First on Fox: Sin. Ted CruzThe Texas Republican is leading a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling blocking the deposit of nuclear waste in his state.
Cruz, along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jody Arrington, R-Texas, want the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lacks the authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities.
They say the proposed location of the nuclear waste sites poses a “tremendous threat to the country's security and economic well-being.”
The case, NRC v. Texas, will decide “whether the Commission has licensing authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.”
the supreme court The Trump administration agreed in October to take up the case after the Biden administration appealed a Fifth Circuit ruling that the NRC lacked the authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. Texas and New Mexico have challenged the permit, which was granted to the Biden administration and a company to build a waste storage facility in West Texas.
The bipartisan amicus brief argues that the proposed location of nuclear waste sites in Texas poses a “tremendous threat to the nation’s security and economic well-being.”
Interim Storage Partners planned to operate a nuclear storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, a decision that sparked 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 NRC federal overreach and will continue to fight to ensure West Texas remains the energy powerhouse it is today.”
The brief argues that placing storage facilities near the Permian Basin makes the region a “tempting target for adversaries,” thus threatening the oil-producing region. Neither the parties hoping to operate the facilities nor the Norwegian Refugee Council are “equipped to consider the broader ramifications” of placing the facilities in the region, the brief says.
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Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and Republican Reps. August Pfluger and Ronnie Jackson also joined Cruz's brief.
“Energy independence is a national security, which is why I support expanding the scope of all reliable and economical energy sources, including nuclear power, 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 temporary disposal of high-level nuclear waste, simply because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cannot—or does not want to—end up permanent storage elsewhere.”
Arrington said Texas “and the people of Andrews should be making the decision” rather than “some faceless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.”
The friend-of-the-court brief states that the location of the waste sites — though “remote” — “represents a formidable threat to the nation’s security and economic well-being.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (pictured), along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jody Arrington, R-Texas, want the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks authority. To license nuclear waste storage facilities. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Energy security is national security. That adage remains as true now as it was in the 1970s, when OPEC strategically reduced its oil supplies to the United States,” the recording continues.
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The friend continued: “Although we have come a long way since then – in building local energy production capacity and reducing dependence on fossil fuels – recent events are a vivid reminder of the importance of energy independence.” “They also showed that the Permian Basin is of global importance.”
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in early March. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in early March.
