The case is captioned Morris v. United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Petition here. Lower court materials here [corrected link, thanks to A.T.S.].
Questions presented:
1. In determining whether public radiation doses from a proposed new uranium mine would exceed regulatory limits, could the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) interpret 10 C.F.R. § 20.1301(a)(1) to allow it to ignore radioactive emissions from existing uranium mine waste on the mine site?
2. Where, in establishing a groundwater restoration surety for a proposed uranium mine, the NRC failed to follow its own criteria for protecting the drinking water on the site, did the NRC violate the Atomic Energy Act’s prohibition
against licensing operations that are inimical to public health and safety?
News coverage from Law360 (miigwetch to J.W.):
Environmental and Native American groups on Thursday launched a last-gasp effort to fight proposed in situ leach uranium mining in northwestern New Mexico that they allege will contaminate large areas of groundwater, including a primary drinking water source for 15,000 Navajos.
In a petition for a writ of certiorari, the Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining, a Navajo community organization; the Southwest Research and Information Center, an environmental education organization; and two local ranchers, Grace Sam and Marilyn Morris, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a March 2010 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
The groups said that under the Tenth Circuit’s ruling, Hydro Resources Inc. would not have to clean up existing Cold War-era radioactive waste on its property, and that both the old waste and new mining would expose residents to dangerous levels of radiation.
This is the first time that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed a mining operation in a community drinking water supply, despite the fact that no aquifer in which in situ leach uranium mining has occurred has ever been restored to premining condition, according to the groups.
Moreover, the government has allegedly not required an adequate bond to clean up the mine should HRI — a subsidiary of the Texas-based Uranium Resources Inc. — walk away from the site.
“The community is letting the government know that they will not give up the fight and they will continue resisting these proposed uranium mines,” said Eric Jantz, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center who is representing the plaintiffs.
The dispute in question goes back to 1988, when HRI first applied for a permit to conduct in situ leach mining for uranium near Church Rock and Crownpoint, N.M., which lie within the boundaries of the Navajo nation.
That permit was granted by the NRC 10 years later after the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a final environmental impact statement, prompting a legal challenge from the Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining and the other plaintiffs.
They alleged that the NRC violated the Atomic Energy Act, which sets forth specific requirements that an applicant must meet before obtaining a license, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that an agency take a “hard look” at the environmental impact of any project or action it authorizes.
This March, the Tenth Circuit upheld the NRC’s licensing decision in a 2-1 ruling, saying the agency had in fact taken a hard look at the environmental impact of the mines.
In dissent, Judge Carlos F. Lucero wrote that the decision would “unnecessarily and unjustifiably compromise the health and safety of the people who currently live within and immediately downwind” of the area to be mined.
The plaintiffs are represented in this matter by Eric Jantz of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, Diane Curran of Harmon Curran Spielberg & Eisenberg LLP and Levon Henry of the DNA-People’s Legal Services Inc., among others.
HRI is represented by attorneys from Thompson & Simmons PLLC.
The case is Marilyn Morris et al. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in the U.S. Supreme Court. Case number was not available.
Turtle Talk 