Amendments Not Pursued

When the Commission halted development of a facility on June 1997, the purpose of the Compact Amendments which had been adopted by all six member states was gone. Developed largely at the request of the State of Ohio as host state, the Commission recognized that Ohio or another Compact state designated in the future as host state would want a substantial say in the content of the Amendments to fit its time and circumstances. As a result, the Commission has not pursued consent to the Amendments by Congress which is required before the Amendments could be effective. Midwest Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission v. The Toledo Edison Company, et al. When the Commission terminated development activities in Ohio, there remained about $10,000,000.00 in the export fee fund managed by the Commission. This money had been collected from the nuclear utilities to provide development funds for a regional disposal site. The Commission determined that the funds should be returned to the utilities, and began the process of identifying the proportion of the remaining funds contributed by each utility. The three Michigan utilities who contributed to the original fund but are no longer part of the Compact claimed that they should receive a share of the distribution. The Commission contended that issues about any amounts that might be due the Michigan utilities had been resolved when Michigan left the Compact. There was no resolution of the issue. The Michigan utilities agreed that the Commission could distribute that portion of the fund not in dispute. The Commission dispersed over six million dollars to the six non-Michigan utilities and continues to hold over three million dollars awaiting resolution of the dispute. In June 1998, the Commission commenced an interpleader action in federal court in Minnesota, asking the court to settle the issue and direct the appropriate distribution among the utilities by the Commission. A decision is expected during the winter of 1999-2000. Figure 2 Radioactive Waste Disposal Responsibility (chart not proportional) previous next

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Madison, WI 53701-2659
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