President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to unveil a new initiative to send the country’s nuclear waste from future power plants to states that sign up for it in exchange for extensive economic investment. 

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has already begun meeting with governors about the plan, according to Politico. It’s a critical element in the Trump administration’s effort to ramp up nuclear power production. 

“Governors would effectively be invited to compete for what the administration believes is a once-in-a-generation economic development prize in exchange for hosting the nation’s most politically and environmentally toxic byproduct,” Politico reported. 

Currently, nuclear facilities often store their reactors’ waste on site in anticipation of it being delivered to a permanent storage facility. Decades-long efforts to establish a repository for the nation’s nuclear waste have led nowhere, as states, communities, environmental groups and tribes have pushed back against them. 

“There’s a lot of people in the nuclear industry who pretend it isn’t a problem,” Seth Kirshenberg, executive director of Energy Communities Alliance, which represents the interests of communities impacted by U.S. Department of Energy facilities, recently told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.