The Dallas Morning News
05/20/99

NUCLEAR WASTE BILL CONCERNS BUSH
Texas would become a dumping ground, some opponents

By George Kuempel

AUSTIN - Gov. George W. Bush said Wednesday that he has concerns about a Senate bill that opponents say would make Texas a dumping ground for the nation's low-level radioactive waste.

The governor told reporters he prefers instead a bill by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, that gives the state more control over the waste disposed of in Texas.

The House approved Mr. Chisum's measure, but a Senate committee scuttled it in favor of one substituted by Sen. J.E. "Buster" Brown, R-Lake Jackson.

The Senate is expected to debate the Brown bill on Thursday.

Congress approved an agreement last year among Texas, Vermont and Maine to dispose in Texas low-level radioactive waste generated in those states.

Mr. Bush said he supports that compact but is concerned that, under the Brown bill, state regulatory agencies wouldn't be able to control the amount of waste coming into Texas.

Mr. Bush would not say whether he would veto the Brown bill. "I will look at each piece of legislation that makes it to my desk. But I am concerned," he said.

Mr. Brown said his bill would provide for a limitation on the amount of waste that private companies could receive. He said the governor's concerns are addressed in the bill and that he agrees Texas shouldn't be a dumping ground.

The Brown bill is backed by Waste Control Specialists, a Pasadena, Texas-based company that critics say stands to benefit most from that measure.

WCS is majority owned by Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, a longtime friend and supporter of Mr. Bush.

A competing waste management firm, Envirocare of Texas, favors the Chisum bill.

WCS has assembled a $1 million team of 32 lobbyists, including several former top aides of Mr. Bush.

According to campaign finance reports, Mr. Simmons donated $10,000 to Mr. Bush's re-election campaign. Mr. Simmons, his wife, and his company political action committee, Contran PAC, have given $7,000 to Mr. Bush's presidential exploratory committee.

Former U.S. Rep. Kent Hance, a WCS co-owner, gave Mr. Bush $20,000 for his re-election, records show.

Envirocare has put together a six-member lobby team that includes two former House speakers, Gib Lewis and Bill Clayton.

Both the Chisum and Brown bills would allow a private company to build and operate the dump.

But unlike the House bill, the Brown proposal does away with the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, which would hold the license for the dump and oversee the private company operating it.

Without that state oversight, the dump operators would be free to take Department of Energy waste from decommissioned nuclear weapons plants, which Mr. Chisum opposes.

The Brown bill also does away with several other provisions in the Chisum bill, including a requirement that residents be allowed to vote on whether they want a dump in their county.

It also does away with incentive payments to the host county.

WCS spokesman Tony Proffitt said WCS favors the Brown bill but did not have a major role in writing it.

Lawrence Jacobi, an official with Envirocare, said his group favors the Chisum bill because of the "community incentives" and retention of the waste disposal authority.

He said Envirocare can build and operate profitably a facility that would take waste only from Texas, Vermont and Maine.

As far as DOE waste, "We don't need it," he said.

Lawmakers decided to look to the private sector after the state came up empty handed in its 18-year, $50-million search for a suitable dump site.