Nuclear waste in Texas? What to know about latest Supreme Court ruling that allows it
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has made it easier to consider the possibility of nuclear waste storage on the Texas-New Mexico border.
The high court rejected challenges to a nuclear waste storage site in the area on Wednesday, June 18, marking a victory for the federal government after a decade of legal wrangling by the state of Texas and the oil industry. The ruling, in a 6-3 decision, noted that they cannot challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of the site because they "hadn't sufficiently participated in the commission's licensing proceedings."
Three conservative justices − Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito − dissented.
The Texas and oil industry objected, to no avail, to the waste being stored above ground in the Permian Basin, a prominent oil field region known for its underpopulated, wide-open spaces in southwestern Texas.
In 2021, the commission approved temporary storage sites in Texas due to nuclear power plants running out of space, and the planned permanent underground storage facility in Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
The federal government argued the storage was temporary while a permanent location was constructed.
According to USA reporting, Nevada's Yucca Mountain was the only authorized site where the Department of Energy could permanently store spent nuclear fuel; the Obama administration effectively nixed the project over political and environmental concerns.
No timeline was provided for when such waste could be stored in the region.
The Trump administration publicly defended the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's authority to approve temporary sites and noted it will try to revive the Yucca Mountain option as a place to store nuclear waste.
Beginning in the 1950s, the U.S. began large-scale nuclear power generation using nuclear fuel in reactors, along with an ongoing political debate over the disposal of spent fuel, once it can no longer efficiently generate electricity.
The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act established a permanent repository for nuclear power plant waste, which is still considered hazardous for thousands of years.
USA Today contributed to this story.
Kristian Jaime is the Top Story Reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Nuclear waste in Texas? What to know about Supreme Court ruling
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