Nuke lobby sues EPA

Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nuclear energy industry sued the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday in an immediate strike against EPA rules designed to protect Nevadans from nuclear waste stored at Yucca Mountain.

On Wednesday, the EPA finalized long-awaited rules that set limits on radiation that would be released into ground water flowing downhill from the desert ridge, which includes the nuclear waste repository site.

In a lawsuit filed hours after the EPA rules were unveiled, the Nuclear Energy Institute objected to the ground water standard, saying the rules had little scientific backing and don't comply with current law. The lawsuit asked that the ground water standard be scrapped.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site under consideration to store the nation's nuclear waste.

Nuclear industry executives worry that the rule may be so strict that it could threaten Yucca being licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

NEI lawyers had drafted the lawsuit long before Wednesday. It named the EPA and administrator Christie Todd Whitman as defendants, NEI lawyer Ellen Ginsberg said today.

The lawsuit was drafted based mostly on what the EPA standards first publicly proposed in August 1999. NEI did not have any advance information from the EPA or NRC about what would be in the final EPA standards before they were released, Ginsberg said.

"As a lawyer, my advice is always be ready for whatever is coming at you," Ginsberg said.

The finalized standards were made public Wednesday morning, available on the EPA's website. A Ginsberg assistant immediately downloaded and printed out the 152-page standards, and Ginsberg quickly made final detail changes to the lawsuit to file it Wednesday afternoon, Ginsberg said.

"My day was very busy," Ginsberg said.

NEI filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Washington and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Washington-based NEI, the industry's leading trade group that has long waged a lobbying campaign in favor of the Yucca project, represents about 260 companies, including the nation's 42 nuclear energy utilities.

One observer, senior attorney David Adelman of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would not be difficult for the NEI to sue on the same day EPA issued the rule. A similar lawsuit was filed by the trucking industry on the day EPA issued its diesel emission rule.

The EPA unveiled the standards document following a two-year struggle to set the radiation limits and make them official.

Two vocal lobbying forces pressed the EPA on the limits: Nevada policy makers teamed with environmentalists who advocated the strictest standards possible; and the influential nuclear industry advocated less strict standards and no separate ground water rule. The NRC also advocated a less strict 25 millirem standard without a ground water radiation limit. There are five millirems in an average X-ray.

In the end, the rules were a result of many high-level meetings between officials at the EPA, NRC and White House; a last-minute briefing with three Nevada officials; four public comment hearings -- two in Nevada, one in Washington and one in Kansas City -- and 240 days the public was allowed to submit comments.

Despite industry concerns that the EPA standards could threaten the suitability of the site, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham disagreed.

"The EPA has issued tough and challenging standards," Abraham said in a written statement, "tougher than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Academy of Sciences considered necessary. But we believe we can meet the requirements."

The secretary is so sure the DOE can meet the rule, he told the Detroit News on Wednesday, that he saw no major obstacles for recommending the site to the president and Congress as soon as a final scientific report is issued.

"I'm not trying to prejudge this at all, but if that were to all happen and we were to begin moving ahead toward a scientifically safe repository, then I think that has a very relevant impact on decisions that might be made to add new (nuclear) facilities," Abraham said.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., cautiously praised the EPA standard for including a ground water limit, but said that it did not change their opposition to dumping nuclear waste in Nevada.

"From earthquakes, floods and volcanoes to the transportation of nuclear waste, far too many questions remain about the future of Yucca Mountain for anyone to declare that the site is safe or acceptable to the people of the Silver State," Reid said.

Ensign said he was pleased that the Bush administration delivered on its campaign promise to let the EPA set the standard.

"However, I will never be satisfied if these regulations lead to nuclear waste being shipped to Nevada," Ensign said. "The most important thing here is to ensure that we can do everything that is possible to keep the families of Nevada safe."

Gov. Kenny Guinn, who received $4 million from the Legislature to fight the repository, applauded the new radiation standards, but said he has serious concerns about the boundary for measuring radiation escaping Yucca Mountain. At 11 miles from the site, any contaminated water could be diluted in Amargosa Valley's ground water, he said. The state prefers a 3-mile limit.

"However, a full review and assessment of the report is still needed and Nevada remains prepared to fight any aspect that would hamper our ability to have the Yucca Mountain site declared unsafe," Guinn said.

Public interest, environmental and consumer advocacy groups attacked the EPA rule.

Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility said the rule will not protect the water.

The standards can be downloaded from: www.epa.gov.