I love that John Conlee song, and I think it described my optimistic, though rather naive, hope that our Texas representatives in the House of Representatives would actually REPRESENT the desires of the majority of Texans. I hoped they would defeat the bill that would allow up to thirty-six states to happily send their radioactive waste to this (once!) beautiful state. Yes, I was looking through rose colored glasses, but I have since thrown those rosie shades to the floor and stomped them to bits. I was wrong, but in all honestly, I have to say that I was not really shocked.
You see, with the rose colored shades set aside, reality floods back into view. Besides the over one hundred state representatives that today passed this bill, our state senators have already passed their version of the bill. On top of that, our own Three-Peat Rick has supported the WCS facility for years, possibly since 2000 (after receiving contributions from Harold Simmons). Three-Peat Rick's appointed (NOT ELECTED) officials have never offered any serious resistance to the WCS facility, even ignoring their own scientists who very vocally stated that the WCS Andrews site was unsafe. If you recall, three state scientists quit their jobs when their findings were ignored. And now the only thing standing in front of the final passage of the radioactive waste bill is, oops, the state Senate. Like I said, I took the shades off and stomped them flatter than a steam-rolled armadillo.
I am no longer wearing the rose colored glasses and I am certainly not optimistic that our state Senators (who also represent us, right?) will...well...represent us. Now I know that there are about six hundred people in Andrews who really, really want the WCS facility to live and thrive in right in their own backyard. And of course there are the politicians and bureaucrats who have benefited from Harold Simmons and company, who are very supportive of the facility. But honestly, should not the desires of the MAJORITY of Texans be the deciding factor. Oh wait, you say, shouldn't our representatives "vote their conscience." That, my friends, as what I am afraid has happened precisely. Our representatives see dollar signs and political contributions. That IS Their Conscience!
The fact is that the WCS Andrews facility will most likely, barring some great catastrophe, very soon begin receiving radioactive waste, and more than likely, the waste will not be limited to medical waste and other "low level" waste. Nope, we will receive spent nuclear fuel, parts of atom bombs, and other "depleted" radioactive waste. Yes, to quote John Conlee, "These rose colored glasses that I'm lookin' through, show only the beauty, 'cause they hide all the truth..."
No comments:
Post a Comment