The U.S. Supreme Court grappled on Wednesday over whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the authority to license certain nuclear waste storage facilities amid objections brought by the state of Texas as well as oil industry interests.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a decades-old fight that tends to put Americans on edge even more than politics: Where to store the nation’s spent nuclear fuel.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a fight over plans to store nuclear waste at sites in rural Texas and New Mexico.

The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders.

The justices heard arguments in a dispute over a federal license for a private waste storage facility planned in Texas.

The Supreme Court will decide a high-stakes dispute over the storage of highly toxic nuclear waste at privately run U.S. facilities far from reactors.

The case examines whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the authority to grant a license to Interim Storage Partners, Inc., to proceed with plans to construct a storage facility in West Texas. The NRC has also approved a license for a group that intends to build a similar project deep underground in southeastern New Mexico.