{"id":23213,"date":"2025-03-05T16:55:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=814327"},"modified":"2025-03-05T16:55:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:55:37","slug":"supreme-court-hears-texas-nuclear-waste-storage-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/supreme-court-hears-texas-nuclear-waste-storage-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Hears Texas Nuclear Waste Storage Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-pollution-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2025\/03\/05\/814327.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2025\/03\/05\/814327.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p class=\"reuters\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/us-supreme-court\/\">U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> was hearing arguments on Wednesday on whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the authority to license <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersconnect.com\/all?search=all%3AS0N3IS01B&amp;linkedFromStory=true\">nuclear waste storage<\/a> facilities amid objections brought by the states of Texas and New Mexico as well as the oil industry.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government and a company that was awarded a license by the NRC, the federal agency that regulates nuclear energy in the United States, to operate a facility in western Texas have appealed a lower court\u2019s ruling declaring this storage arrangement unlawful. The arguments were ongoing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"pollution\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, showed skepticism toward the authority of federal regulatory agencies in several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersconnect.com\/all?search=all%3AS0N3GL049&amp;linkedFromStory=true\">major rulings<\/a> during former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/topic\/person\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden<\/a>\u2018s administration. The NRC case is being argued at a time when President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/topic\/person\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s administration has taken aim at various federal agencies in his campaign to downsize and overhaul the U.S. government and fire thousands of workers.<\/p>\n<p>The NRC issued a license in 2021 to Interim Storage Partners to build a nuclear waste storage facility in Andrews County in Texas, near the New Mexico border. The NRC has issued such licenses to private companies since 1980.<\/p>\n<p>A proposal to permanently store the nation\u2019s spent nuclear fuel at a federal facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been stalled following decades of opposition in that state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince 1980, the NRC\u2019s regulations have provided for both onsite and offsite storage. That system allows a substantial role for private market responses to the country\u2019s nuclear waste storage issues subject to commission oversight to ensure that storage is safe and consistent with statutory requirements,\u201d Malcolm Stewart, an attorney for the U.S. government, told the justices.<\/p>\n<p>The Interim Storage Partners license was challenged by Fasken Land and Minerals, a Texas-based oil and gas extraction organization, and the nonprofit Permian Basin Coalition of Land and Royalty Owners and Operators. Texas and New Mexico later joined the challenge, arguing the facility posed environmental risks to the states.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart also said that the plaintiffs lacked authority to bring the lawsuit because they did not participate in the agency\u2019s adjudication process.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-topics=\"pollution\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cIn an adjudication you would need to intervene and the commission\u2019s rules set out the process for intervention,\u201d Stewart told conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t it a little bit odd to say that the agency whose action is being challenged in court has so much control\u201d over \u201cwho gets to challenge the action?\u201d Justice Elena Kagan asked Stewart.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas added, \u201cI do think it\u2019s somewhat strange that the NRC gets to choose which parties are able to challenge it later on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the NRC lacked authority to issue the license based on a law called the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Biden\u2019s administration appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court and Trump\u2019s administration continued the appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued in a December brief that the 5th Circuit ruling would \u201centirely gut\u201d the Atomic Energy Act because nuclear power plants cannot operate without creating spent fuel that must be stored somewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the justices in February that the 5th Circuit decision could \u201cdeprive the commission of authority to license the private storage of spent nuclear fuel in any location\u201d and \u201cgrind the operations of nuclear reactors to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas and New Mexico said the NRC had no authority to issue the license, and that Congress \u201chas already legislated a solution to the nation\u2019s nuclear-waste problem: permanent storage in Yucca Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYucca Mountain was supposed to be the permanent solution,\u201d conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch said. \u201cWe spent something like $15 billion on it, and it\u2019s a hole in the ground. The parties seem to think the Yucca Mountain\u2019s project is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow is this \u2018interim storage\u2019 that the government is authorizing here, in any meaningful sense?\u201d Gorsuch asked. \u201cOn a concrete platform in the Permian Basin where we get our oil and gas from \u2013 so hopefully we won\u2019t get radiated oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/texas\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Texas<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/pollution\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Pollution<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"814327\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! 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