Archive for the ‘WCS’ Category

06/15/2010

By BETSY BLANEY / Associated Press
Dallas Morning News

A commission overseeing low-level radioactive waste disposal in Texas has withdrawn and will revise proposed rules that could allow 36 other states to send nuclear waste for burial near the New Mexico line.

Bob Gregory of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission said Monday the panel voted unanimously Saturday to pull the proposed rules as initially published and repost them with some amendments and revisions.

A representative from the Texas Attorney General’s Office told the commission during a Saturday meeting it could not change the rules then because there was nothing on the agenda to allow it, said Chuck McDonald, spokesman for Waste Control Specialists, the company that operates the waste site about 30 miles west of Andrews in West Texas.

The law requires the commission to republish the rules with the changes and then consider them at a future meeting, Thomas Kelley, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said in an e-mail.

"Significant changes were made to the rules and the law requires re-publishing under those circumstances," Kelley’s e-mail stated.

The commission’s agenda Saturday did not include a vote on the rules that were published in February.

It was not clear Monday when the new rules would be published in the Texas Register. Texas law requires the rules be posted for 30 days, followed by a minimum 30-day comment period, before a vote can be taken.

Gregory said he had as many as 30 pages of revisions he wanted considered, and another commissioner wanted to add an amendment.

"I’m pleased that additional time is being given for a much more thorough discussion and consideration and revisions that were certainly needed, in my opinion," he said.

If adopted, the rules would allow low-level material from 36 states’ nuclear power plants, hospitals, universities and research labs to be buried at a site near the New Mexico border.

McDonald said Waste Control Specialists wants the commission to do its job.

"We had no objection to the delay," he said Monday.

Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, said she was pleased. Her group opposes letting states other than Texas and Vermont bring nuclear waste to West Texas. The proposed rules would change a pact initially made between Texas and Vermont.

"Basically, we gained a delay," Hadden said. "I think it’s a good thing. I hope they take their time. These rules are really important."

Hadden and other opponents of the huge dumping ground say the waste will pollute groundwater and harm the environment. Waste Control Specialists contends it’ll be safe, and many local residents applaud expansion as a way to bring more jobs and prosperity to the West Texas scrubland.

Proponents in Andrews outnumber those against the low-level dump site, which has not yet been built. Approval of its design and precise location is pending from the state environmental regulators.

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Online:

Waste Control Specialists LLC: http://www.wcstexas.com

Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission: http://www.tllrwdcc.org

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us

Nuke Free Texas: http://www.nukefreetexas.org

06/12/2010

By BETSY BLANEY
Associated Press/Dallas Morning News

Residents worried about environmental damage from nuclear waste and those eager for a way to bring jobs to the region spoke Saturday to a commission considering a plan to bury nuclear material from 36 other states in West Texas.

Rose Gardner, who lives just over the state line in Eunice, N.M., told the commission she found the plan "very scary." Gardner lives about 5 miles from where material from nuclear power plants, hospitals, universities and research labs could be buried. She told the commission she worried about her water well and pointed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the kind of disaster that could happen.

"We all know it’s the human error" that can’t be predicted, said Gardner, 52. "I want you to remember, I’m just across the state line."

The plan calls for workers’ clothing, glass, metal and other materials used at nuclear facilities to be disposed of at a site 30 miles west of Andrews. Currently, facilities store the waste at their own sites.

Opponents say the huge dumping ground will pollute groundwater and harm the environment. Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists, the company that runs the site, contends it’ll be safe, and many local residents applaud expansion as a way to bring more jobs and prosperity to the West Texas scrubland.

One longtime Andrews resident said the city did an independent study on the site’s geology and found it adequate.

"We believe in the project, the company," said Russell Shannon, who’s lived in Andrews for 28 years. "Don’t let rumor and innuendo overshadow fact and evidence."

Another resident said talk of Waste Control Specialists duping uninformed county residents was wrong and people understood the issues.

"We’re not a bunch of cowboys out here," private engineer and Andrews resident Chad Tompkins said.

A small group of protesters carried signs before the meeting at the town’s high school. One read, "Think about our future."

Most of the about 150 people who attended the hearing were residents of oil-rich Andrews County and nearly all wore green T-shirts the town’s chamber of commerce provided that read, "We Support WCS".

Proponents in Andrews outnumber those against the low-level dump site, which has not yet been built. Approval of its design and precise location is pending from the state environmental regulators.

The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, which includes six members from Texas and two from Vermont, had been scheduled to vote Saturday on a proposed rule that would have allowed 36 other states to bury low-level radioactive waste near Andrews. But two weeks ago, several commissioners, both from Vermont and Texas, expressed concern about hearing public comment and voting at the same meeting.

One said he was concerned a vote was being rushed.

"This is a big deal worthy of careful consideration," said Bob Gregory. "I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to discuss."

A date for the commission’s next meeting has not been scheduled.

June 10, 2010

Karen Hadden, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR
Austin American Statesman

Texas is at risk of becoming the nation’s radioactive waste dumping ground. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission is pushing forward a rule that essentially invites 36 states to dump radioactive waste in Texas, and possibly international sources as well. The commission should instead limit waste to that generated by the two compact states Texas and Vermont. Financial and safety risks are being ignored in the rush to approve the rule, which has no volume or curie limits for waste.

Everything except the fuel rods of nuclear reactors could go to Waste Controls Specialists’ Andrews County dump. Nuclear reactors vessels, “poison curtains” that absorb reactor core radioactivity, and sludges and resins could all go to West Texas. In fact, there is not a single radionuclide that cannot go to a so-called low-level radioactive waste dump.

Exposure to radioactive materials can cause cancer, radiation poisoning, genetic defects and even death, depending on the type of radioactive material and the level of exposure. Tritium, found in reactor waste, remains hazardous for up to 240 years. Strontium-90 remains hazardous for up to 560 years, and Iodine-129 remains hazardous for 320 million years. How can we ensure that these materials will not contaminate water and soil during vast stretches of time?

Existing radioactive waste dumps across the country have leaked, and billions of dollars are needed for cleanup. Radioactive waste going to the compact site would be disposed of in trenches and covered with dirt.

The Andrews County site is geologically inadequate. In a rare move, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff recommended denying the radioactive waste dump license. When it became clear that the license would be approved, three long-term employees resigned in protest. An August 2007 TCEQ staff memo says “groundwater is likely to intrude into the proposed disposal units and contact the waste from either or both of two water tables near the proposed facility.” State law requires that groundwater "not intrude into the waste." The water table may be closer than 14 feet from the bottom of trenches. How many and which aquifers could become contaminated if there were leaks? Can we afford to find out the hard way? What liabilities could Texas incur?

Radioactive waste could travel by rail and on interstate highways throughout Texas. No one has analyzed whether Texas’ emergency responders are fully trained and equipped to handle accidents involving radioactive waste. Some Texas counties have no full-time professional fire departments, including Andrews County, where the dump is located, and Somervell and Matagorda counties, where Comanche Peak and South Texas Project nuclear reactors are located.

There is no room at the planned dump for radioactive waste from across the country. The Waste Control Specialists’ compact site is licensed for 2.3 million cubic-feet of waste. Texas and Vermont will need three times this amount of space to dispose of five existing reactors when they’re decommissioned. Vermont Yankee’s cooling tower collapse and recent tritium leaks led to a decision not to renew the nuclear reactor’s license. Decommissioning may come sooner than expected.

Is the commission trying to create a "volume discount" rate for dumping radioactive waste on Texas? Who would profit? Only a private company headed by a billionaire, while taxpayers would bear financial and safety risks. Other compacts have excluded “out of compact” waste. There is no legal reason that the commission cannot close the gate and no excuse for not doing so. The commission should switch gears and limit the Andrews County site to only Texas and Vermont waste.

Fifteen state representatives have asked the commission to delay the radioactive waste import rule vote. They want time to analyze the increased financial risks for taxpayers and the health and safety risks of transporting radioactive waste from across the country through major cities and small Texas towns.

It’s not too late. Citizens can urge elected officials to insist on limiting the site to the compact states, Texas and Vermont. The Commission’s Import Rule vote should be halted until waste limits are assured and the Legislature has a chance to analyze financial, health and safety risks to Texans.

If you don’t want Texas to become the nation’s radioactive waste dump, the time to speak up is now.

Hadden is executive director of the SEED Coalition.

Saturday, May. 29, 2010

By ANNA M. TINSLEY
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Thirty-six states could start shipping loads of radioactive waste through Texas for more than a decade — likely crisscrossing the Metroplex on major highways and train tracks — if they get approval this summer to send their contaminated materials to a West Texas disposal site.

The proposal to allow the states to send low-level waste to a site in Andrews County has prompted concern from some state lawmakers, who worry about the safety of communities along travel routes — including the Interstate 20 corridor through North Texas — and from environmentalists, who worry about radioactive leakage and contamination at the site.

An eight-member commission is expected to take up the issue in coming weeks, considering rules that would govern what materials are accepted and whether dozens of states should be allowed to send radioactive waste to the Waste Control Specialists’ Texas site owned by Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons.

"This could open [Texas] up to not only become the nation’s but potentially the world’s dump site," said Cyrus Reed, conservation director for the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter. "We thought the intent … was to take care of our own."

Waste Control Specialists’ officials say the site is safe and opening the landfill to other states will reduce the cost for all. And many West Texans who live near the disposal site say they support the company.

"We are willing to be the solution for the low-level radioactive waste disposal," said Julia Wallace, executive director of the Andrews Chamber of Commerce. "They need somewhere to put it. This is the perfect place for it."

But others aren’t so sure.

Amanda Villalobos is one of the few in Andrews County speaking out against the company, saying that while it is a great community partner and has a strong working relationship with many in the community, she is worried about leakage or other environmental problems.

"They don’t know what they are getting into," Villalobos, 24, said of her neighbors.

West Texas site

The Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, made up of six Texans and two Vermont residents, will decide whether additional states may apply to send low-level waste to Texas.

State environmental officials already agreed to let Waste Control Specialists accept low-level radioactive waste from Texas — including from Texas’ two nuclear plants, Glen Rose near Fort Worth and the South Texas project in Matagorda County — as well as from Vermont and federal sources.

The site is a sparsely populated area on top of layers of red bed clay about 350 miles west of Fort Worth that has had a hazardous-waste disposal permit since 1997. It’s owned by Simmons, who has given more than $3.5 million to Texas Republican politicians and organizations since 2000.

Shipments would include materials such as beakers, test tubes and hospital equipment, as well as items that have come in contact with radioactive material such as gloves, shoe covers, rags and soil. It would all be sent on trucks or trains, with many of them expected to pass through communities in the Metroplex on a regular basis.

"If an accident occurs, state and local governments will be responsible for the emergency and cleanup services necessary to ensure public health and safety by protecting them from exposure to radioactivity," said a letter written by 15 Democratic state House members, including Lon Burnam and Marc Veasey, both of Fort Worth. "The proposed rule unnecessarily places our constituents and their families at risk."

The commission delayed voting on this proposal this month after logging thousands of concerns and complaints. Members are expected to meet in Andrews County on June 12. They could vote by July, officials said.

More states, more money

Waste Control Specialists is now getting ready to break ground on the disposal facility. It will take workers nearly a year to dig 120 feet into the red clay and install plastic and concrete liners, spokesman Chuck McDonald said.

The company has a 15-year license to collect and dispose of these materials, with options to renew for two more 15-year terms. The facility may accept up to 2.3 million cubic feet of material, McDonald said.

More states shipping their waste means more money for the company, and even for Andrews County, which receives a percentage of the company’s gross receipts from waste disposal each quarter, officials say. Residents in Andrews County also approved a $75 million bond project to help build the site.

The lawmakers’ letter stresses that radioactive waste shipped to West Texas will remain contaminated for tens of thousands of years, and if there’s a leak, "the potential clean-up costs to the state of Texas are exceptionally high."

Last year, Burnam filed a bill that would require the Texas Legislature, not the commission, to sign off on which states can deposit their waste at the site. The bill died.

Vermont consultants urged the commission last month not to approve an expanded contract because there hasn’t been a legal review and Vermont will need all the space available at the dump site for its own nuclear reactor.

Villalobos of Andrews County said there is great support for the company, which has provided scholarships and funded events.

But she’s working for additional protections for the community, such as trying to get the company to fund a full-time Fire Department, pay for a committee to study environmental issues in the area and contribute funds to local hospitals and emergency medical services, "just in case something were to happen."

"It would be great if we could stop it completely," she said. "If not, it would be great to add more protections."

‘The Texas Solution’

McDonald said it is safe to transport items to Andrews County and to store them there.

"The issue is this: The material exists today," McDonald said. "We’re not creating it. It exists … in barrels at hospitals [and] at power plants.

"Instead of having some of it everywhere, it seems we would want to put it in one remote site."

Wallace, of the Andrews Chamber of Commerce, said residents have been supportive of Waste Control Specialists for decades, hoping it could help diversify West Texas’ economy, which has been so deeply rooted in oil.

The chamber recently started a campaign called "The Texas Solution" to support this disposal effort. Members say Andrews County has helped the state and nation through history, such as when the county provided oil needed during World War II.

"I’m not concerned," Wallace said. "I’ve raised my children here, I have my family here. There really is not anything to fear."

For Immediate Release
Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club
Thursday, April 29, 2010:

For More Information on the Poll:
Paul Maslin, FM3 Research
Phone Number: 608-204-5877

For More Information on Proposed Import of Radioactive Waste into Texas:
Cyrus Reed, Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club
Phone Number: 512-740-4086

(Austin) The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club released results of a survey today by pollster Paul Maslin showing that the strong majority of Texas voters oppose having a radioactive waste landfill in Texas.

The Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission is currently considering a rule that would allow Waste Control Specialists to import radioactive waste from other states to their radioactive waste dump in Andrews County, Texas along the state’s border with New Mexico. The Commission is poised to consider the Waste
Importation Agreement rule at a public meeting on May 11th in Andrews, Texas.

Pollster Paul Maslin, who conducted the study, said that the results were emphatic:

"Texans clearly have an initial negative reaction to this landfill based on just a little information. As they hear more details, their opposition grows stronger and solidifies. When the potential to actually import waste from other states or countries is mentioned, opposition goes through the roof. This is a pretty vivid example of their desire that folks ‘don’t mess with Texas.’"

In a telephone survey* of 600 likely 2010 Texas general election voters, FM3 Research found a strong majority opposed to disposing of radioactive waste in the landfill that has been licensed in Andrews County in West Texas. The initial question was asked with no accompanying context or explanation of the issue or the details about
the landfill, except its location.

"Based on your understanding of the issues, does disposing of radioactive waste in a new landfill in Andrews County sound like something you would support or oppose?"

When voters were read a brief description of the landfill, including the fact that the site is "located in close proximity to the Ogallala Aquifer", opposition rose even further to 70%, with a majority (55%) now saying they strongly oppose the disposing of radioactive waste in this new landfill.

And when a subsequent question mentioned that the new landfill would "accept radioactive waste, not just from Texas, but from all over the country", opposition peaked at an extraordinary level of 80%, with now two-thirds strongly opposed to the disposal of radioactive waste in the West Texas landfill.

The survey was conducted from April 6-11 2010 among 600 respondents who are registered to vote and selected because they are likely to vote this November based on their past voting history and current vote intentions. The margin of error is +/ 4.0%.

The Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club provided input into the development of the questions related to radioactive waste and the proposed import of radioactive waste into Texas.

"This poll shows conclusively that Texans do not want to import the nation’s radioactive waste to Texas," said Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. "This survey shows that Sierra Club and other environmental organizations have the strong majority of Texas voters behind us when we say ‘No’, to the radioactive waste importation agreements."

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