Texas Tribune: “Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday night signed a bill into law that attempts to block a plan to store highly radioactive nuclear waste at a site in West Texas. House Bill 7 effectively bans highly radioactive materials from coming to Texas, targeting one company’s plan to build such a facility near the New Mexico border in Andrews County. But, the new state law may soon be in conflict with federal regulators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is advancing the company’s application for a license to allow the high-level nuclear waste to Texas, and a decision from the federal agency could come as early as Monday, a spokesperson with the commission said.”

“The new law, which is effective immediately and was authored by Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, whose district the proposed facility would be located in, bars the transportation and disposal or storage of high-level radioactive waste in Texas. It effectively signals to the NRC and the company that the proposal will not be permitted under state law. Residents of Andrews County opposed the plan to bring the spent nuclear fuel to the area due to fears of an accident, environmental contamination and transportation through their communities; the county’s commissioners court adopted a resolution opposing high-level nuclear waste. Some oil companies opposed the plan too, given that the facility is proposed in the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil fields in the world. Abbott has also consistently opposed the plan, writing in a letter to the NRC that the facility presents ‘a greater radiological risk than Texas is prepared to allow.'”