AG files motion on Yucca water

Friday, March 29, 2002 | 11:54 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Attorney General's Office today moved on two fronts to stop the U.S. Department of Energy from using water at Yucca Mountain for a proposed nuclear waste repository.

The office filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to toss out the amended complaint by the Energy Department to extend its temporary water permit, which expires next month.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said the office is also seeking to "jump-start" the suit in state district court in Nye County. The DOE is seeking permanent water rights for Yucca.

The Energy Department filed suit in federal court in Las Vegas when former state Engineer Mike Turnipseed denied the agency permanent water rights to serve the dump. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt ruled in favor of the state.

But the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Hunt to determine whether federal law pre-empts state statutes.

After the case was remanded to Hunt the DOE amended its suit and included its challenge to the decision of state Engineer Hugh Ricci that he won't extend the temporary water permit past next month.

Adams said the state is moving to strike the amended complaint and deal only with permanent water rights in the case before Hunt.

After denial of the permanent water rights, the DOE, in addition to the federal suit, filed in the state court in Tonopah in Nye County, challenging the Turnipseed ruling.

Adams said that suit has been dormant, but said the state filed a motion today to set a briefing schedule. Nevada law, she said, requires a party that is aggrieved by a water rights decision to bring an appeal in the state court.

"We're trying to get back in the state venue," said Adams.

State officials feel they have a better chance of winning in the local district courts than through the federal system.

The DOE has asked Hunt to stop the state from "unlawfully interfering with DOE's performance of its statutory obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and other federal laws." The government wants to pump 430 acre-feet of water a year from the Fortymile Canyon-Jackass Flat Groundwater Basin in Nye County.

An acre-foot is enough water to supply a family of four for a year.