MAP: Tribes located near Yucca Mountain site.

The Obama administration flouted the law when it stopped work on the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday.

Tribes, residents and politicians in Nevada oppose the site, which would act as a repository for nuclear waste from locations across the country. But the court said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can't stop working on the Congressionally-mandated project.

“Unless and until Congress authoritatively says otherwise, or there are no appropriated funds remaining, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must promptly continue with the legally mandated licensing process,” Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a 2-1 decision.

Yucca Mountain is located near several the reservations of several tribes. The site itself is on land that was promised to the Western Shoshone under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley..

Get the Story:
Federal appeals court orders White House to move forward on Yucca Mountain nuclear dump (AP 8/13)
Federal court orders NRC to restart licensing process for Yucca Mountain (The Las Vegas Review-Journal 8/14)
DOE chief: Agency agreed to bury nuclear waste 'deeper' in Nevada (The Las Vegas Review-Journal 8/14)
Government Must Continue Review of Nevada Nuclear Waste Site, Court Says (The New York Times 8/14)

DC Circuit Decision:
In Re: Aiken County (August 13, 2013)