|
Click
for printable version
Click
to send to a friend
Friday, April 12, 2002
Copyright Las
Vegas Review-Journal
Yucca opposition expands litigation
Latest lawsuit calls licensing rule
`unlawful' By
STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The list of
lawsuits Nevada has filed against the Yucca Mountain project
grew on Thursday.
A new lawsuit charges the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission adopted an "unlawful" licensing rule in
November for the proposed nuclear waste repository.
Nevada officials say the NRC rule ignored a
requirement by Congress that Yucca Mountain be judged
primarily on the ability of its natural features to prevent
radioactive waste from leaching into the environment.
Nevada sued the Energy Department in
December on the same issue. The DOE has responded its actions
were legal and proper.
The new lawsuit requests the NRC regulation
be thrown out and the agency be forced to adopt a new one. NRC
officials could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, a Texas
congressman introduced a formal resolution in the U.S. House
to overturn Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the Yucca Mountain site
recommendation.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, submitted the
legislation with 11 co-sponsors. House Speaker Dennis Hastert,
R-Ill., plans to have the full House vote on the measure in
early May, possibly before May 12.
Yucca Mountain hearings that had been
planned for late April and May were rescheduled Thursday to
accommodate Hastert's voting schedule.
Nevada's lawsuit against the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission became the fifth Yucca-related lawsuit
in the courts, with another being planned by Nevada lawyers to
be filed soon.
Clark County and the City of Las Vegas
joined as petitioners in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In June, Nevada submitted a court challenge
to Yucca Mountain radiation standards issued by the
Environmental Protection Agency. In December and in February,
lawsuits were filed challenging Energy Department site rules
that formed the basis for President Bush's decision to
recommend Yucca Mountain for waste burial.
The state and the Energy Department also
are battling in court in Nevada over water permits for the
Yucca Mountain study site 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas.
| 
