Texas is suing the blockade of a nuclear waste facility on the New Mexico border

A Texas state lawsuit last week called a proposal to build a nuclear waste storage facility in the state “illegal” and asked a federal appeals court to abandon a federal license granted to the project earlier this month.

Interim Storage Partners (ISP) has been licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build an interim storage facility for spent fuel in Andrews, Texas, along the state’s western border with New Mexico.

The project, an extension of the company’s Andrews facility that contains low level waste, would ultimately accommodate up to 40,000 tonnes of the high level waste temporarily until a repository is available.

More:Texas is voting for a ban on the storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste. Could New Mexico do the same?

There is currently no permanent repository for the waste and critics of the project feared that it could become a “de facto” permanent repository for the waste.

The lawsuit filed by Abbott and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in the U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals on Sept. 23 called for judicial review and eventual revocation of the license.

“The petitioners pray that upon review, the court will determine the illegality and revoke the order to issue material license No. SNM-2515 and revoke the license,” the lawsuit said.

More:Nuclear waste storage facility on Texas-New Mexico border receives federal license

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said the agency is not commenting on any pending litigation.

The Texas facility was issued after continued opposition to the project from West Texas lawmakers and Governor Greg Abbott.

A similar proposal across the border in southeastern New Mexico would result in another company, Holtec International, building a facility for up to 100,000 tons of the waste, and met with fierce opposition from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, members of her cabinet and Legislators while local governments in Eddy and Lea counties were supportive.

As part of its ongoing efforts to block the Interim Storage Partners proposal, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 7 in a special session earlier this month, banning the state’s storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

McIntyre said the bill won’t prevent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from issuing a federal license, but it could pose a threat to any state-level permits required for the project.

“HB 7 does not deal directly with the NRC’s licensing process or attempt to block a license,” he said. “Rather, it is about certain government permits ISPs would need prior to construction and whether it is legal to store waste under state rather than federal law.”

In a September 14 tweet, Abbott, a frequent critic of the proposal, accused President Joe Biden’s administration of forcing Texas to accept the apostasy.

In the past, Abbott argued that the storage of high-level nuclear waste in West Texas, amid the Permian Basin oil and gas fields, could threaten future production operations in one of the world’s most active fossil fuel production regions.

The project, along with that of Holtec, was also rejected by some oil and gas operators in the region.

More:WIPP: New panels for the disposal of nuclear waste

“The Biden administrator. tries to dump highly radioactive nuclear waste in oil fields in western Texas. I just signed a law to stop it. Texas won’t become America’s nuclear waste dump, ”Abbott’s tweet reads.

Texas Rep. Brooks Landgraff of Odessa, sponsor of the Texas Highly Active Waste Disposal Act, said when it passed that Andrews County was against high-level waste storage after the county commission passed a resolution against the project.

“My job is to represent the people of Andrews County who are clearly supportive of the existing low-concentration facility but who oppose an expansion to store high-level radioactive waste,” Landgraff said in a statement. “That’s why I fought to get HB 7 into law without being changed by anyone who didn’t care about Andrews’ welfare.”

More:NRC: Court has no authority in New Mexico landfill lawsuit

Upon receiving the license, Interim Storage Partners defended the proposal and the licensing process, which the company believes demonstrated that the waste can be stored safely and with low environmental impact.

“This approval is based on the multi-year and thorough review and validation of the various scientific, technical, environmental, safety and economic assumptions, designs and plans set out in the application,” the company said in a statement.

“The extensive analyzes showed that the commercial interim storage facilities and transports of this facility meet all environmental, health and safety requirements without any negative impact on local residents or existing industries.”

More:At the nuclear waste facility near Carlsbad, COVID-19 is rising as infections escalate in New Mexico

The Texas lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed in March by New Mexico’s Attorney General Hector Balderas to stop Holtec’s proposal.

This project is still in the approval process and a decision is expected next year after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission published an environmental impact statement earlier this year, which also stated that the proposal would have “minimal” environmental impact.

“I am taking legal action because I want to reduce risks to our environment and other energy sectors,” said Balderas. “It is fundamentally unfair for our residents to take the risks of indefinite uncertainty.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-618-7631, [email protected], or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.