The state of Washington has gone to court, trying to force the federal government to cough up a $6.8 million tax bill.
According to Attorney General Christine Gregoire, the 21-year-old Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the Department of Energy to pay the equivalent of state business taxes for activities carried out during the consideration of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation as a potential site for a high-level nuclear waste repository. (The good news: Hanford was a finalist, but not the winner. That dubious honor goes to Nevada's Yucca Mountain.)
The Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management disputed the bill, but according to Gregoire's office, DOE's own Office of Hearings and Appeals in July ordered that the bill be paid.
To date, no check's arrived, despite several requests by the state.

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