Saturday, August 16, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Trial for state's Yucca lawsuits postponed

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court has ordered an indefinite delay in the trial of a group of four Nevada lawsuits seeking to block the licensing of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Opening arguments, which had been scheduled for Oct. 3, were postponed Thursday by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. Linda Jones, the courts operations manager, said she hoped the trial would be rescheduled before the end of the year, but she wasn't sure.

The court made the decision to delay the trial due to the complex nature of Nevada's consolidated lawsuits, according to Joe Strolin, planning division administrator of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

The court announced Nevada's consolidated lawsuits would be moved to its "complex" calendar.

Very few cases receive the complex designation, Jones said, and a new three-judge panel will be selected at random to preside over the trial.

The complex designation also means Nevada will be given several hours to argue its case instead of the usual 15 minutes, according to Joe Egan, a Washington-area attorney representing the state.

Among other things, the Nevada lawsuits charge the Department of Energy used faulty guidelines in recommending Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for the permanent storage of 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear spent fuel.

"The more the court looks at the cases, the better chance we have in prevailing since the government cannot rationally explain DOE's actions," said Bob Loux, director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects.

Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said he did not want to speculate on the significance of the delay or the "complex" designation.

"It's certainly not anything we're concerned about at this time," Singer said.

A call to the Energy Department was not returned.