Call finally ends nuke waste dispute
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star
Rancher Lowell Fisher was putting up hay Monday when he heard the news: Nebraska had just paid $145.8 million to end 18 years of fighting over a nuclear waste dump. For Fisher and other Boyd County residents, it was the end of an emotional roller coaster to keep a low-level radioactive waste storehouse out of their backyards and away from their streams and aquifers.
"We're really glad — not because we paid $145 million but because the license was denied for the right reasons and it does bring the end and that's something we've been waiting for for years," Fisher said in a phone interview.
Heidi Wallace, an employee in the state treasurer's office, ended Nebraska's involvement in the nuke waste controversy shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, when she placed a routine phone call and made two wire transfers to the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission.
The total: $145,811,367.11.
Nebraska and compact officials agreed to the payment last year as part of a settlement to end years of litigation over the failed efforts to build a nuke waste storehouse near Butte in Boyd County.
State Treasurer Ron Ross said the funds were wired from a custodial bank in Boston, where the state has $1 billion it uses to pay bills and maintain cash flow. Ross watched the transfer with David Cookson, an assistant attorney general, who helped hammer out the settlement between the state and the compact.
The Boston bank wired the money to a bank in Minneapolis, Ross said. Wallace called that bank, which transferred the funds in two separate payments to Union Bank in Lincoln, where the compact conducts its business.
"It's the single largest payment ever made in the state," said Paul Carlson, state accounting administrator. He said it amounts to about $83 for each resident.
The payment officially ends Nebraska's role in the compact, which was created to help find a place to store low-level radioactive waste generated in the region. Much of the waste comes from nuclear power plants in the form of tools, clothing, filters and equipment.
Nebraska's two nuclear utilities — Nebraska Public Power District and Omaha Public Power District — ship low-level radioactive waste to disposal sites in Barnwell, S.C., and Clive, Utah. Both utilities will continue to use those sites as long as they accept out-of-state waste.
"In terms of low-level waste facilities, I think the feeling has been it's the state's responsibility," said OPPD spokesman Mike Jones. "I think our people are trying to determine what exactly our options are and then we'll go from there."
Nationally, no compact has opened a regional nuclear waste storehouse.
Alan Peterson, a Lincoln attorney who represents the compact commission, said Nebraska is now on its own. The compact and the state are no longer negotiating together with Texas, which is building a nuclear waste storehouse, he added.
Nebraska joined the compact in 1983, along with Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and in 1987 was picked to host the nuclear waste storehouse. Two years later, the compact and its developer, US Ecology, chose a location outside of Butte in Boyd County.
In 1998, the state of Nebraska denied US Ecology a license to build and operate the site, citing environmental and financial concerns and a high water table. The compact sued Nebraska, alleging state officials, including former Gov. Ben Nelson, acted in "bad faith." U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf agreed and awarded the compact a settlement. Nebraska is no longer a member of the compact.
Asked if today's payment had historical significance, Peterson said: "I think it's historical in the sense of an enormous price being paid by all of Nebraska for a lack of good faith on the part of relatively few people."
Last month, the compact commission agreed to return most of the $145 million to the nuclear utilities who paid most of the upfront costs for the Boyd County project.
Here is a breakdown of how much money each utility will get:
* Entergy Arkansas, $23.6 million.
* Entergy Gulf States, $19.8 million.
* Entergy Louisiana, $18.4 million.
* Nebraska Public Power District, $18.4 million.
* Omaha Public Power District, $15.4 million.
* Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Co., $18.9 million.
The compact commission also will pay developer US Ecology about $11.8 million and distribute about $4.2 million to the states that contributed money to a community improvement fund.
The compact will retain $15 million and decide later what do with the funds, Peterson said. The commission hired a consultant to help chart its course and will discuss its options at a January meeting.
Peterson said there is also about a $4 million claim from the village of Butte, which the commission is looking into.
Butte officials say the community needs some of the money to help pay for water and sewer improvements that were made in anticipation of the storehouse being built.
NPPD has not decided what it will do with its $18.4 million payment, spokesperson Beth Boesch said. "Management's intention is to use the money for future waste management issues."
The NPPD board plans to discuss the issue at its Aug. 12 meeting in Columbus.
OPPD officials also haven't discussed what they will do with its $15.4 million.
"We'll look at several options. We want to use it to benefit our customers," Jones said. That could include giving customers some type of credit on their bills.
Back in Boyd County, Fisher is also looking to the future. The rancher wants to hold a party in the fall of 2006 with some "big-name entertainment" to thank those who had a hand in fighting the site.
He plans to call it the Boyd County Liberation Celebration.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
Waste dump timeline
Key events in the effort to build a low-level nuclear waste dump in Nebraska:
1980 — Congress approves the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, which assigns states responsibility for waste and establishes the waste compact system.
1983 — Nebraska joins Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma to form the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact.
1987 — Compact chooses to build its waste site in Nebraska.
1989 — Possible sites in Boyd, Nuckolls and Nemaha counties are chosen for intensive study. Local monitoring committees established. Butte selected as the site by year's end.
1990 — Site's license application submitted.
1998 — Nebraska denies a license for the dump, citing environmental concerns and a high water table at the site.
1998 — Waste generators file a lawsuit over denial of the license, which is later joined by the compact.
2002 — U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln orders Nebraska to pay $151 million for blocking construction of the site.
2004 — Nebraska agrees to drop its appeal of Kopf's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and pay $141 million to settle the lawsuit.
Aug. 1, 2005 — Nebraska payment to be made to the compact.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.