TCEQ To Put More Nuclear Waste Over Ogallala Aquifer

(This map showing the location of the Texas nuclear waste dump is from dmnewsi.com.)

The Republican-dominated Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has once again shown it has no intention of carrying out its mission to protect the environment of the Lone Star State. Like the other GOP officials in Texas, they have decided that it is more important to protect corporate interests and profits than to protect the health and well-being of the state's citizens.

It was bad enough when the TCEQ approved building a nuclear waste dump in West Texas (Andrews County) to hold low-level nuclear waste -- even though the site sits over the southern edge of the Ogallala Aquifer (one of the nation's largest fresh water aquifers -- providing water for West Texas and the Panhandle, and parts of seven other Great Plains states).

The TCEQ and the Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists (owner of the dump) assures Texans that there is no way the dump could spring a leak and foul the aquifer -- but the same assurances were given to the people of New Mexico when a dump was built in that state (and it has now sprung a leak, requiring that waste to be moved to Texas). The simple fact is that no one can know what the future will bring, and this nuclear waste facility should never have been placed over this valuable aquifer.

Now the TCEQ has voted to make the situation even worse, and place the aquifer in even more danger. Their latest action will:
1. Amend the license they issued to allow Waste Control Specialists to store 9 million cubic feet of radioactive material, instead of the 2.39 million cubic feet originally allowed (even though they have so far only stored 51,000 cubic feet of nuclear waste).
2. Allow the storage of far more dangerous radioactive waste, such as that from nuclear power plants, instead of the low-level waste originally allowed.
3. And even though they are increasing the facility's size and allowing it to store more dangerous waste over the aquifer, they are cutting the financial assurance bond the company is supposed to pay the state (in case that "impossible" accident happens) from $136 million to $86 million (a cut of $50 million).

State Representative Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) says this shows the company (and the TCEQ) doesn't "have the best interests of Texas taxpayers at heart". My reaction is even stronger. I think this is sheer insanity -- and shows that Texas Republicans have completely sold out to corporate interests. They no longer even care to give the illusion that they act on behalf of the citizens of Texas.

Commission Endangers The Ogallala Aquifer

As if there weren't enough already, here is one more example of how the Republican leadership in Texas puts the interests of corporations ahead of the health interests of citizens or the environment.   The black dot on the map above shows where Dallas-based Waste Management Specialists corporation has put a dump site for low-level radioactive waste (in Andrews County, Texas).

The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Commission, created to approve the dumping of radioactive waste in Texas, has fulfilled its mission.   It had already approved the dumping of low-level radioactive waste at the site for waste from Texas, Vermont and the federal government -- that was done a few months ago.   Now it has approved the dump site receiving radioactive waste from another 35 states.

This means the Texas highways will be full of trucks transversing the state full of radioactive waste, endangering both Texas citizens and motorists from other states.   That would be bad enough, but note that the site sits above the southern part of the Ogallala Aquifer -- one of the largest fresh-water aquifers in the nation.   Eight separate states draw water from the aquifer.

The corporate spokesmen for Waste Management Specialists has convinced the commission that there is no way the radioactive waste can possibly seep down into the aquifer and poison it with radioactivity.   If any of you believe that, I've got some ocean-front property here in Amarillo for sale real cheap.

Even if it's true that radioactive-polluted water can't seep through the soil and into the aquifer (and that's doubtful), all it would take is one natural disaster (like a small earthquake caused by all the West Texas oil and gas drilling) to create a small crack and allow the aquifer to be polluted with radioactivity.   And once that happens there'll be no way to ever clean it up.

The fact is that the commission has just approved the eventual poisoning of the Ogallala Aquifer.   It may not happen tomorrow, or even next year.   But it will happen.   Count on it. And it was done so one company can make a few million dollars.

As someone who lives in the Texas Panhandle, which depends heavily on water from the aquifer, I don't think it was worth the risk.   But then I haven't been paid off with corporate money like the Republican leadership in Austin.

Endangering The Ogallala Aquifer

Our fellow Texas blogger over at Lubbock Left reminds us that the fight continues to oppose putting a radioactive toxic waste dump in the West Texas county of Andrews (the black dot on the above map). If this toxic waste dump is allowed to operate, Texas will soon be the repository for all of the nation's radioactive waste. This would be a huge financial boon for the Dallas corporation, Waste Control Specialists, but a disaster for Texas and possibly several other states.

That's because the proposed dump site sits on the southern edge of one of the largest water aquifers in the country -- the Ogallala aquifer (the purple area on the map). Without the water from this aquifer, West Texas and the Panhandle would be little more than a desert. The water is absolutely vital to the region's farming and ranching interests. It also provides drinking water to many.

And Texas is not the only state that depends upon the Ogallala aquifer. At least seven other states draw water from this aquifer, including Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and New Mexico. If this aquifer was to become poisoned by radioactive waste, it could be disastrous for all eight states and the people who live in them.

Of course, the corporation that would benefit the most financially from the toxic waste dump, has assured West Texans and the Republican leaders in Austin that the site is safe and the radioactive waste could not possibly find its way into the aquifer. A company spokesman says, "What gives this site a position of strength for this type of disposal is that it's sitting on a very solid, thick clay formation that holds the waste in place."

That sounds very reassuring, and the corporate-loving leadership in Austin seems to have bought it hook, line and sinker. I'm not at all sure the site is so safe. Even assuming that the company is right about the thick clay layer, does that assure it will remain impenetrable in the future? Recently, there was a series of small earthquakes just west of Fort Worth attributed to gas drilling. Is it beyond the realm of possibility that such earthquakes could also occur in West Texas, where there's a lot more drilling?

Now it would not take a large earthquake, a destroyer of cities. Just a small, almost unnoticeable, earthquake could be enough to put one or more cracks in that thick clay layer and set conditions up for a disastrous leak of radioactivity into the invaluable aquifer. Who can predict what natural disasters could occur in the future? How can this company possibly insure that nothing will happen to breach the waste dump at some time in the future?

This fresh water aquifer is too valuable to too many people to take any chances with. Once the dump has been compromised and the water is contaminated with radioactive waste, it will be too late to do anything and no amount of corporate apologies will make any difference. This ridiculous boondoggle must be stopped now.

I call upon the people of Texas (and the other seven states that draw from the aquifer) to act to stop this mad venture. The profits of one corporation (and a few jobs for Andrews county) are not worth the possible poisoning of the Ogallala aquifer.

Radioactive Dumpground Is Wrong For Texas

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has an important decision to make today. They must decide whether to make Texas a dumping ground for the nations radioactive waste. A site is being prepared in West Texas (in Andrews County) at this time to receive that waste.

The TCEQ has to choose between three options. They can give Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists a license to operate the radioactive waste site, they can deny the license, or they can send the matter to an administrative judge to hear the concerns of those opposed to the site.

I hope they choose either the second or third option, because this site is just too close to the acquifer providing water to all of the South Plains and the Panhandle.

The waste company claims the site is dry and the radioactive waste cannot possibly get into the fresh-water acquifer. A geologist who used to work for the TCEQ disagrees. She says there is water in the clay at the site and this would cause the waste to be moved over time. Remember, this waste must be safely stored for hundreds of years.

Why should we take this chance? If the company is wrong, a huge protion of North and West Texas could be left with radioactively-poisoned water. Without water, the South Plains and Panhandle would become uninhabitable. There has to be a better place for this dangerous waste to be stored.

The Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter is holding a rally today in Austin. They still hope to convince the TCEQ to deny the license or at least submit the matter to an administrative judge. I wish them luck.

The issuance of this license could be a disaster-in-waiting for West Texas.