Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Works to Stop Unac­count­able Fed­er­al Plan to Ille­gal­ly Build a Nuclear Waste Facil­i­ty on World’s Most Pro­duc­tive Oil Field

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office defended Texas before the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) yesterday against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s attempt to send the nation’s nuclear waste to a proposed facility located in Texas’s Permian Basin—the world’s most productive oil field. Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson presented the case on behalf of Texas.

In 1987, Congress determined that the nation’s spent nuclear fuel should be securely deposited deep underground in a permanent facility in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The federal government has failed to follow that law for decades and has now attempted to authorize private “interim storage projects,” approving a facility that would store thousands of metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in an above-ground facility in the Permian Basin.

Congress, however, never authorized such a scheme. Further, the Permian Basin facility may cause shipments of dangerous materials to be moved through major population centers and transportation hubs, such as Fort Worth, exposing Texas’s infrastructure to potential accidents or terrorist attacks.

“My office argued before the Supreme Court to protect Texas from an illegal plan to send dangerous radioactive materials to the beating heart of America’s energy industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has no lawful authority to irresponsibly dump thousands of metric tons of radioactive nuclear waste on top of the vital oil fields in Texas,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Commission should follow the law instead of jeopardizing national security, threatening environmental catastrophe, and inviting untold disaster.” 

To read Texas’s brief, click here.