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 federal government says the Texas plaintiffs are misreading the law in a way that would disrupt the nuclear power industry, which supplies about one-fifth of the nation’s electricity. Since 1980, the NRC has allowed on-site and off-site storage, said Malcolm Stewart, the Justice Department’s deputy solicitor general.