March, 22 2022, 05:22pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist, Beyond Nuclear, kevin@beyondnuclear.org, (240) 462-3216
Mindy Goldstein, attorney for Beyond Nuclear, director, Emory University’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic, magolds@emory.edu, (404) 727-3432
Michael Keegan, co-chair, Don’t Waste Michigan, mkeeganj@comcast.net, (734) 770-1441Terry Lodge, attorney for Don't Waste Michigan, et al., tjlodge50@yahoo.com, (419) 205-7084
Briefs Filed in Federal Appeal Against NRC Licensing of Interim Storage Partners Radioactive Waste Dump in Texas
Environmental Coalition* Cites Numerous Violations of Nuclear Waste, Environmental, and Administrative Laws
WASHINGTON
Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste Michigan et al. (a seven-group national grassroots environmental coalition), and Sierra Club filed initial briefs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on March 18, 2022, challenging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval, last September, of a construction and operating license for the Interim Storage Partners, LLC (ISP) irradiated nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) at Waste Control Specialists, LLC (WCS) in Andrews County, Texas. ISP plans to store up to 40,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel, and highly radioactive Greater-Than-Class-C waste, nearly half the total amount that currently exists in the U.S.
Beyond Nuclear's brief focused on NRC violations of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), and associated violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Specifically, the NWPA prohibits the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from taking title to commercial irradiated nuclear fuel (often euphemistically called spent or used nuclear fuel) at an interim storage site, unless and until a permanent geologic repository is licensed and operating. Despite this legal prohibition, ISP's license allows for storage of DOE owned waste.
"No federal agency is above the law," said Mindy Goldstein, director of Emory University's Turner Environmental Law Clinic in Atlanta, GA, and an attorney for Beyond Nuclear. "On Friday, we filed a brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to strike down a license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because it ignored the unambiguous mandates of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act."
Diane Curran of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg and Eisenberg, LLP of Washington, D.C. also serves as an attorney for Beyond Nuclear. Beyond Nuclear has published a series of factsheets, laying out its legal and technical arguments in opposition to CISFs.
Don't Waste Michigan et al., and Sierra Club, filed a joint initial brief. In addition to the violations of the NWPA and APA, this environmental coalition has raised a large number of challenges alleging NRC violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including inadequate consideration of: transportation risks to and from the CISF; earthquake risks at the CISF due to very nearby oil and natural gas extraction in the Permian Basin; alternatives to the CISF, including Hardened On-Site Storage at nuclear power plants; impacts on threatened species; the risk of extremely long-term, or even de facto permanent, surface storage at the CISF; and the risk of radiological impacts on the area's ecology, geology, and groundwater, including the adjacent or even underlying Ogallala Aquifer. This coalition of environmental groups seeks the court to order NRC to re-do the ISP Environmental Impact Statement so that it complies with the legal requirements of NEPA.
Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, IA serves as legal counsel for Sierra Club. Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH serves as legal counsel for Don't Waste Michigan et al.
"NRC has segmented off the transportation risk issue from the ISP Environmental Impact Statement, a blatant violation of the National Environmental Policy Act," said Terry Lodge, legal counsel for Don't Waste Michigan et al. "The Region of Influence for routine, incident-free shipments is a half-mile on both sides of transport routes, due to hazardous gamma and neutron radiation emissions, while for accidents and attacks that breach the container, it is 50 miles on both sides of the route, due to hazardous radioactive releases," Lodge said.
"NRC has concealed road, rail, and waterway routes to be used to transport over 3,000 shipments of highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants across the nation to Texas," said Michael Keegan, co-chair of Don't Waste Michigan. "These shipments amount to 'Mobile Chernobyls' as potential dirty bombs on wheels. Shipments by barge on the Great Lakes and Hudson River must be excluded. These are for certain mobile X-ray machines that can not be turned off as they pass through countless communities past millions of Americans," Keegan said.
The States of Texas and New Mexico also oppose the ISP CISF. Texas has appealed NRC's license approval at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, while New Mexico has appealed at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Initial briefs were filed in those cases on February 7 and March 10, 2022, respectively. Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd. and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners have appealed against the ISP CISF in both the D.C. and 5th Circuits.
The same parties opposing the CISF in Texas also oppose Holtec International's CISF targeted at southeastern New Mexico, just over 40 miles from ISP. NRC will likely approve Holtec's 173,600 metric ton CISF license by mid-2022. The opposing parties have already filed federal appeals against Holtec's CISF in the D.C., 5th, and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals. NRC's approval of the Holtec CISF license would likely prompt the D.C. Circuit Court to regard the case, which has been held in abeyance, as then ripe for active consideration, as well.
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.
(301) 270-2209LATEST NEWS
'Stuff of Parody': Trump Taps Election-Denying Ally Kari Lake to Run Voice of America
"Authoritarians love to control and instrumentalize media organizations, especially state-funded ones," journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in response to the news.
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President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Kari Lake, a far-right election denier and failed U.S. Senate candidate, to lead the federally funded international broadcast network Voice of America, a move that critics said underscores Trump's effort to transform government entities into vehicles to advance his own interests.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that as director of VOA, Lake would "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media."
Lake, a former television news anchor in Arizona who has echoed Trump's insidious attacks on journalists, wrote in response to the president-elect's announcement that she was "honored" to be asked to lead VOA, which she characterized as "a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth." VOA, which is supposed to have editorial independence, has long faced criticism for its coverage and treatment of employees.
Though the VOA's Charter states that the outlet will "present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions," Lake made clear that she views the network as a propaganda channel for the United States.
"Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America's achievements worldwide," Lake, an outspoken Trump loyalist, wrote Wednesday.
Hours after Trump's announcement that she's his pick to lead VOA, Lake applaudedTIME magazine for naming Trump its "Person of the Year" and gushed that he "should have been the Person of the Year every year for the last decade."
Journalists and watchdogs expressed a mixture of alarm and mockery in response to Trump's attempt to elevate Lake to VOA director.
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Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan added that "authoritarians love to control and instrumentalize media organizations, especially state-funded ones."
"Good luck to the VOA," he wrote.
VOA is the largest federally funded international broadcaster and is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
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"Six members of the board are named by the president and require Senate consent, and the seventh member is the secretary of state," the Post explained.
During his first term in the White House, Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media worked aggressively to influence VOA coverage.
"In 2020, Mr. Trump appointed Michael Pack, an ally of his former aide Stephen K. Bannon, to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media," The New York Timessummarized on Thursday. "Mr. Pack was accused of trying to turn Voice of America into a mouthpiece for the Trump administration, and a federal judge ruled that Mr. Pack had violated the First Amendment rights of the outlet's journalists. A federal investigation later found that Mr. Pack had grossly mismanaged the U.S. Agency for Global Media, repeatedly abusing his power by sidelining executives he felt did not sufficiently support Mr. Trump."
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But the president's sweeping use of his clemency power as his term nears its conclusion did not appear to extend to any of the 40 men currently on death row—some of whom have been there for decades.
According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
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Despite the Pentagon's repeated failures to pass audits and various alarming policies, 81 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with 200 Republicans on Wednesday to advance a $883.7 billion annual defense package.
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Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairs and co-founders of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement, "Time and time again, Congress seems to be able to find the funds necessary to line the pockets of defense contractors while neglecting the problems everyday Americans face here at home."
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"While we're glad many of the poison pill riders that were included in the House-passed version were ultimately removed from the final bill, the bill does include a ban on access to medically necessary healthcare for transgender children of service members, which will force service members to choose between serving their country and getting their children the care they need," the pair noted. "The final bill also failed to expand coverage for fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), for service members regardless of whether their infertility is service-connected."
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As Omar, a leading critic of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, also pointed out: "The NDAA includes a provision that blocks the Pentagon from using data on casualties and deaths from the Gaza Ministry of Health or any sources relying on those statistics. This is an alarming erasure of the suffering of the Palestinian people, ignoring the human toll of ongoing violence."
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