Forelaws on Board v. Energy Facility Siting Council

Petitioner seeks review of a declaratory ruling by the Energy Facility Siting Council, ORS 183.410, that the site application, review and certificate requirements of ORS 469.553 are inapplicable to a uranium mill tailings disposal facility which the federal and state governments, through their respective Departments of Energy, have entered into a cooperative agreement to create and operate. Petitioner’s principal assignment is that the Council erred in that conclusion. We agree, and we reverse and remand.

The tailings are a radioactive residue of uranium milling activities which took place…