A federal judge on Friday authorized the state of Nevada and nuclear power industry representatives to intervene in Texas’ lawsuit demanding the federal government move ahead with a permanent repository for the nation’s nuclear waste.
Judge Patrick Higginbotham, of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, did not provide the reasoning for his separate rulings in favor of Nevada and a coalition encompassing the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and seven utilities. The intervenors now have until June 30 to file their responses to the Texas lawsuit.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office in March filed suit against the Energy Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Treasury Department, along with the heads of each agency. While the lawsuit has many demands, its overall aim is for the court to order that the federal government move ahead with licensing and development of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada – as demanded by Congress in its 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
The parties to the lawsuit are in mediation, with the most recent meeting held on May 15. The U.S. Justice Department referred questions on the process to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, which said Monday it could not comment on a pending case.
Nevada, whose leaders have vehemently opposed the Yucca Mountain project for decades, opposed the Texas lawsuit on all fronts. The concerns from NEI and the utilities focused on two specific requests in the lawsuit: “an order providing Petitioner with restitution from the Nuclear Waste Fund” and “an order disgorging the Nuclear Waste Fund.” They oppose taking any money from the fund, which now holds about $40 billion, that should be used for construction of the Yucca Mountain repository.
