plans to retailer nuclear waste at websites in rural Texas and New Mexico.
The justices mentioned they may evaluation a ruling by the fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals that discovered that the Nuclear Regulatory Fee exceeded its authority beneath federal legislation in granting a license to a personal firm to retailer spent nuclear gas at a dump in West Texas for 40 years. The result of the case will have an effect on plans for the same facility in New Mexico.
Political leaders in each states oppose the services.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, has mentioned his state “won’t turn out to be America’s nuclear waste dumping floor.”
The push for non permanent storage websites is a part of the difficult politics of the nation’s thus far futile quest for a everlasting underground storage facility.
Roughly 100,000 tons (90,000 metric tons) of spent gas, a few of it courting from the Eighties, is piling up at present and former nuclear plant websites nationwide and rising by greater than 2,000 tons a yr. The waste was meant to be stored there briefly earlier than being deposited deep underground.
A plan to construct a nationwide storage facility northwest of Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain has been mothballed due to staunch opposition from most Nevada residents and officers.
There are two points earlier than the justices in a case that might be argued early subsequent yr.
The NRC contends that the states forfeited their proper to object to the licensing selections as a result of they declined to affix within the fee’s proceedings.
Two different federal appeals courts, in Denver and Washington, that weighed the identical problem dominated for the company. Solely the fifth Circuit allowed the circumstances to proceed.
The second problem is whether or not federal legislation permits the fee to license non permanent storage websites. Texas and environmental teams, unlikely allies, each relied on a 2022 Supreme Court docket choice that held that Congress should act with specificity when it needs to offer an company the authority to manage on a problem of main nationwide significance.
