Cruz spearheads effort to derail nuclear waste dumping in oil-rich area of Texas

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted CruzR-Texas, is leading a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling preventing the disposal of nuclear waste in his state.

Cruz, along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, want the high court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not have the authority to license nuclear waste repositories.

They claim that the proposed location of the nuclear waste disposal site poses a “tremendous threat to the security and economic well-being of the country”.

The case, NRC v. Texas, will decide “whether the Commission has authority to issue a license under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.”

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The Supreme Court agreed in October to take over the case after the Biden administration appealed a Fifth Circuit ruling that the NRC lacked authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. The license, which the Biden administration and the company received to build a waste storage facility in West Texas, was challenged by Texas and New Mexico.

Interim Storage Partners planned to operate a nuclear storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, a decision that drew backlash because of the facility’s location within the Permian Basin.

“The Permian Basin is our nation’s leading oil and gas producing region and a key pillar of America’s energy security,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in a statement. “I support the state of Texas in opposing the federal NRC overreach and will continue to fight to keep West Texas the energy powerhouse it is today.”

The brief argues that placing storage facilities near the Permian Basin makes the area a “tempting target for adversaries,” therefore threatening the oil-producing region. The summary says that neither the parties hoping to manage the facilities nor the NRC are “equipped to consider the broader consequences” of placing facilities in the area.

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Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cueller and Republican Reps. August Pfluger and Ronny Jackson also joined Cruz’s request.

“Energy independence is national security, which is why I support increasing all reliable and cost-effective energy sources, including nuclear, to meet our growing energy demand,” Arrington said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “However, I will not allow Washington to impose its will on West Texas regarding the interim disposal of high-level nuclear waste just because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cannot – or will not – complete permanent storage elsewhere.”

Arrington said Texas “and the people of Andrews should make the decision,” not “some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, DC.”

The amicus brief states that the landfill locations — although “remote” — “pose an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

“Energy security is national security. That saying remains as true now as it was in the 1970s, when OPEC strategically limited its oil supply to the United States,” the filing continued.

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“And while we’ve come a long way since then — building domestic energy production capacity and reducing dependence on fossil fuels — recent events are a vivid reminder of the importance of energy independence,” the friend continued. “They also showed that the Permian Basin has global importance.”

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The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in early March.