"NRC flouting law on Yucca proposal, court rules; Says agency must take action on Nevada waste site" by Matthew Daly | Associated Press, August 14, 2013
WASHINGTON —In a sharply worded opinion, the the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the nuclear agency was ‘‘simply flouting the law’’ when it allowed the Obama administration to continue plans to close the proposed waste site 90 miles from Las Vegas....
Related: Inaugurating Obama's Dictatorship
I guess this was one of those times.
‘‘The president may not decline to follow a statutory mandate or prohibition simply because of policy objections,’’ Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote in a majority opinion, which was joined Judge A. Raymond Randolph. Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland dissented.
He thinks he does, or just does not care.
The appeals court said the case has important implications for the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government. ‘‘It is no overstatement to say that our constitutional system of separation of powers would be significantly altered if we were to allow executive and independent agencies to disregard federal law in the manner asserted in this case by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,’’ Kavanaugh wrote. ‘‘The commission is simply defying a law enacted by Congress . . . without any legal basis.’’
A spokesman for the NRC said Tuesday the agency was reviewing the decision.
What is to review?
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the Energy Department was not a party to the lawsuit, but he characterized the Yucca Mountain project as ‘‘a complete stalemate.’’ He said he saw no evidence of that changing.
‘‘Currently we do not have funding,’’ he told reporters at a clean energy conference Tuesday in Las Vegas.
The court’s decision was hailed by supporters of the Yucca site, which has been the focus of a dispute that stretches back more than three decades. The government has spent an estimated $15 billion on the site but has never completed it. No waste is stored there.
‘‘This decision reaffirms a fundamental truth: The president is not above the law,’’ said South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. The Obama administration ‘‘cannot pick and choose which laws to follow and which to ignore,’’ Wilson said....
Actually, yes, he can!
The Obama administration, under pressure from Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, abandoned the project early in the president’s first term....
He kept some promises, 'eh?
Reid, a Democrat, called the appeals court decision ‘‘fairly meaningless,’’ noting that Congress has nearly eliminated funding for Yucca and is unlikely to restore it.
And yet they will fight to the death over the abomination that is Obamacare?
‘‘This isn’t even a bump in the road,’’ Reid said. ‘‘This, without being disrespectful to the court, means nothing.’’
But is, Harry!
Even if the Obama administration moves forward on the application, ‘‘there’s no money’’ for Yucca Mountain, Reid said. ‘‘We’ve cut out funding for many years now and there’s none in our budget to start it.’’
Reid is a longtime opponent of the plan to bury waste at Yucca Mountain, which has drawn nearly unanimous opposition from Nevada elected officials, but support from lawmakers, especially Republicans, in many other states, as a crucial part of the country’s commercial nuclear operations.
Republican Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan and John Shimkus of Illinois called the court ruling a ‘‘significant milestone’’ that made it clear the Obama administration acted prematurely in terminating Yucca Mountain. Upton chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while Shimkus heads a subcommittee on environment and the economy.
‘‘Congress and the courts have spoken out to prevent billions of taxpayer dollars and three decades of research from being squandered,’’ Upton and Shimkus said. Last month, 335 House members voted to boost funding for the Yucca project in a larger spending bill on energy and water.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the ruling good news for his state — particularly residents near the Hanford nuclear complex in central Washington, where millions of gallons of nuclear waste are stored in leaking underground tanks....
Related: The Winds of Washington State
Yeah, who cares if we have our own Fukushima here in the northwest?
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Breaking the law looks IMPEACHABLE!
