The U.S. Supreme Court has tossed out Texas’ legal fight to stop the federal government from storing nuclear waste in West Texas, dealing a blow to state leaders who say the plan is dangerous and illegal.
The case centered on a license the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave to a private company to store spent nuclear fuel—radioactive waste from power plants—in Andrews County, in the heart of the Permian Basin.
Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott both fought the plan, saying it puts the state’s environment and economy at risk and jeopardizes national security.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Court declined to weigh in on whether the federal government has the authority to authorize such storage projects. Instead, the justices found that Texas and nearby landowner Fasken Land and Minerals lacked standing to challenge the license because they were not official parties to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s internal proceedings.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality submitted comments, and Fasken unsuccessfully sought to intervene.
Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that if someone wants to challenge an NRC decision in court, they first have to be a recognized party in the licensing process.
That decision means the NRC’s license stands, and the private company, Interim Storage Partners, can move forward with its plans to build the waste site, at least for now.
Justice Neil Gorsuch strongly disagreed. In a dissent joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, he said the NRC clearly broke the law by allowing private off-site storage in the first place and warned the Court was letting the government get away with it.
The fight goes back to a 1982 federal law that said nuclear waste should be stored at nuclear plants or at a permanent federal site, such as Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which was chosen by Congress but never completed. With nowhere else to put it, the NRC has turned to “temporary” storage plans, like the one in West Texas.
Texas lawmakers pushed back. In 2021, Gov. Abbott signed a law banning nuclear waste storage in the state, except in limited cases at nuclear facilities.
Paxton had previously warned that the NRC’s actions threatened national security and ignored the law, calling the plan to transport nuclear waste through Texas “irresponsible.” In 2021, Abbott declared that he would not allow Texas to become “America’s dumping ground for deadly radioactive waste.”
While this ruling is a setback for the state, it doesn’t end the debate. A future challenge could still happen—if it comes from someone the courts say has proper standing.
