Sierra Club Motion for Supplemental Briefing — WV’s implications for ISP case

On July 29, 2022, attorney Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa filed a Motion for Supplemental Briefing on behalf of Sierra Club with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the Don’t Waste Michigan versus Nuclear Regulatory Commission federal appeal.

See Sierra Club’s Motion, here:

The Motion requests the Court order supplemental briefing in the federal appeal, regarding the implications of the June 30, 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia versus EPA. The Supreme Court established a “major questions doctrine,” which means that executive branch agencies, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, cannot pursue regulatory enforcement in matters having significant economic and political impacts without clear authority granted by Congress to do so.

Sierra Club has argued this Supreme Court ruling calls into question NRC’s authority to license the Interim Storage Partners, LLC highly radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews County, Texas.

The Attorney General of the State of Texas has made the same argument in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Beyond Nuclear has also raised this issue in a notification letter sent to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 13, 2022.