LINCOLN, NEB. ? Nebraska lawmakers gave initial approval Friday to spending another $4 million to defend the state in its legal fight over attempts to build a radioactive waste site in Boyd County.

The money is included in a bill that would bring the total spent by the state on the lawsuit to more than $14 million or more than $9,500 a day during the past four years.

“We really have no alternative but to defend ourselves in this case,” said Sen. Roger Wehrbein of Plattsmouth, chairman of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 1998 by utilities that generate radioactive waste, claims that Nebraska acted in bad faith when it declined to issue a license to build a regional storage site for low-level waste near Butte, near the South Dakota border.

“Frankly, we’re behind about a million dollars in paying our bills on this lawsuit,” Wehrbein said. “That money is being spent quite rapidly.”

The lawsuit is being handled for Nebraska by the Washington D.C. law firms of Howrey, Simon Arnold & White and Collier Shannon Scott. The Lincoln law firm of Butler, Galter, Obrien & Boehm also is working on the case.

The lawsuit involves nearly 2 million documents. The trial, scheduled to start in June in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, is expected to last about six weeks. Nebraska could end up paying an estimated $160 million or more in damages and interest if it loses the lawsuit.

The battle over the waste site began in 1970, when Nevada, South Carolina and Washington got tired of accepting low-level radioactive waste from the rest of the country.

Congress told states in 1980 to build their own waste sites or join regional groups to dispose of the waste, which includes contaminated tools and clothing from nuclear power plants, hospitals and research centers.

Nebraska joined Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in 1983 to form the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact, and the other states voted in 1987 to put the waste site in Nebraska.

The fight began soon after, with both sides wrestling in court on several issues.

The other states in the compact joined the pending lawsuit. It alleges that Nebraska acted in bad faith during the licensing process and allowed “political interference” to taint the process. Nebraska said they denied the license because of concerns about possible pollution and a high-water table near the proposed site.