State of Nevada v. United States Department of Energy

This litigation represents another in a series of disputes between the State of Nevada and the United States Government concerning implementation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (“NWPA”), and, specifically, the selection of the Yucca Mountain location in Nevada as a potential site of a nuclear waste depository. See Nevada v. Watkins, 943 F.2d 1080 (9th Cir.1991); Nevada v. Watkins, 939 F.2d 710 (9th Cir.1991); County of Esmeralda v. United States Dep’t of Energy, 925 F.2d 1216 (9th Cir.1991); Nevada v. Burford, 918 F.2d 854 (9th Cir.1990), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2052 , 114 L.Ed.2d 458 (1991); Nevada v. Watkins, 914 F.2d 1545 (9th Cir.1990), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 1105 , 113 L.Ed.2d 215 (1991); Nevada v. Herrington, 827 F.2d 1394 (9th Cir.1987); Nevada v. Herrington, 777 F.2d 529 (9th Cir.1985). We are here asked to construe § 116(c)(3) of the NWPA, which provides for a federal grant to Nevada of an amount equivalent to what the state and affected units of local government would receive if those governments were authorized to tax the federal activities at the site. The provision is known as a payments equal to taxes” provision and is codified at 42…