Media Coverage
Source: E&E News, Nucleonics Week
Media Coverage
01.09.14
The Department of Energy urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reconsider a ruling that ordered it to stop collecting fees from electric utilities since the DOE abandoned the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, waste repository project three years ago and has no plans for an alternative waste disposal site. The fees collected thus far are held in the Nuclear Waste Fund.
Washington, D.C.-based energy partner Jay Silberg, who is representing the Nuclear Energy Institute and individual utilities, disagreed with the DOE’s assertion that the ruling is incorrect. The court was correct to point out the department’s missteps, he said, adding that it is unclear whether the agency would try to change its fee recommendation once it hears from the court.
“We think the decision was well-founded; it spells out exactly what the DOE did wrong,” Silberg commented. “The DOE position would allow them to disregard what Congress has told them to do; they could continue to do whatever kind of a report they wanted, even though it's not consistent with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.”
A suspension of the fees would not preclude Congress from appropriating the Nuclear Waste Fund, Silberg explained. “The fund has about $30 billion in it" and earns about $1.5 billion a year in interest, he said.
To read more, visit: Pillsbury Attorneys Successfully Argue for Suspension of Nuclear Waste Fees