October 29, 1999

Reeves County seeking legal advice on waste site battle

By Greg Harman
Odessa American

PECOS — Reeves County Commissioners may take their opposition to a proposed radioactive waste site into court.

Commissioners Tuesday night allocated $20,000 of county money "for legal research and expenditures" to seek legal counsel and help develop a strategy to fight the construction of a low-level radioactive waste storage facility that may locate to neighboring Ward County.

"We feel there’s a legal issue regarding to the type of company and type of work Envirocare does," said David Castillo, county commissioner for Precinct 2.

Rick Jacobi, vice president of operations for Envirocare of Texas, termed Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo’s opposition to the radioactive waste site a knee-jerk reaction. Galindo asked commissioners to allocate the money for the fight.

"He was opposed to Sierra Blanca. He was involved in opposing a sludge disposal operation scheduled for Reeves County. I think he just kind of reacted without thinking," Jacobi said.

Galindo, who requested the $20,000 in funds from the commissioners, bristled at the suggestion.

"This issue is not about opposition. It is about environmental hazards. If you talk to ordinary people in West Texas, the overwhelming majority of them will respond the same way I do. We don’t want West Texas to become a dumping ground. We don’t want our home to become a dumping ground for the nation," Galindo said.

Expressing concern over the health risks the waste could pose and the track record of the company’s Utah parent company, the Reeves County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the company locating to Ward County on Oct. 12.

"We don’t ill-wish our neighbors, but I don’t think this is the kind of economic industry we want to ever get into," Castillo said.

Castillo suggested that Reeves County commissioners would gladly work with Ward County commissioners to help develop a diversified economy in Ward County, if it means there won’t be a dump.

Though both counties have been subject to the economic turbulance of a downturned rural Texas economy, Reeves County has had some good fortune.

While Ward County has struggled to attract industry to its area, Reeves County has had some success with its growing detention center, which doubled in size this year, licensed under the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The waste facility proposed by Envirocare of Texas, sister company to Envirocare of Utah, would house civilian-generated low-level radioactive waste from Texas, Maine and Vermont in aboveground, concrete bunkers for an undetermined period of time — most likely in Ward County. Most of the waste, in bulk and in radioactivity, would come from decommissionered nuclear power plants.

It is expected to create a minimum of 75 jobs.

The company also is considering locations in Loving and Borden counties.

"If he could learn more about it, he could support the project," Jacobi said of Galindo. "We’ve talked at length. His inclination is just to be opposed to it."

The company had planned to announce its site selection on Oct. 1, but has delayed that decision to further study results of test wells drilled north of Barstow in western Ward County.