Stupid Stupid Stupid - West Texas Radioactive Dump Approved

[blogslut]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/green/entries/2011/01/04/lowlevel_radioactive_waste_dum.html

Texas can import low-level radioactive waste from 36 other states, a commission run jointly by Texas and Vermont decided Tuesday in Andrews County.

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission vote was a decisive victory for Waste Control Specialists, a company owned by a politically connected billionaire that has shaken off a series of permitting and court challenges by environmental activists.

The decision is sure to be challenged by the activists, but WCS could bury waste as soon as October at its 1,300-acre disposal site in Andrews County in West Texas.

The low-level dump could be used to bury radioactively contaminated trash such as rags, syringes and protective clothing from nuclear plants or hospitals. The vast majority of it, if sealed in a drum, would be safe enough to sit atop and will lose its radioactivity within a century.

[sonias]

1. I said earlier today I would bet money on it

I'd put money down on that one.

Unfortunately no surprise. The commission delivered for Simmons just like Perry wanted it to. :mad:

Next step - on to the courts!

[onestepforward]

3. The courts appear to be our only hope at this point.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808704576062162594317064.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

-snip-

"We're going to consult with our lawyers and probably sue them," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. Mr. Smith, who said the commission violated rules in the public-comment process, was present at the panel's meeting in Andrews County, in remote west Texas, where the storage site is located.

-snip-

This is putting it lightly:

The decision drew a quick response from the plan's opponents, some of whom opposed the idea because the site is near the Ogallala aquifer that provides drinking water to several states.

The number of states is eight. The Ogallala aquifer provides drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary which is approximately 174,000 square miles. In addition, About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. It is one of the world's largest aquifers. (Wiki)

I have to post this one more time:

[onestepforward]

2. Another twist to this story...

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=3244

-snip-

More than 6,200 citizens flooded state officials with comments and concerns over the Christmas holiday weekend because they were concerned with the proposal to allow the shipment of radioactive waste from 36 states into Texas. However, the email address for comments was listed incorrectly in the Texas Register.

A state judge last week issued a restraining order based on concerns by Public Citizen and the Texas Civil Rights Project that because the email address was wrong, it is likely that comments from many people “bounced back” and were not delivered to the commission. In addition, the comment period was illegally shortened – the last day for comments to be submitted was a federal postal holiday, and state law requires that the comment period be extended to the next day after a weekend or holiday. An “official” posting of an incorrect email address denied Texans the right to petition state government and for their comments to be heard as guaranteed under the state constitution and the state’s open meeting act.

“We are outraged that a federal court has dissolved the temporary restraining order. Once again, the federal courts have denied Texan’s rights to participate in decisions made by their government,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith director of Public Citizen’s Texas office.

-snip-

Perry and Co. are doing a good job at keeping this issue from the general public. As a casual local news viewer, I haven't seen any stories about this on the news. I busted my ass trying to round-up signatures and no one I talked with had even heard about this story.

[sonias]

4. Casual media coverage

This is where our media is failing today. This doesn't seem sensational enough for "high ratings" so the media just glosses over it. Or worse they're pandering for pro-business over citizen health.

It is really extremely sad that the people always fighting for us on these issues are out there alone pretty much. By the time that the public wakes up - it's usually too late and you have a BP gulf killing disaster. :cry:

Thanks for trying to wake up some of your local friends, onestepforward! :hug:

[onestepforward]

6. Our corporate media

protects businesses and the general public is kept in the dark. I've been writing to my local news about this and I will continue.

Growing up in Amarillo, I remember going to a public well and bringing home water from the Ogallala aquifer. It was the best-tasting water I've ever had. I remember seeing a large model of the aquifer at a museum and being amazed how large it is.

This aquifer is already in trouble with fertilizer run-off, overuse, etc. and this new radioactive threat would devastate our country. By the way, a helpful website I've been going to, www.savetheogallalaaquifer.com, has disappeared. It was online last week.

Thanks Sonias
:hug:

[TEXASYANKEE]

9. Agreed ...... but

This story was on the local ABC affiliate here on Tuesday. Every single comment was from a reader mad at .... get this .... other states for sending their trash to Texas! They're not mad at Perry and this Commission for selling Texas out. No, they're mad at Vermont and all the other states who will pay to send nuclear waste here. It boggles the mind, truly it does.

[sonias]

5. No. 2 all-time individual donor to the governor

Same press release you linked to above:

Nuclear Waste Dump Is Bad News for Texans
(snip)

While routes are not yet designated, potential transportation routes would take nuclear waste from the Gulf Coast area on Interstate 10 through Houston and San Antonio; waste from southern states would be trucked on I-20 and I-30 though Dallas and Forth Worth; Midwestern and Northeastern waste would be driven on I-40 and I-27 though Lubbock and Amarillo; and waste from Western states would be driven though the cities of El Paso and Odessa taking I-10 and I-20, according to Martin Resnikoff of Radioactive Waste Management Associates.

The proposed dump would be operated by Waste Control Specialists (WCS), which is owned by Harold Simmons, a politically powerful Republican who helped bankroll the Swift Boat attacks on Sen. John Kerry and who, according to Texans for Public Justice, has given Texas Gov. Rick Perry $1.12 million over the past decade, including $500,000 in 2010, making Simmons the No. 2 all-time individual donor to the governor.

This radioactive crap is going to travel all over Texas and how many people in Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo even know about it? Not many I'm sure. :shrug:

The "No. 2 all-time individual donor to the governor" just made Texas the No. 1 radio active toilet for the country! :mad:

[onestepforward]

7. The other aquifer at risk - Edwards-Trinity Aquifer System

More:

Edwards-Trinity Aquifer System at risk from radioactive waste dump
http://naturescrusaders.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/edwards-trinity-aquifer-system-at-risk-from-radioactive-waste-dump/?like=1

[sonias]

8. Commission Lets 36 States Dump Nuclear Waste In Texas

Huffington Post 1/5/11
Commission Lets 36 States Dump Nuclear Waste In Texas
HOUSTON — A Texas commission approved rules on Tuesday that pave the way for 36 states to export low-level radioactive waste to a remote landfill along the Texas-New Mexico border.

The 5-2 vote by the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Commission came after last-minute legal maneuvering on Monday failed to delay the meeting, environmentalists warned the dump would pollute groundwater and more than 5,000 people commented on the plan.

The expansion stokes the debate over where – and if – nuclear waste can be dumped in the United States, an argument that has taken on new importance since President Barack Obama vowed to decrease the country's dependence on foreign oil, partly by building more nuclear power plants.

In the end, however, the site's owner, Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists, convinced the commission the West Texas landfill was a secure solution to permanently dump radioactive waste. Until now, the site has only accepted waste from Texas, Vermont and the federal government.

Still making me sick!
:puke:

[ceile]

10. I don't have any words....

why am I not surprised....?