U.S. Supreme Court won't hear South Carolina governor's suit seeking to block plutonium shipments

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Gov. Jim Hodges&#39; lawsuit seeking to block federal shipments of weapons-grade plutonium to South Carolina. <br> <br> The nation&#39;s high court issued the decision Monday without comment, ending Hodges&#39; attempts to prevent the Energy Department&#39;s shipments. <br> <br> The Democrat, who leaves office Wednesday, fought the plutonium shipments for more than a year. He even threatened to lie down in the road to block shipments. <br> <br> The Energy Department is moving six tons of plutonium from the decommissioned Rocky Flats weapons facility near Denver to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, where the department plans to build a $4 billion plant to convert the plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors. <br> <br> Hodges sued the Energy Department, saying he wanted guarantees the plutonium would not be permanently stored at the Savannah site. His lawsuit claimed the Energy Department hadn&#39;t done a proper environmental study. <br> <br> Hodges had hoped to take his lawsuit to the Supreme Court after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his request in August. <br> <br> ``The odds weren&#39;t in our favor,&#39;&#39; Hodges&#39; attorney, Billy Want, said. ``But I hoped, given the importance of our case and the legal error that we believe was committed, that the Supreme Court would accept review.&#39;&#39;

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