Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas
Issues
Under the Hobbs Act, can someone who wasn’t directly involved in a case challenge a government agency’s decision in court if they believe the agency went beyond its legal power? Second, do the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license private companies to temporarily store nuclear fuel away from nuclear-reactor sites?
This case asks the Supreme Court to determine whether parties like Texas can challenge an agency’s decision in court, despite not participating in the agency’s earlier hearing concerning the decision. Texas claims it has standing as an aggrieved party because it only needs to participate even slightly in the original decision-making process, while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) argues Texas misinterprets the law because Texas was required to be a party in the decision-making process, not just a general participant, to be an aggrieved party. The case also asks the Supreme Court to decide if federal laws regulating nuclear energy production allow the NRC to license private companies to store nuclear waste away from the nuclear energy facilities, specifically in the Permian Basin in Texas. Texas argues that federal statutes only empower the NRC to license on-site or federal controlled off-site storage, while the NRC asserts that they have that power because the statutes do not explicitly limit its authority to license temporary, private off-site storage. The outcome of this case has future implications for both nuclear energy expansion, and oil and gas production in the Permian Basin region.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
Whether the Hobbs Act, which authorizes a “party aggrieved” by an agency’s “final order” to petition for review in a court of appeals, allows nonparties to obtain review of claims asserting that an agency order exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.
Whether the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 permit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license private entities to temporarily store spent nuclear fuel away from the nuclear reactor sites where the spent fuel was generated.
In 1942, the first nuclear reactor was created in the United States. Texas v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 3. In 1946, Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act, which allowed civilian use of atomic power.
Additional Resources
- Drew Hutchinson and Alexis Waiss, Supreme Court Nuclear Waste Case Risks Slowing Industry Revamp, Bloomberg Law (Oct. 11, 2024).
- Hogan Lovells, Supreme Court takes up interim storage case, Hogan Lovells (Oct. 4, 2024).
- Mark Sherman, Supreme Court steps into fight over nuclear waste storage in rural Texas and New Mexico, PBS News (Oct. 4, 2024).