Trump, in West Texas, warns Biden is threat to oil and gas industry

As reported by the Washington Post.

Of course, Trump's former Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, was and is a top cheerleader for highly radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) in the Permian Basin. In fact, Perry even welcomes "interim" becoming de facto permanent.

As Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd., and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners, have argued in their opposition to both TX and NM CISFs, a radiological catastrophe could permanently shut down the busiest oil and gas fields in North America.

NRC ASLBP oral arguments hearing, Wed., Aug. 5, 1pm-5pm Eastern, re: Fasken contention(s) opposed to Holtec/ELEA CISF -- call-in numbers for listen-only public line + Fasken's latest filed new contention (transport risks, etc.)

Thanks to Michael Keegan of Don't Waste Michigan for circulating the call-in numbers , below, as well as the link to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel's (ASLBP) ORDER (dated June 25th), scheduling a hearing on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, from 1pm to 5pm Eastern (12pm to 4pm Central/11am to 3pm Mountain/10am to 2pm Pacific) re: certain of Fasken Oil and Ranch/Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners' (Fasken for short) contentions in opposition to the Holtec/ELEA consolidated interim storage facility (CISF). Note that the call-in line is listen only, but it will allow the public, as well as the media, to listen to the hearing in real time. Please spread the word, including to reporters who may be interested. It's always good to let the ASLBP, and the rest of the NRC, as well as Holtec, know they are being watched by many concerned citizens, as well as the media.

Please note that Holtec/ELEA, as well as NRC, simply assume that Yucca Mountain, Nevada -- Western Shoshone land -- will still be the national high-level radioactive waste dump, hence the ongoing pretense that the CISF will be "temporary." (Ian Zabarte of Native Community Action Council, who serves on the END YUCCA DUMP Working Group, has made public comment in the Holtec DEIS proceeding, challenging this false assumption; he is a party with standing in the long-suspended NRC Yucca dump licensing proceeding.)

And along similar lines, Fasken filed a strong motion to introduce a new contention into the proceeding, on July 6th. It mostly has to do with high-level radioactive waste transportation risks, but also raises seismic, subsidence, and sinkhole risks to the CISF itself. See the July 6th motion, and two attached exhibits, posted online here: <https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML20189A581>. While this newly proposed contention will not be discussed during the August 5th ASLBP hearing, to the best of my knowledge, I assume it will be processed by the ASLBP at some future date.

By way of context/update...Fasken is the last opponent to Holtec left standing in the ASLBP proceeding, after the NRC Commissioners' ruling on April 23, 2020 remanded a small number of Fasken's (as well as a small number of Sierra Club's) contentions back to the ASLBP for reconsideration. Sierra Club was again ruled against by the ASLBP recently, and so will now join the appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the second highest court in the land, just beneath the U.S. Supreme Court. Beyond Nuclear, having been rejected by the NRC Commissioners' final ruling on April 23, filed its appeal at the federal court on June 4th. Don't Waste Michigan, et al. (a seven-group national grassroots environmental coalition, including NISG of NM) filed its appeal on June 22nd, after its April 23 final rejection by the NRC Commissioners. To the best of my knowledge, Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES), which was also ruled against on April 23 by the NRC Commissioners, did not file an appeal at the federal court by the June 22nd deadline. Nuclear Assurance Corporation (NAC), a Interim Storage Partners consortium member company, targeting Waste Control Specialists in Texas, very near Eunice, NM, with another proposed CISF, dropped its intervention against the Holtec CISF some time ago.

Thanks.

---Kevin Kamps

Beyond Nuclear, radioactive waste specialist

Don't Waste Michigan, board of directors member

Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, advisory board member

(All three groups are official intervenors against Holtec in the NRC licensing proceeding, and are now petitioners in the federal court appeals as well)

Email from Michael Keegan/Don't Waste MI:

Bridgeline for Public Fasken Oral Argument 8/5/2020

Teleconference

Bridge Number: 888-323-9889
Passcode: 9161122

Comments

* Open to the public to listen only.

Public Meeting Schedule: Meeting Details

[  New Search ]

---

Meeting info

Purpose

Oral Argument Concerning Holtec International

Meeting Feedback

Meeting Dates and Times

08/05/20
1:00PM - 5:00PM [Eastern]

Meeting Location

Teleconference

Contact

Stephanie Fishman
214-505-6795

Twana Ellis
301-415-9064

Participation Level

Open

NRC Participants

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel

External Participants

Parties to the Proceeding

Docket Numbers - Facility Names

07201051 - HOLTEC INTERNATIONAL/EDDY-LEA ENERGY ALLIANCE

Related Documents

ML20177A577 - Order (Scheduling Oral Argument)

NM Gov. to Trump: Stop CISFs in Permian Basin!

NM Gov. Michelle Lujan GrishamOn 7/28, NM Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (photo, left) wrote the president a strongly worded letter, opposing environmentally unjust high-level radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facilities targeted at her state by Holtec, and on its border by Interim Storage Partners (ISP) at Waste Control Specialists in TX. NRC's deadlines for public comments on its Holtec and ISP Draft Environmental Impact Statements are Sept. 22 and Nov. 3, respectively. See sample comments you can use to write your own, as well as submission instructions to send them to NRC, for Holtec, NM, and ISP, TX; please contact both your U.S. Senators, and your U.S. Rep., urging them to demand NRC extend the deadlines, and hold in-person public comment meetings in your state/district, once safe to do so, post-pandemic. (Holtec licensing hearings, with a public listen-in line, will be held on 8/5.)

Update on July 30, 2020 by admin

• Santa Fe New Mexican - Objecting to nuclear storage plan, Lujan Grisham writes to Trump - By Scott Wyland

Update on July 30, 2020 by admin

• Albuquerque Journal - Gov. argues against Holtec nuclear storage site - By Theresa Davis

NRC -- Interim Storage Partners: Extension of Comment Period for Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Email announcement from NRC:

From: WCS_CISFEIS Resource <WCS_CISFEIS.Resource@nrc.gov>
Date: Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 12:27 PM
Subject: Interim Storage Partners: Extension of Comment Period for Draft Environmental Impact Statement

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is extending the public comment period for the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Interim Storage Partners’ proposed consolidated interim storage facility in Texas for an additional 60 days to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments. The new deadline for submitting comments is November 3, 2020.  The NRC staff will issue shortly a Federal Register Notice addressing the comment period extension.

The NRC staff intends to host a public webinar later this summer to accept verbal comments on the draft EIS and will provide details in a future Federal Register Notice.  Also, it is the NRC staff’s goal to hold in-person public meetings in the vicinity of the proposed site.  As the COVID public health emergency evolves, the NRC staff will continue to evaluate these plans for engaging the public.

Members of the public can also continue to provide comments on the draft EIS to the NRC via:

1. e-mail: WCS_CISF_EIS@nrc.gov 
2. https://www.regulations.gov/ (search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0231)
3. Mail comments to:  Office of Administration, Mail Stop:  TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN:  Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001

Transcript of July 9th NRC Holtec CISF DEIS public comment teleconference meeting

Transcript of July 9 Holtec HI-Store Teleconference

ML20197A225

https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML20197A225 

Document Title:	Transcript of Holtec Hi-store Consolidated Interim Storage Facility Draft EIS Public Meeting, Teleconference, July 9, 2020, Pages 1-173 [Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear's verbal comments are transcribed from page 113 to page 119 -- that is page 114 to page 120 on the PDF counter.]
Document Type:	Meeting Transcript
Document Date:	07/15/2020