Thursday, August 26, 1999
Globe-News
Amarillo, Texas

Childress Taken Off Nuke List

By KEVIN WELCH
Staff Writer

CHILDRESS - A company seeking a site to store low-level nuclear waste has marked Childress County off its list of potential locations, but that won't stop protesters from rallying today.

"I don't trust them," said Robbie Griffin, one of the organizers of two community meetings scheduled for today. "I think we'll still go ahead because the town is in an uproar about this. They could change their mind and come back next year, so people need to be educated."

Envirocare announced Wednesday it no longer was considering Childress or Haskell counties as contenders for the above-ground storage facility.

"These two sites haven't emerged as top sites," said Chuck McDonald, a consultant for Envirocare. "Once you decide not to do something, you owe it to your supporters to announce it. They don't deserve to be taking the grief from the opposition."

Envirocare was considering a site in southwest Childress County, where it would have bought about 135 acres and employed as many as 150 people, said Ric Jacobi, a vice president of the company.

Lee Mathews, general counsel for the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, defined low-level radioactive waste as anything that has been slightly contaminated through contact with radioactive material.

Hospital workers might inject radioactive dye into someone's veins to assist in cancer detection, Mathews said. The needle used for the injection and anything else that came in contact with the dye would be considered low-level radioactive material.

Jacobi downplayed the threat from such a facility as "no more dangerous than having a gas station on the corner."

McDonald declined to say what counties remain in the running, but he said the search is focusing on an area nearer Midland and Odessa.

"I don't know of any specific problem with Childress. It just wasn't the best choice," McDonald said.

The community meetings will be at noon and 5:30 p.m. today at the Childress Fair Park Auditorium. Speakers will address the possible consequences of nuclear waste, including lower property values and health hazards, Griffin said.

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