Court Opinion

ID: 9955299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-28 00:00:44.895082+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:15:26.450164
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60377           Document: 95-1         Page: 1      Date Filed: 03/27/2024

          United States Court of Appeals
               for the Fifth Circuit                                     United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                  Fifth Circuit
                                  ____________                                  FILED
                                                                          March 27, 2024
                                   No. 23-60377
                                                                           Lyle W. Cayce
                                 Summary Calendar
                                                                                Clerk
                                 ____________

Fasken Land and Minerals, Limited; Permian Basin Land
and Royalty Owners,

                                                                              Petitioners,

                                         versus

Nuclear Regulatory Commission; United States of
America,

                                                                           Respondents.
                  ______________________________

                Appeal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
                              Agency No. 72-1051
                 ______________________________

Before Jones, Elrod, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
      In September 2021 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
issued a license to Interim Storage Partners, LLC, to establish a facility to
store nuclear waste temporarily in Andrews County, Texas. See Texas v.
Nuclear Regul. Comm’n, 78 F.4th 827, 833–35 (5th Cir. 2023) [hereinafter
Texas v. NRC], reh’g en banc denied, 2024 WL 1108700 (5th Cir. Mar. 14,
      _____________________
      *
          This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-60377        Document: 95-1       Page: 2    Date Filed: 03/27/2024

                                  No. 23-60377

2024). Texas, Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd., (Fasken), and Permian Basin
Land and Royalty Owners (PBLRO) petitioned this court to set aside that
license. Id. at 834–35. In that appeal, a panel of this court first held that
Fasken and PBLRO had standing under the Constitution and the Hobbs Act
to challenge the NRC’s actions. Id. at 835–40. It then held that the NRC
lacked statutory authority to issue the license. Id. at 840–44. Accordingly,
this court granted the petitions for review and vacated the license. Id. at 844.
The NRC filed a petition for rehearing en banc on October 24, 2023, which
this court denied on March 14, 2024. See Texas v. Nuclear Regul. Comm’n,
No. 21-60743, --- F.4th ----, 2024 WL 1108700 (5th Cir. Mar. 14, 2024).
       Shortly before the panel issued its opinion in Texas v. NRC, Fasken
and PBLRO filed the petition for review at issue in this case. They challenge
a different license issued by the NRC in May 2023 to Holtec International to
establish a facility to store nuclear waste in Lea County, New Mexico. The
parties, correctly, agree that Texas v. NRC involved a “materially identical
license in a materially identical procedural posture” and that “absent the
[c]ourt granting rehearing en banc in Texas [v. NRC] . . . , the panel’s
consideration of this case will be controlled by [Texas v. NRC].” Because this
court’s holding in Texas v. NRC dictates the outcome here, we GRANT
Fasken’s and PBLRO’s petition for review and VACATE the Holtec
license. The NRC’s motion to transfer the petition for review to the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is DENIED AS
MOOT.

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