Lawyer reduces role in Yucca Mountain fight

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's lead lawyer in the fight against the Yucca Mountain repository is reducing his role as he battles stomach cancer, his firm announced.

Attorney Joe Egan gradually has taken a less public role in the two years since he was diagnosed with the disease.

Egan, Fitzpatrick & Malsch PLLC announced this week it has designated new titles for the partners in the Nevada nuclear waste case with Egan, 53, who now is serving only as an adviser.

The state of Nevada pays the firm roughly $4 million a year to pay for technical experts and carry out legal strategy with the attorney general against the Department of Energy program to develop a nuclear waste storage site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Martin Malsch, a former acting general counsel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, last week became lead licensing counsel for hearings that the NRC will conduct on the repository construction application, according to the firm.

Charles Fitzpatrick, the firm's managing director, became lead litigation counsel.

The firm, which has offices in Washington and in San Antonio, announced it has been adding staff in preparation for the upcoming NRC licensing process. A new senior attorney will be announced soon, Fitzpatrick said.

The state of Nevada, which provides more than half of the firm's business since its hiring in 2001, has been consulted on the changes, said Bob Loux, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects. "Everything is full speed ahead," Loux said.