Supreme Court lets U.S. stop work on $8B SC nuclear fuel plant
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The federal government does not have to restart construction on a nuclear fuel facility in South Carolina that it abandoned after spending nearly $8 billion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The justices refused without comment to hear South Carolina's appeal of a lower court decision last October that allowed the U.S. Energy Department to stop building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site near Aiken.
Work on the plant started nearly two decades ago. Its goal was to take plutonium used in nuclear weapons built during the Cold War and convert it into a fuel called MOX to run nuclear plants around the world.
The facility was over budget and behind schedule nearly from the start. It was still decades away from completion when President Barack Obama's final budget in 2016 pulled funding. Republicans in South Carolina asked President Donald Trump to restart the project, but his administration has refused.
South Carolina then sued the federal government, saying it promised to remove the 11 metric tons (24,250 pounds) of plutonium from the state by 2021 and without the MOX plant in place, there was no reason to believe the government could keep its end of the deal.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he was disappointed with the Supreme Court's refusal to hear its appeal but said state officials "will continue to do everything necessary to protect the citizens of our state and hold the federal government accountable under the law."
Federal officials said they should be free to consider any alternatives they want. The plan now appears to be to seal the plutonium and bury it in the western U.S. desert.
Wilson announced in August that federal officials had shipped 1 metric ton (2,200 pounds) of nuclear material from the Savannah River Site to Nevada.
In August, Nevada lost its own federal appeals court fight to block any more shipments of weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Las Vegas.
Justices seem likely to uphold Puerto Rico oversight board
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court seems likely to leave in place the oversight board established by Congress to help Puerto Rico out of a devastating financial crisis that was deepened by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
The justices voiced skepticism Tuesday about a constitutional challenge to the oversight board's composition that could affect more than $100 billion in debt and the island's economic future. Hedge funds that invested in Puerto Rican bonds are leading the case against the board.
A lower court ruled in February that board members were appointed in violation of the Constitution because they were not confirmed by the Senate.
The president selects the board's seven voting members. They and one other non-voting member chosen by Puerto Rico's governor approve budgets and fiscal plans drawn up by the island's government. The board also handles bankruptcy-like cases that allow the island to restructure its debts.
Justice Samuel Alito asked facetiously if it's "excessively cynical" to think that the hedge funds were more interested in the money at stake than the constitutional challenge they are mounting.
The oversight board and the Trump administration appealed the ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. There appeared to be substantial support for their arguments that the board's makeup is not controlled by the Constitution's provision on appointments, but by a different provision giving Congress significant control over U.S. territories, of which Puerto Rico is one.
Legislation passed by Congress in 2016 directed the oversight board to act "on behalf of Puerto Rico and its people and its agencies," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.
The appeals court gave the president time to rectify the problem by re-nominating the members and getting them approved by the Senate. President Donald Trump has sent the nominations to the Senate, which has not acted on them while the court case is pending.
Even if the justices uphold the lower court ruling against the board, it could simultaneously also ratify the actions it has taken to date because throwing them out would be very disruptive to the island's recovery.
A decision is expected relatively quickly because the court agreed to review and decide the case much faster than usual.
Published: Thu, Oct 17, 2019
