Sunday, March 21, 1999
Low level radioactive dump for Andrews County is debated
By CHRIS NEWTON
Associated Press Writer
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) - A key Texas legislator said Saturday that rather than support a nuclear waste dump for Andrews County, he favors central locations for storing waste above ground in huge vaults.
State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, chairman of the House Environmental Regulation Committee, said at a public forum on the issue Saturday that he'll back his own plan rather than a proposal favored by the Andrews Industrial Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to diversifying and improving Andrews' economy.
Nearly 100 people attended the forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and The Midland Reporter-Telegram.
Without Chisum's support, any plans for a dump could face an uphill battle.
"We've spent $53 million in search of a magical site that everyone agrees upon," Chisum said. "We haven't found it, and I don't think we're going to. Allowing counties to keep the waste above ground and have it constantly monitored is a different road, and we believe we'll be able to gain support for this idea."
Two companies, Envirocare of Texas and Waste Control Specialists, are vying for the contract if Andrews County gets the state's approval as a nuclear waste dumping site.
Many hurdles remain before such approval could come.
First, Texas legislators would have to pass a law permitting the state to consider a site other than Sierra Blanca, a town 90 miles east of El Paso and less than 20 miles from the Rio Grande.
In December, capping a process that took nearly two decades, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission vetoed Sierra Blanca as a storage site because of a geologic fault line there. Any future site would have to get the nod from the commission.
The Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Authority, charged with the oversight of radioactive wastes, must also approve the site.
Doug Bell, general manager of the Authority, says the Andrews County proposal will require more investigation.
"There are maps that show that the Ogallala aquifer does run under that part of the county. There is a lot of scientific research to prove that something does not exist there."
The forum also focused on a University of Texas study declaring that most maps and previous documentation show the aquifer is beneath the proposed dumping site.
Throughout the forum, proponents of a dump were on the defensive.
"I have three children and a wife and I would never support a plan that was dangerous just for the industrial diversification of Andrews County," said Lloyd Eisenrich, director of the Andrews Industrial Foundation.
"Our opponents are not asked to prove their statements," he said. "They rely upon emotion rather than facts to make a point. Just because some group in Washington says it's bad isn't enough to ignore the fact that we can be a site with the solution."
Don Moniak, president of Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping, questioned proponents' tactics.
"The problem is that this all moving way too fast," Moniak said. "It's not a matter of being opposed or not opposed to it, it's a matter of not just following the path of least resistance."
Lawrence Jacobi, vice president of operations at Envirocare of Texas, said he isn't convinced the Ogallala Aquifer isn't near the proposed area.
"We're interested in the possibility of making Andrews County a site, but we're not completely sold on the idea that it is viable," Jacobi said.
"We are in the business of making 100 percent certain that a site is 100 percent safe before committing in any way."
Kent Hance, a major stockholder of WCS and also a former congressman and former state railroad commissioner, said he believes the Andrews site is safe.
"We've done the research, and we're convinced that there is not a threat to the Ogalalla aquifer," Hance said.
Residents at Saturday's forum seemed divided.
"It's hard to know what to believe, but I think there are still some serious concerns that need to be looked at," said Dorothy Carrington, who lives near Andrews.
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