Tennessee v. Herrington: An end run around state participation in nuclear waste siting decisions
In Tennessee v. Herrington, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the Secretary of Energy, in administering the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, has no obligation to consult and cooperate with any state before sending Congress a proposal for the location and construction of one or more monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facilities. An MRS facility is an operation in which spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste is consolidated, packaged, handled, and temprarily stored proir to disposal in deep geologic repositories. The court's decision denies the states any right to participate in the pre-site selection process for MRS facilities; instead, it gives the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) sole authority to choose MRS locations and, therefore, ignore environmental, health, and safety concerns raised by the states until after Congress has authorized construction of an MRS facility. The purpose of this Note is to analyze Tennessee v. Herrington by focussing on the court's interpretation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) sections 10161(h) (participation of states in MRS siting decisions) and 10137 (consultation and cooperation requirements). The first section of this Note briefly describe the history of nuclear waste disposal in America, the NWPA of 1982, and the basic operation and purpose of an MRS facility. The second section discusses the history of the Tennessee v. Herrington litigation. The third section reviews the court's analysis by focussing on the standard of review it employed in reaching its decision, plus the legislative intent underlying the NWPA. The final section expresses the conclusion that the Department of Energy (DOE) acted outside its delegated authority by failing to consult and cooperate with the state of Tennessee prior to submitting or attempting to submit its MRS proposal to Congress.
- OSTI ID:
- 6991454
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Energy Law and Policy; (USA), Vol. 9:1; ISSN 0275-9926
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACTS
IMPLEMENTATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SITE SELECTION
COOPERATION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
LAWSUITS
MONITORED RETRIEVABLE STORAGE
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
RECOMMENDATIONS
STATE GOVERNMENT
TENNESSEE
US DOE
FEDERAL REGION IV
LAWS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
STORAGE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES
056000* - Nuclear Fuels- Legislation & Regulations- (1987-)
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety