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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The federal government says an economic development group shouldn't be allowed into South Carolina's lawsuit against the U.S. Energy Department.
The department says in court filings that the nonprofit South Carolina Alliance doesn't have standing to intervene in the case.
The nonprofit Alliance represents impoverished areas near the Savannah River Site and argues it is affected financially by the site's mixed-oxide project.
The state has sued because the mixed-oxide plant isn't operating and by law the federal government was supposed to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from the state by last Jan. 1 or begin paying fines of $1 million a day.
The plant was designed to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.
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