State files new lawsuit over Yucca Mountain

Cy Ryan and Mary Manning

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

In the latest legal filing to try to stop the Energy Department from building a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada officials today announced a lawsuit charging that the federal government is violating Nevada's rights as a state by going ahead with the plan.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who was to hold a press conference in Las Vegas this morning to announce the latest lawsuit, said that the latest legal action is based on constitutional grounds.

"We've seen Congress change the rules more than once to breath new life into this proposal (Yucca Mountain) and that's unfair to all Americans, not to mention the threat to our own state," said Sandoval, who was sworn into office Monday.

"The issue in this case is the right of a state not to be unduly burdened with respect to other states by the federal government."

Sandoval said the suit maintains there must be a compelling objective if the 49 states impose an undue burden on a single state. The present plan of the federal government, he said ignores scientific principles for site assessment and imposes an indefensible burden upon Nevada.

He said, "Indeed, by ignoring the requirement of geologic isolation for the repository mandated by the 1982 federal law, not only does the federal government offer no such compelling reasons, but also demonstrates contempt for the very law it enacted."

The suit alleges the nuclear waste disposal laws of the nation apply one set of standards to judge the suitability of Yucca Mountain and a different, much stricter standard, to assess the suitability of other repositories in other states.

"It doesn't take a constitutional scholar to figure out that this is both unfair and absurd," said Sandoval.

The legal action is being filed in a federal appeals court in Washington.

Congress overturned Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the nuclear repository last year after President Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham signaled their approval for the project in February 2002. The state already has five lawsuits pending against the Yucca Mountain repository.

In the latest suit, the state argues that the federal government "arbitrarily and discriminatorily" singled out Nevada to bear the national burden of burying highly radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The suit claims that the joint resolution approved by Congress exceeded the sovereign right of the state under the U.S. Constitution.

The state is asking that the court declare the congressional resolution unconstitutional and stop any activities that would lead to a license application to build and operate a repository.

The Energy Department is preparing to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to permit the start of construction. Energy Department officials estimate an application will be ready by December 2004.