First on the list: Sen. Ted CruzR-Texas, is leading a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling preventing nuclear waste from being disposed of in his state.
Cruz, along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Ambassador Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, want the top court to uphold a lower court’s ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not have the authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities.
They claim that the proposed site of the nuclear waste site poses a “tremendous threat to the security and economic well-being of the country”.
The case, NRC v. Texas, will decide “whether the Commission has authorization to issue a permit under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.”
AND Supreme Court In October, he agreed to take up the case after the Biden administration appealed a Fifth Circuit ruling that the NRC lacked authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. The license, which was granted to the Biden administration and a company to build a waste storage facility in West Texas, was challenged by Texas and New Mexico.
The bipartisan amicus brief argues that the proposed location of the nuclear waste site in Texas poses a “tremendous threat to the nation’s security and economic well-being.”
Interim Storage Partners planned to operate a nuclear storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, a decision that prompted backlash over the facility’s location within the Permian Basin.
“The Permian Basin is a premier oil and gas region and a critical pillar of America’s energy security,” Cruz said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I support the State of Texas in opposing the Federal Regulatory Commission’s NRC – and will continue to fight to ensure that West Texas remains the energy powerhouse it is today.”
The brief argues that placing storage facilities near the Permian Basin makes the area a “tempting target for adversaries,” thus threatening the oil-producing region. In short, he says that neither the parties hoping to operate the facilities nor the NRC are “equipped to consider the broader ramifications” of placing facilities in the area.
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Texas Democratic Ambassador Henry Cueller and Republican Reps. August Pfluger and Ronny Jackson also joined Cruz’s brief.
“Energy independence is national security, which is why I support increasing all reliable and economical energy sources, including nuclear, to meet our growing energy demand,” Arrington said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “However, I will not allow Washington to impose its will on West Texas regarding the temporary disposal of high-level nuclear waste just because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cannot—or will not—complete permanent storage elsewhere.”
Arrington said Texas “and the people of Andrews should make the decision,” not “some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, DC.”
The amicus brief says that the location of the waste site—while “remote”—”poses an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (pictured), along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Ambassador Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, want the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court’s ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks the authority to license nuclear waste storage . (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Energy security is national security. That adage remains as true now as it was in the 1970s, when OPEC strategically cut its oil supply to the United States,” the filing continues.
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“And while we’ve come a long way since then—building domestic energy production and reducing dependence on fossil fuels—recent events are a vivid reminder of the importance of energy independence,” Amicus continued. “They also showed that the Permian Basin has global importance.”
The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in early March. (Ricky Carioti/Washington Post via Getty Images)
The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in early March.
