State sues DOE for loss of Yucca oversight funds

Cy Ryan and Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada filed suit today in a federal court, charging the Energy Department has shortchanged the state $4 million this fiscal year to oversee the development of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval said the suit was brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia and names Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham as a defendant.

The lawsuit says the state and local governments were entitled to receive $5 million in grants from the nuclear waste fund but has received only $1 million.

The state wants a federal court to stop all of the department's licensing activities on the proposed federal nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, until it receives the full $5 million in oversight money.

The suit also wants the court to direct the department to make the grants.

"There is not a way in the world we are going to be an effective participant in the licensing without it," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

The state has three other legal complaints pending against the department in the federal court. Oral arguments took place Jan. 14 and state lawyers expect a decision this spring.

In the latest lawsuit, Nevada says the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, which guides the Yucca project, requires the department to issue grants to the state and local governments for work on the project. Loux reminded the department of a 1995 letter sent to Congress by the agency's chief financial officer that says the department has to send states and local governments oversight money, regardless of what Congress does.

The Energy Department did not request any money for state or local government oversight for this year. Congress approved $1 million for the state's oversight on the project anyway, which was lower than the $5 million the state has received in the past.

Loux said it is important the state receive the additional money as it prepares for the licensing process the project will face in the next few years. The Energy Department says it will submit an application for a license to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December.

Because of the lack of funds, the state has not been able to do some scientific work, hire litigation case managers or prepare documents for the license support network, Loux said.

Loux sent a letter to the department Feb. 23 threatening more legal action if it did not allocate an additional $4 million to the state to continue its work on the Yucca project. He has not received any response to the letter, one sent more than a year ago by Gov. Kenny Guinn or one sent in December by Sandoval.

The department requested $2.5 million in oversight for the state for 2005, but Loux said that will not be enough. The Energy Department has set aside $16 million to $25 million just to pay its lawyers in the same period, Loux said.

"To expect Nevada to get by on $2.5 million is pretty unrealistic," he said.

Loux said there is a "whole host of studies that need to be conducted." He said the state wants to examine the issue of the corrosion of the nuclear packages to be buried. And it wants to look more at the hydrology of the area.

"We intend to drill more holes" to examine the site, Loux said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also requires all of the documents to be filed electronically. Loux said many of the state's documents are old and he must hire an administrator to handle this task.

Loux said the state will file a motion for an expedited review of the case since it will need to have the money in time to finish its work on schedule to meet the department's December deadline.

Sandoval said the lawsuit comes "at a time when our scientific and technical experts are preparing critical studies to aid the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in its safety evaluation."

Sandoval said that Abraham and the Energy Department have turned a cold shoulder to efforts by the state to get the money.

Sandoval said the withholding of money is "an outrage and tragically it's just the latest in a long record of deception, rule-bending and law-breaking in order to make the case for an unsuitable site.

"It defies law, and strangles our ability to account for the health and safety of Nevadans," Sandoval said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn supports the lawsuit, said the governor's press secretary, Greg Bortolin.