Published Wednesday, July 21, 1999
The StateNorth Carolina Votes To Leave Waste Compact
By SCOTT MOONEYHAM
RALEIGH -- After 12 years of futile attempts to build a nuclear waste dump, North Carolina will pull out of the regional compact set up for that purpose and stop development of the facility.
The Associated PressThen-Gov. David Beasley pulled South Carolina out of the compact in 1995, citing delays by North Carolina in building a facility to replace the Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. operation in Barnwell County as the regional dump.
North Carolina lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday to shut down the project and leave the seven-state Southeast Compact Commission. The House approved the bill 109-3, while the Senate voted 42-2 in favor.
The legislation now needs only Gov. Jim Hunt's signature to become effective. Hunt announced Monday that he strongly supports the effort to leave the compact.
"We need a new plan. We need to start over," said Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston. "North Carolina needs to take care of North Carolina's problem and let every other state take care of their problem."
The move created the prospect of a court battle between North Carolina and the other six states in the regional group.
Kathryn Haynes, executive director of the commission, said the other members will likely sue North Carolina.
"We'd have the administrative procedure, the sanctions procedure. The law gives the compact the ability to levy those sanctions," Haynes said. "The question is, do we have the authority to levy those sanctions or whether we will have to go to court to enforce them."
The decision to leave the compact follows months of bitter dispute between North Carolina officials and the commission.
The other states have complained that North Carolina has needlessly delayed development of a waste dump along the border of Wake and Chatham counties. The waste dump would have accepted radioactive waste such as laboratory rags, clothing and parts from nuclear power plants.
The commission responded to North Carolina's delay by cutting off funding to the state in 1997 and demanding that North Carolina pitch in more.
Hunt refused.
The project is now years behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget. So far, the state has spent an estimated $40 million on the project. The commission has provided $80 million, the bulk of the money from fees generated by the compact's waste dump in Barnwell.
Rep. George Miller, D-Durham, sponsor of the bill, said South Carolina's decision to leave the compact and other changes in the storage of low-level radioactive waste have markedly changed the situation since North Carolina joined the compact in 1983.
"We find that there is no longer a real need for another site in the United States," said Miller, the state's representative on the compact commission. "North Carolina is now receiving no real benefit from being in the compact."
Miller said an opinion from the attorney general's office indicated the state was in a better legal position to leave the compact rather than fight off sanctions imposed by the commission while remaining a member.
The compact commission is to consider sanctions and complaints brought by Tennessee and Florida at its meeting on Aug. 19.
Haynes, though, said the state laws that created the compact call for each state to fulfill its obligations before leaving.
Not all lawmakers were in agreement with Tuesday's decision.
"I'd hate to see our state looked upon as one that doesn't keep its word," said Rep. Larry Justus, R-Henderson, who voted against the bill.
The states in the compact are Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.