After a companion bill died in the state legislature’s other chamber, the Texas state Senate should hear debate this week on a controversial bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State, according to the floor calendar.
S.B. 1046 is on the full chamber’s schedule for Monday. There aren’t many chances left for the state Senate to debate the measure — the current session of the legislature ends May 31.
Meanwhile, the House version of the bill didn’t get its scheduled floor vote last week, dimming prospects for speedy passage. H.B. 2692, authored by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), was the subject of a contentious floor debate Wednesday over the clarity of the measure’s legislative analysis. After a motion to halt debate, state Speaker of the House Rep. Dade Phelan (R) said that the analysis was “substantially and materially misleading” and kicked the bill back into committee.
Among other things, the measure appeared to repeal sections of the state’s health and safety code and the bill’s companion analysis did not explain why, another state lawmaker, Rep. Tom Craddick (R), said Wednesday.
If it became law, the bill would ban the storage of high-level waste in Texas. However, it would also reduce the state’s comparatively high fees for storing low-level radioactive waste through a proposed interstate cost analysis that would be used as the basis for rebates to generators.
Waste Control Specialists currently operates a low-level waste disposal facility in Landgraf’s district. It’s also the site of the company’s proposed interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel. That interim storage proposal is currently under federal review — the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working on an environmental impact statement for the site, which the agency has said should wrap up this summer.
