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Are DOE and NNSA Complying with the National Environmental Policy Act?

The Court found the DOE’s plan had fundamentally changed from the one site plan to its two site plan.  DOE did not consider alternatives while moving forward and spending tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars.  The Court found that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge DOE’s two-site plan.

October 10th, 2024,  https://nuclearactive.org/

On Monday, September 30th, United States District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because the federal agencies failed to take a “hard look” at the alternatives to fabricate plutonium pits, or the triggers, for nuclear weapons at two of its sites. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was created to design and fabricate the atomic bombs used during World War II.  The Savannah River Site in South Carolina has never fabricated pits for nuclear weapons.

In the late 2000s, DOE released for public review and comment its Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement stating that pit production would take place exclusively at LANL.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0236-s4-complex-transformation-supplemental-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement 

Yet in 2019 DOE expanded its proposal to improve the resiliency, flexibility and redundance of the nuclear security enterprise to also fabricate plutonium pits at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.  DOE failed to prepare a new NEPA document for public review and comment detailing how the two sites would interact to fabricate up to 80 plutonium pits per year.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations challenged DOE’s action in the United States District Court of South Carolina.  The plaintiffs are the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition https://gullahgeecheenation.com/gullahgeechee-sea-island-coalition/ , Nuclear Watch New Mexico https://nukewatch.org/home/ , Savannah River Site Watch https://srswatch.org/ , and Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, or Tri-Valley CARES https://trivalleycares.org/ ,  and individual Tom Clements.  They are represented by Ben Cunningham of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project https://www.scelp.org/ .

The Court found the DOE’s plan had fundamentally changed from the one site plan to its two site plan.  DOE did not consider alternatives while moving forward and spending tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars.  The Court found that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge DOE’s two-site plan.

Cunningham said, “This is a significant victory that will ensure NEPA’s goal of public participation is satisfied.  Public scrutiny is especially important because the activities at issue here, by their very nature, result in the production of dangerous weapons and extensive amounts of toxic and radioactive waste.  I hope the public will seize the upcoming opportunity to review and comment on the federal agencies’ assessment.”

The Court ordered the parties to confer and present the Court with a joint proposal about appropriate remedies to resolve the case, including “Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief.”  The proposal is due to the Court on Friday, October 25th.

To access the Court documents, go to:  https://nukewatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Court-Rules-U.S.-Nuclear-Weapons-Production-Plan-Violates-Federal-Law.pdf

October 13, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA