Public Comment on Waste Texas

It seems that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has opened a period of public comment on the plan to allow up to thirty-six states to dump their radioactive waste in Texas, specifically in West Texas near the New Mexico border, between Andrews, Texas and Eunice, New Mexico.  I am always a little skeptical about "periods of public comment."  Why?  Because it has been my experience that the decision of whatever agency involved with whatever controversy has already been made prior to any pubic comment.  I sincerely hope I am wrong, and that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality can still be swayed by public opinion.

I would like to ask any Texan who may read this, or any person, do you really want RADIOACTIVE WASTE in your back yard?  Do you really believe the "assurances" of Waste Control Specialists that your water via the Ogallala Aquifer is "safe" from all chances of contamination from a leaking storage facility? The WCS facility is LEAKING NOW!  Do you really think it will leak LESS with MORE nuclear waste?  Most important of all, though, is this:  Do you really want Texas to become the dumping ground for all the radioactive waste in the United States?  Think about it.  Thirty-six other states DID NOT ALLOW IT, although they are eager to sign onto the DUMP ON WEST TEXAS DEAL!  I don't blame citizens in other states for wanting this hazardous material safely out of their states, away from their homes.  Do you?

You may think to yourself, this issue does not concern me.  I live in Texas, but not in Waste...I mean West Texas.  Well, wake up, people of Dallas, Houston, Austin, Waco, Amarillo, and all points in Texas.  The hazardous waste bound for Andrews will pass through your city or county on its way to Andrews.  The interstates meet in Dallas and Houston before continuing west.  Interstate 35 through Waco is a major corridor and an alternate to connections to West Texas.  If you do not live along a transport route, you will sooner or later be exposed to the transport trucks as you drive through Texas.  If you live along the lower Ogallala Aquifer, of course your drinking water is in immediate danger of contamination.  We are all at risk, every single Texan, as well as the people of Eunice, New Mexico.

I am outraged that the plan to dump radioactive waste in Texas was even considered, for the second time.  I am even more outraged that the plan now includes waste from thirty-six states.  Remember, we are already bound to accept waste from Vermont. 

I am outraged (BUT NOT SURPRISED) that our elected officials did not look out for our (THEIR CONSTITUENTS) interest in ratifying the Texas-Vermont Compact in the first place.  There is an easily traced money trail from WCS to several elected officials, as documented by several news sources and environmental groups.  Those officials were returned to office, in most cases.  We were asleep I guess.  The commissioners that control the Pact, as well as other officials that secured the WCS dump site near Andrews, were NOT elected and had nothing to lose (of course much to gain) by approving the dump site over the objections of many citizens and in the face of much scientific evidence indicating the instability and unsuitability of the Andrews -Eunice area for a radioactive waste disposal site.  As born out by public record, WCS has been cited numerous times for noncompliance with state and federal regulations.  And the facility is leaking now.

I am outraged that Mr. Harold Simmons actually used very little of his money to build the disposal facility.  The people of Andrews (a lot of them, anyway) actually voted to finance Mr. Simmons with bonds (read YOUR MONEY - NOT HIS), due I suspect to all the people screaming about how Andrews was a dying town and the sky would fall in on this city if the bond were not approved.  Fear works, as we know from the passage of the PATRIOT Act.  At this point in time, I wonder how many people would like to rethink their vote.  It is too late to undue what has been done, but it is not too late to stop the Thirty-Six Plan yet.  But it will take a lot of people standing together in the face of a billionaire and all the resources at his disposal.

Even more so, I am outraged that the license granted to WCS allows Mr. Simmons to walk away from the disposal facility at the end of the fifteen year period from the date it was opened.  If WCS simply abandons the operation, as they legally can do, I bet you can't guess who becomes the new owner by default.  Oh, wait, you can?  That's right, the taxpayers of Texas.  Remember the people of Texas who are were  not "effected" by the WCS facility in Andrews because they live so far away from West Texas?  Guess what?  THEY will be paying for the cleanup along with residents of the immediate area.  The facility will have to be repaired and maintained ad infinity since the waste stored there will not go away for a long, long, long, time.  Taxes will go on just as long, too, right up to the second Gabriel blows his horn.

Mr. Simmons should be (but of course IS NOT) ashamed of what he and his organizations have done for this and other states.  But, our elected officials and their UNELECTED friends on the various commissions should be even more ashamed.  They could have prevented this catastrophe.  But money greases a lot of wheels. This money can even be traced to George W. Bush.  Is that a surprise?  Actually it was to me, but I guess it should not have been.  Campaigns need funds.  The fund makers need favors.  And they get them.  I suppose Harold Simmons is probably the safest person from the wreckage and environmental damage he has caused.  He can simply get on his jet and vacate the area when Waste Texas becomes too dangerous a place in which to live.