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.