http://www.roswell-record.com/news2622.html
Roswell Daily Record
6/22/98

WIPP support grows slightly


CARLSBAD (AP) - Angry opposition to a nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico appears to be losing some punch, but recent polling suggests the state remains divided about it.

About half, 49.2 percent, of New Mexicans surveyed in one recent poll favored opening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Those opposing WIPP were 45.7 percent. The University of New Mexico Institute for Public Policy randomly sampled 1,249 households for the poll.

Last fall, 45.1 percent supported opening WIPP while 50.3 percent said they didn't want to see WIPP open.

The repository won't open at least until August.

But 10 years ago, the plant generated almost universal opposition in Santa Fe, where waste-carrying trucks would pass through. A 14-mile bypass is now being built that will keep the trucks away from areas of high population and heavy traffic.

''You know, years ago when I would go up to Santa Fe, everybody had anti-WIPP signs in their window. And the last time I was in Santa Fe, I couldn't find one,'' former Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest said recently.

Carlsbad has long been a center of pro-WIPP sentiment because the project means hundreds of much-needed jobs over the next 20 to 30 years.

''I don't know how many hearings we geared up for and made hundreds of phone calls for,'' recalled Dan Gibson, who played a leading role in opposing WIPP during the height of opposition to the project. ''What happened is that people poured their heart and soul into (fighting WIPP) and eventually got burned out.''

Gibson questions whether the younger generation is interested. Others believe the people simply lost faith.

''Why do hundreds of people not turn out at DOE and EPA meetings? Because people know it's a waste of time. That doesn't mean people don't care,'' longtime WIPP critic Don Hancock said.

Another possibility is that 10 years ago the WIPP project was more inadequate than it is today, Gibson said. For example, the Energy Department was seeking to open WIPP without congressional approval and without having an independent regulator of the project.

''Maybe there's also a feeling that people have done everything they can do about WIPP,'' Gibson said.