Nevada asks feds to put brakes on Yucca rail plan

LAS VEGAS " Nevada wants federal authorities to put the brakes on planning what the state calls "a rail line to nowhere" at Yucca Mountain.

In documents filed this week, the state asks the three-member Surface Transportation Board to suspend consideration of an Energy Department application to build a 319-mile rail line from Caliente across the state to the repository site.

State lawyers point to Obama administration plans to pull the plug on the proposed national nuclear waste dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

An Energy Department spokesman in Las Vegas declined comment Friday on the state motion.

Nevada and California also filed notices with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, saying they intend to file lawsuits against the Yucca rail plan.