Published in Midland Reported-Telegram, Midland, Texas, January 5, 1998

Most at forum want waste facility

By Gary Shanks
Staff Writer

 

ANDREWS - The sign on the edge of town reads "Andrews loves God and free enterprise," and people there proved that they were not afraid of the nuclear waste business on Thursday.

A hearing of the Texas Department of Health's Bureau of Radiation Control drew more than 200 people to discuss the licensing of Waste Control Specialists to store low-level radioactive waste in Andrews County.

No decision was made at the meeting; further testimony will be taken in a court in Austin before any approval is given to the license request, said Judge Leslie Craven, who presided over the hearing at Andrews High School.

If granted, the license would authorize WCS to receive and process low-level radioactive waste at its existing hazardous waste landfill at the Texas/New Mexico border in western Andrews County.

The facility would not store spent reactor fuel rods, which are highly radioactive and illegal for anyone except the federal government to handle, according to WCS officials.

This license would allow the storage of Class C mixed waste, which includes contaminated soil, naturally occurring radioactive material and materials from nuclear reactors and hospitals that have been contaminated, but are only radioactive at a low level.

Texas Rep. Gary Walker (R-Plains) was the first to speak at the hearing, citing support for the venture and faith in the WCS company.

Walker asked if all of those in favor of the proposed WCS venture would stand and, with the exception of no more than two dozen, the entire congregation stood and applauded.

Bob Wallach, a state representative from Hobbs, N.M., also voiced support from those living across the border from the site.

Several of those who spoke expressed confidence in WCS and cited ways in which the company has made its intentions known to area residents.

"The company has been up front, above board, honest and clean," said Ervin Huddleston, superintendent of the Andrews Independent School District.

The first negative response to the plan came from Robin Mills, who admitted to driving four hours to be in Andrews for the hearing.

Mills cited the inherent danger of shipping radioactive materials to this kind of a proposed treatment and storage facility which could, in the event of a traffic accident or other misfortune, possibly result in a radioactive spill.

Mills suggests leaving the material at the nuclear plants where most of it is produced, stored in above-ground facilities that can be easily and regularly inspected.

In an apparent tactical blunder, Mills asked people to stand if they would be willing to work at the proposed radioactive waste site; again almost the entire audience stood and applauded - and laughed.

Betty Richards, of Carlsbad, N.M., spoke of the federal medium-level radioactive disposal site there, saying that it too began as a low-level site and was now poorly managed and receiving some highly radioactive material.

"With the stroke of a pen, a classification can be changed," she said. "Be wary of what they sell you," she said.

A WCS proponent, however, later said that he was involved in establishing the Carlsbad facility and that it was always a medium-level storage site.

Another out-of towner, Donald Darling, said that he worked in a lab in the 1950s, testing reactor waste produced by the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine. Darling, outlining the dangers of nuclear reactors, spoke of the birth of his deformed daughter and of his later spinal tumor. Ms. Craven then directed Darling to direct his comments toward the proposed site and not nuclear energy as a whole.

Andrews resident Mary Henderson voiced strong opposition to the proposed site and the dangers posed by transporting the materials through the area.

Ms. Henderson said people should be allowed to vote on the matter and criticized the timing of the hearing since most working-class people cannot take time during the late morning hours to come to such a gathering. "Don't nuke Texas," she said.

Kent Hance, chairman of the board of WCS, told those present that these meetings usually occur in Austin. "We asked to have the meeting here so that all of you could have an opportunity to speak," he said.

Some opponents cited the danger of groundwater contamination from the proposed low-level facility. But a member of the Andrews Industrial Foundation, which supports licensing of the site, reiterated that the Ogalala aquifer does not flow under the proposed site. Instead, the site sits atop hundreds of feet of nearly impermeable "Triassic redbed clay," he said.

This community leader also pointed out that a vast formation of uranium ore, with all its radioactive isotopes, lies underground across most of the county.

This formation was first documented in the 1920s when oil was discovered in Andrews County, he said.

One opponent pointed out that the West Texas wind could carry radioactive dust from the site. A WCS official countered, saying the transfer of waste would take place inside a building and out of the wind.

Bill Addington, a rancher and native of Sierra Blanca - where another nuclear site has been proposed - spoke against bringing radioactive waste into Texas.

"I'm not an environmentalist from up north or a tree hugger from California," he said.

Addington pointed out that although the material collected is rated low-level in overall radiation output, it still contains the highly dangerous cesium, strontium and plutonium ions produced in a nuclear reaction.

"There will be these same elements stored here," he said.

Addington also said that one of the WCS officials had threatened him with a lawsuit over his anti-nuclear-waste Web. He said that he had already been sued unsuccessfully by one nuclear-oriented company and was not afraid of another.

Washington, D.C., attorney John Kyte, who has worked with WCS and has been involved in the nuclear waste storage industry for 17 years, said that many of the statements made by opponents were false.

"WCS is a case study on how to do it right," he said.