State of Nevada v. Hazel R. O'leary, Secretary of Energy

This is another volley in the litigation battle between the State of Nevada and the United States government over the potential placement of a repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The battle was generated by the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, Pub.L. No. 97-425, 96 Stat. 2211 (1983), requiring evaluation of potential repository sites. It has been fueled by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1987, as contained in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, Pub.L. No. 100-203, § 5011 , 101 Stat. 1330 -1, 1330-228 (1987), narrowing the study to Yucca Mountain. The background and descriptions of other phases of the controversy can be found in numerous opinions. See, e.g., Nevada v. United States Dep’t of Energy, 993 F.2d 1442 (9th Cir.1993); Nevada v. Watkins, 943 F.2d 1080 (9th Cir.1991); Nevada v. Watkins, 939 F.2d 710 (9th Cir.1991); Nevada v. Herrington, 827 F.2d 1394 (9th Cir.1987).

In this proceeding the State of Nevada filed a petition pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 27 to depose more than two dozen scientists regarding their technical reports and studies undertaken in response to an earlier scientific…