Idaho Gets Reprieve On N-Waste Shipments House, Senate Fail To Vote On Override Of Court Ban Before August Recess

The Batt administration’s drive to sidestep congressionally mandated resumption of nuclear waste dumping in Idaho has gained a month’s breathing room from one house of Congress and may be on the verge of getting the same from the other.

The House Appropriations Committee budget plan for national security - and its rider authorizing resumed radioactive dumping at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory on Oct. 1 - failed to come to a vote of the full House as it rushed to recess for August last week.

And Democratic Sen. James Exon of Nebraska has advised Idaho’s senators that he will not pursue a similar mandate on a Senate bill providing the outline for national defense programs. Exon agreed to back off after being urged to do so by Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary, who has indicated a desire to reach some mutually agreeable resolution to the long-running confrontation.

But the failure of either the full House or Senate to override the June 1993 federal court order banning new waste shipments only buys some time for the state to negotiate a resolution to Navy demands for resumed dumping that gives Idaho something other than more stored waste in return.

The shipment ban was extended last May by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge until he rules on the state’s contention that the federal government was wrong when it concluded another 165 tons of waste could be safely stored on top of the 261 tons already stored at INEL.

That ruling could come by the end of September - the same time the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be deciding whether to modify the ban to allow as many as 24 shipments of waste from the nuclear Navy.

While the state has some optimism that it can prevail in court, Gov. Phil Batt and his advisers have little optimism that Idaho can stop a congressional override of shipment ban if it is pushed to a vote.

The national security budget awaiting final House action when Congress returns to work after Labor Day allows the nuclear Navy to resume dumping waste at INEL on Oct. 1 if Defense Secretary William Perry certifies that federal negotiations to secure state approval have failed.

Perry has already certified that a dozen new waste shipments - and possibly two dozen - must be immediately made to preserve national security - a claim the state has challenged as invalid in federal court.

Batt, facing a public overwhelmingly opposed to additional waste storage at INEL, is trying to win guarantees for a firm, reasonable deadline for removal of any new waste from INEL, subject to financial penalties if missed, continued cleanup of existing waste dumps at INEL and cash for new programs to maintain INEL’s economic viability.