State says feds’ nuke rail plan broke laws

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, March 25, 2005 | 10:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department violated several federal laws when it decided to build a rail line in Nevada to move waste to the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, Nevada's lawyers allege in court documents filed Thursday.

In a 74-page legal brief filed in Washington, the state lays out its arguments against the Energy Department's transportation plans to ship waste across the country to Nevada.

The department announced last April that it would build a 319-mile rail line in the "Caliente Corridor" to move waste to Yucca, the proposed nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and would use "mostly rail" to ship waste across the country. If the rail line is not be ready by the time the high-level radioactive waste needs to be moved, the department will ship the waste via truck. It is currently working on a environmental analysis of the Caliente route, which the department anticipates will be done this summer.

Nevada claims this violated the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires environmental studies of federal projects. The state's lawyers argue the department did not do the required analyses prior to selecting the route and preferred method of transportation.

"Lots of shortcuts were made that we think were inappropriate," said Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams.

Nevada argues that the department violated the act by selecting the Caliente route without individually analyzing each transportation option. A final environmental impact statement released in February 2002 contained descriptions of the different options but the department selected the Caliente train route without even notifying citizens, ranchers or local governments about its intention to withdraw 308,600 acres of public land.

Adams also said that while the department had public hearings on the project's general environmental study outside Nevada, it was unlikely residents in those areas knew the meetings were also about potentially moving waste through their states too.

The state also argues that the department further violated the by failing to conduct a study on interim truck shipments and that the department moved ahead with the largest railroad construction project in 80 years without consulting the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that oversees rail projects.

The Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval asked the Council on Environmental Quality to intervene regarding the board's lack of involvement with the proposed rail line, but chairman James Connaughton refused.

Sandoval initiated the court case in September when he filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, the same court that threw out the nuclear waste storage project's 10,000-year radiation standard last year.

The Energy Department has until April 25 to respond to Nevada's filing and Nevada will have until May 24 to file its response to whatever the Energy Department files. Final briefs are due by June 14. There is no date set yet for oral arguments.