More than 180 environmental, peace, and other organizations from 34 states and 20 countries today joined together in a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) urging the NRC Commissioners to uphold "an historic decision" by an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB). The May 2 decision denied a license to Louisiana Energy Services (LES) to build a uranium enrichment plant near Homer, Louisiana, on the grounds that the siting process for the plant violated President Clinton's 1994 executive order on environmental justice. It was the first courtroom ruling on how federal agencies are supposed to implement the executive order.
The NRC Commissioners yesterday agreed to hear an appeal by LES of the May 2 decision. (Separately yesterday, a key partner in LES—Greystone Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northern States Power–informed the NRC that it is withdrawing from the LES consortium).
The letter from the groups praises the May 2 ASLB decision, saying that it affirms to the public "that the NRC understands the implications of environmental racism and will seek to ensure environmental justice. As the ASLB stated, environmental racism is rarely overt, is usually denied, is rarely intended, and is nearly always rationalized. Yet the disproportionate impact of the siting of hazardous facilities must be considered and weighed."
On the other hand, the letter advised, "[r]eversal of this decision now would send a message to all Americans that it is literally impossible to protect their homes and communities from hazardous facilities….[and] would signal to the rest of the world that the United States will not enforce its civil rights laws and regulations…."
The ASLB decision and the Louisiana Energy Services project generally, have received worldwide attention, as evidenced by the 49 non-U.S. groups signing the letter. LES is itself a consortium, dominated by the European firm Urenco, which has operations in England, Holland, and Germany. Twelve organizations located near Urenco's home base of Gronau, Germany were among the groups signing the letter.
Other countries represented on the letter include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Sixty-six unaffiliated individuals, from the U.S., London, and South Africa, also signed the letter.
Other firms in the LES consortium are Duke Power of North and South Carolina, and Fluor Daniel, an international construction firm based in Irvine, California. Northern States Power (NSP) of Minnesota (through its Greystone subsidiary) was an original partner in LES until yesterday. Duke Power pledged to the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission in 1990 that its wholly-owned subsidiary Claiborne Energy Services, Inc. would drop out of the project if and when LES obtains a construction permit. NSP's decision to withdraw may place added pressure on Duke to leave the project now.
LES announced in June 1989 that it would build its uranium enrichment plant at a site near Homer, Louisiana. The site lies in between the two small, long-standing African-American communities of Center Springs and Forest Grove. Testimony in the case against LES revealed that the site violated LES' own site guidelines, and was based at least partially on an "eyeball" assessment by a Fluor Daniel employee that the area was lightly populated and run down. In fact, the area is home to hundreds of residents, who live and worship in well-maintained homes and churches just yards from the proposed plant.
The case against LES was brought by Citizens Against Nuclear Trash (CANT), a multi-racial group formed eight years ago. Representing CANT are Washington attorney Diane Curran and Nathalie Walker of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.