As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case concerning the storage of high-level radioactive waste in Texas, State Representative Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) reaffirmed his commitment to keeping the state free from becoming a repository for the nation’s nuclear waste. In 2021, Landgraf authored House Bill 7, which was signed into law to outlaw high-level radioactive waste from being sent to Texas for storage, particularly Andrews County.
“Texas is not the Biden administration’s dumping ground,” Landgraf said in a news release. “In 2021, I worked to pass House Bill 7 to protect our state from high-level radioactive waste. Despite that, the federal government is going to great lengths to disregard state law and force this high-level radioactive waste upon Texans.”
House Bill 7, which passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Governor Abbott, effectively bans high-level radioactive waste storage across Texas, except for the handful of sites where such waste is actually generated. The legislation came, in part, in response to the Andrews County Commissioners Court’s unanimous opposition to plans for their county to become the site for the rest of America’s high-level radioactive waste. At the time Landgraf’s bill was passed into law, he was the state representative for Andrews County.
Nevertheless, the Biden administration’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has continued pushing the plan forward in clear violation of state law. Last year, a Texas-led lawsuit blocked the NRC’s federal license for the storage site, with a federal court ruling the plan unlawful. That ruling was upheld by an appeals court earlier this year, but the NRC have urged the Supreme Court to reconsider.
“The people of Texas have made it clear they don’t want this high-level radioactive waste in their communities. This issue is about state sovereignty and respecting the consent of the governed. I’m confident the Supreme Court will recognize Texans’ rights and uphold the law we passed to protect our state from spent nuclear fuel rods and other forms of high-level radioactive waste,” Landgraf added.
Although Andrews County is no longer part of Rep. Landgraf’s house district, the 2021 law he passed remains crucial for all of Texas. The Supreme Court’s decision will have significant and lasting implications, likely setting key precedents on federal intervention and state authority over environmental regulation, the release said.
