Opinion of the Court
host requirement in the Compact, see Art. 5(A), 99 Stat. 1873, necessarily implies that North Carolina is solely responsible for the licensing and construction costs of its facility. But all that requirement entails is that a party State “shall not be designated” as a host State for a second time before “each [other] party [S]tate” has taken a turn. Ibid. It can perfectly well envision that the States will take turns in bearing the lead responsibility for getting the facility licensed, supervising its construction, and operating the facility on its soil. In fact, that is just what its text suggests, since it describes the responsibility that is to be rotated as the host State’s “obligation . . . to have a regional facility operated within its borders.” Ibid. Not to construct it, or pay for its construction, but to “have [it] operated within its borders.” As noted above, other contemporaneously enacted compacts do spell out the obligation of the host State to construct the facility. Still others at least provide that the host State will recoup its costs through disposal fees—which arguably suggests that the host State is to bear the costs. See, e.g., Central Compact, Art. III(d), 99 Stat. 1865; Northeast Compact, Art. III(c)(2), id., at 1913. The compact before us here does not even contain that arguable suggestion.
What it comes down to, then, is JUSTICE BREYER’s intuition that the whole point of the Compact was that each designated host State would bear the up-front costs of licensing and construction, but would eventually recoup those costs through its regional monopoly on the disposal of low-level radioactive waste. Post, at 5–6. He can cite no provision in the Compact which reflects such an understanding, and the behavior of the parties contradicts it.[1] It
- ↑ The course-of-dealing evidence that JUSTICE BREYER identifies, post, at 6–7, is not probative. The Commission’s statements that it is not legally responsible for costs and that at some point Commission funds will no longer be available, and North Carolina’s assurances that it will keep its commitments and honor its obligations, are perfectly compati-
