Nevada's Board of Examiners has approved a $5.1 million contract with an outside legal team to help fight President Trump's proposal to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump 75 miles north of Las Vegas.
The Nevada Appeal reports the panel chaired by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval voted unanimously this week to extend the state's contract for another two years with the Austin, Texas-based firm Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence.
Robert Halstead, the head of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency, says the state lacks the expertise in dealing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do the work itself.
For the second year in a row, Trump's budget request to Congress includes $120 million for the Department of Energy to resume efforts to relicense the moth-balled waste project.
