U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Citizens’ Radioactive Waste Permit Case

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t weigh in on whether a citizens’ group can question a federal nuclear research lab’s hazardous waste practices, the court announced Monday.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s radioactive liquid waste treatment facility doesn’t have a hazardous waste permit under federal law. Instead, the New Mexico facility’s Environmental Protection Agency-issued Clean Water Act permit exempts it from federal waste regulations. That violates the act, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Inc. said in its petition. The permit allows the facility to discharge pollutants, but doesn’t prevent accidental leaks, the petition said.

CCNS is asking the high court whether ...