Supreme Court to Consider Nuclear Waste Storage Dispute
The Supreme Court will decide whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can license nuclear waste storage facilities, amid objections from Texas, New Mexico, and the oil industry.
The U.S. government and a company that was awarded a license by the NRC, the federal agency that regulates nuclear energy in the United States, to operate a facility in western Texas have appealed a lower court's ruling declaring this storage arrangement unlawful.
The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, showed skepticism toward the authority of federal regulatory agencies in several major rulings during former President Joe Biden's administration.
The NRC case is being argued at a time when President Donald Trump's administration has taken aim at various federal agencies in his campaign to downsize and overhaul the U.S. government and fire thousands of workers.