Fifth Circuit Court Decision on State’s Rights with Respect to Nuclear Waste Storage – September 2, 2023

September 2, 2023Posted inopinionNo Comments

In this article, I present the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision in case No. 21-60743 relating to the rejection of a license to store spent nuclear power plant rods from out of state in a facility in Texas.

It is a long decision as court decisions usually are. It may be a strange way to introduce the enormous topic of the storage of nuclear waste.  There are two main types of nuclear waste:

A. Related to Nuclear Weapons

B. Related to Nuclear Fission Energy Plants (this case is related to this category of nuclear waste but the two topics are very intertwined)

There are other minor categories including medical.

The common characteristic in all categories of nuclear waste is generally no one wants to store it. There are many reasons for that. Some are obvious. By no one, I mean no states. Some communities see the storage of nuclear waste as an economic development opportunity.

I am reporting on this decision mostly because it is recent and addresses the state’s rights aspects of the problem. If you read the decision carefully, you will glean additional information.

I will summarize some of that at the end of the article.

I know that court decisions are boring but this topic is very important. Some of the environmental issues were touched in this decision but the issue of the transport of nuclear waste and the risk this creates was only hinted at.

This is a large problem for the U.S. and many other nations and I have had difficulty addressing it because of all the complications and the large amount of information that is important to understand. In this case, the focus was on legal issues so it was perhaps a good way to introduce the topic. The legal issues are extremely important but the technical issues are also extremely important. I will be getting into those in future articles and I plan to write a number of articles on this topic because of its importance.

At the end of the article, there is an opportunity to submit comments and I encourage readers to do so. It is usually better to submit a comment that way than to me directly because more people will see the comment and responses by me and others to the comment will also be seen by others. So it stimulates discussion. Please feel free to send this article to anyone who you think will benefit from reading it.

World Agriculture Production and More: August 12, 2023

August 12, 2023Posted inagriculture, opinion, weatherNo Comments

Once a month USDA issues two reports on World Agriculture Production. The primary statistical report is issued by the USDA Chief Economist and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service issues a companion report with is not as extensive but contains maps and other information that is always very interesting. I do not publish this article every month since it is difficult to prepare but this is a time of the year when the information is very relevant and important in terms of:

A. How it might be impacted by Global Warming and

B. The impact on the World GeoPolitical situation.

I am publishing it tonight and I may add some commentary tomorrow.

People like maps and graphs so we will start with those provided by USDA. It does not provide a total picture of World Production but many of what I will provide I think is interesting. There are so many that we will provide them without additional commentary. I am providing all of the maps and graphics but here is the LINK to the report.  This will be followed by the summary from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report which is called WASDE. Here is the LINK to that report.  It contains a lot more information but in table form with no maps and graphics.

Supreme Court Rules Against the Navajo Nation Docket No 21-1484 June 23, 2022

June 22, 2023Posted inClimate, opinion6 Comments

On June 22nd the Supreme Court of the United States sometimes abbreviated SCOTUS decided 5 to 4 that the 1968 Treaty with the Navajo Tribe called for the U.S. to provide the land and funding for sheep, goats, cattle, and corn as well as education and some infrastructure but did not mention water. The decision of the Supreme Court was that if it did not mention water when written and agreed to, one can not just add “water” to the treaty now. The U.S. Supreme Court may not always be correct but they are last so this is likely the final legal decision on this but Congress and the Executive Branch of Government have not yet been heard from.

But then there is this part of the Court decision:

In addition, the Navajos may be able to assert the interests they claim in water rights litigation, including by seeking to intervene in cases that affect their claimed interests, and courts will then assess the Navajos’ claims and motions as appropriate. See 28 U. S. C. §1362; Arizona v. California, 460 U. S. 605, 615 (1983); see also Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak, 501 U. S. 775, 784 (1991); Moe v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Flathead Reservation, 425 U. S. 463, 472–474 (1976).

So this case is over but the issue is not.

The Hopi are a different tribe than the Navajo. For more information about the Navajo Nation click HERE. BTW yá’át’ééh means hello or welcome. If you live in New Mexico you tend to learn a little Navajo and we raise Navajo Churro Sheep so we are involved with the Navajo. HERE is the official statement by the Navajo Nation on yesterday’s Supreme Court Decision.
Violence and America

Violence and America

June 25, 2022Posted inopinionNo Comments

America is by far the most violent country in human history.  This is true both abroad (Jimmy Carter Lectures Trump: US ‘Most Warlike Nation in History of the World’) and at home.  It is seen especially in terms of gun violence (List of countries by firearm-related death rate) and incarceration (U.S. has World’s Highest Incarceration Rate).  And need I mention slavery in the old days and lynching in the South up to the 1960s?