The Corner

Yucca Decision

Jonah — You’re correct that both sides are claiming victory int he Yucca case. The reason I believe the decision is a defeat for Nevada is that the state sought to claim that the federal government could not impose its site selection on the unconsenting state. This was a losing argument, and the Court rejected it. Where Nevada won was on the issue of the radiation standard for the facility. The court found that the EPA had adopted a radiation standard without sufficeintly considering the views of a National Academy of Sciences report on the subject. Without a doubt this requires the EPA and Energy Department to do more work on the regulations governing the facility, and knocks the schedule back, but I believe this merely delays the inevitable. Specific regulatory standards are remanded all the time without invalidating the underlying government program or regulatory initiative, and I believe that is the case here. No doubt Nevada will sue again (and again, and again), and they may even be able to delay the the site’s operation a little more, but unless they find a better legal hook than those they presented to the court in this litigation, or unless Congress changes its mind, I believe Yucca will eventually become the repository for the nation’s nuclear waste.

Jonathan H. Adler is the Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. His books include Business and the Roberts Court and Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane.
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