Attorneys refining anti-Yucca case

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2003 | 10:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials and legal experts will meet during a three-day retreat, starting today in the Washington suburbs, to fine-tune arguments for the upcoming Yucca Mountain federal court case. Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Nuclear Waste Project Office Executive Director Bob Loux and state technical experts will meet with attorney Joe Egan to do a "top-to-bottom" review of the state's case against various aspects of the Energy Department's plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Egan said.

Oral arguments had been scheduled for Oct. 3, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit postponed the case earlier this month and reclassified the case as "complex."

The meeting was planned before the court moved the date, Egan said, and the court has not yet rescheduled the trial.

Egan is an attorney with Egan, Fitzpatrick and Malsch, a Washington-area law firm with a $4 million state contract to handle the legal challenges to the Yucca Mountain project. The recently reapproved contract was first agreed to in September 2001. The money comes from state appropriations and some federal funds.

"We'll try to develop all the nuances of the case," Egan said. "We are still confident that we are going to do some serious damage to Yucca Mountain."

Egan did not wish to discuss specifics of what they will work on at the meeting. About 20 people will participate, he said.

Under the "complex" classification, cases may be allowed several hours of argument time as opposed to the usual 10 or 15 minutes allotted for regular cases. The parties will usually receive an order allocating the time two to three weeks before the date, according to the court.

The court consolidated several court cases filed by the state into one case. Nevada has sued the Energy Department over the environmental impact statement, the federal recommendation and the guidelines used to determine the site's suitability to hold the waste. These cases have been lumped together with challenges against the Environmental Protection Agency's radiation standards for the site and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rules for licensing it. A constitutional challenge against the site filed in January is also part of this case.