NRC officially rejects environmental coalition's call for extension of public comment period, postponement of legal intervention deadline, re: Holtec/ELEA CISF

By a letter dated July 30th, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officially rejected a 38-group environmental coalition's call for an extension of the environmental scoping public comment deadline, as well as a postponement of the legal intervention deadline, re: Holtec International/Eddy-Lea [Counties] Energy Alliance's proposal to construct and operate a centralized interim storage facility for 173,600 metric tons of highly radioactive waste in southeastern New Mexico.

Thus, the July 30th deadline for environmental scoping public comment has now passed (but opponents to Holtec/ELEA's proposal nonetheless met that deadline in a big way, with over 25,000 public comments in opposition to the CISF!)

And groups planning to legally intervene in the NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) proceeding on the application, face an arbitrarily and capriciously short 60-day deadline, that expires on Sept. 14, to establish legal standing, and to submit quality contentions that the ASLB would allow for hearings on the merits. Beyond Nuclear, as well as a broad coalition of other environmental groups, plan to do just that! Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel are Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., and Mindy Goldstein of Emory University's Turner Environmental Law Clinic in Atlanta, GA.