Non-profit advocacy group Public Citizen is angling to get out of a joint lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in west Texas, court documents show.
Washington-based Public Citizen “has expressed its desire to terminate its involvement in this matter,” according to a Thursday filing with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a group of anti-nuclear groups suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over its September decision to license Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed spent fuel storage site in Texas.
Public Citizen bills itself as a consumer advocacy group.
The joint plaintiffs, which include anti-nuclear groups such as Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan and the Sierra Club, filed suit against NRC last year, claiming that the commission unfairly denied requests for a public hearing on the ISP project while the agency was deliberating on a licensing decision. The coalition also argued that NRC’s decision to license the proposed Andrews, Texas, facility runs afoul of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA).
NRC has countered that the coalition has no basis to sue because the agency had already denied their agency-level petitions to stop the licensing process. The commission has also argued that the Atomic Energy Act, not NWPA, gives it the authority to license interim storage.
As of Friday afternoon, the D.C. court had yet to accept Public Citizen’s withdrawal. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Nov. 10.
