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Andrews community speak up about possible high level nuclear waste site

Wednesday, February 15th 2017

By Eric Onyechefule, Reporter
News West 9

Public hearing in Andrews
The process for a possible high level nuclear storage facility in Andrews continued with a public hearing for the community on Wednesday. (Source: KWES)

ANDREWS, TX (KWES) – The process for a possible high level nuclear storage facility in Andrews continued with a public hearing for the community on Wednesday. Many voiced their opinion against the facility including Silvia Ramos a resident of Andrews who is worried about the health and safety of the children if the waste is stored in her city.

"It’s not good for them. It’s a high level radiation that they want to put here. I just don’t want it for my kids," said Ramos.

Waste Control Specialists, the organization who recently applied for the high-level storage facility, believed the facility would help employment and help the economy, but residents aren’t buying it.

Chuck McDonald, WCS Spokesperson, said "If we expand our operations, we’ll see an expansion in our workforce naturally. These are good paying jobs, full benefits. We are an important part of the local economy."

"I don’t want the jobs. It’s a job that’s going to kill someone. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year. What about in five years? Or ten years later?" said Ramos.

During the three-hour meeting, the residents spoke their minds and with WCS’s time line of a possible approval of the license happening in 2019 you can expect the disapproval from Ramos and others to get louder.

Copyright KWES 2017. All rights reserved.

Fair Use Notice
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Public Forum Split Over Nuclear Facility

Feb 15, 2017

YourBasin.com
ABC Local 2 News
By: Ryan Schmelz

ABC2 News

ANDREWS, Texas Opposition to WCS front and center at a public forum. "Everyone of the canisters carries as much plutonium as the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki and terrorist can easily figure out how to detonate that stuff," says activist Tom Smith.

Safety hazards like this have Andrews resident Elizabeth Padilla worried as she even has her kids in on the fight. "We do not want to risk the life of our children. We do not want to risk future generations. We want to keep Andrews free of radioactive waste."

WCS hopes to be an ally to the area and not a burden. The county currently gets 5% of the revenue from a facility already in the area, currently 4 million in revenue for the first for first 4 years. WCS saying this will have a significant economic impact and job growth. “We’ve been in the area a long time. We have a really good safety record so there’s a lot of confidence we build over the last 20 years,” says Rod Baltzer with WCS.

Fair Use Notice
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Residents get vocal about a proposed radioactive waste disposal plant

Feb 16, 2017

CBS7 News
By Brianna Gallegos

ANDREWS — Do you want a high-level radioactive waste storage site in your backyard?

That was the question posed in Andrews on Wednesday night during the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s public input meeting.

"I believe we really need to rethink about this and know that this is going to have its risks," lifelong resident of Andrews, Elizabeth Padilla, said.

Padilla is a mother and with her husband, they are raising their three children in Andrews. She told CBS 7 she is not planning on moving from the town she calls home but will protect her children’s future and speak against allowing a high-level radioactive waste disposal plant in Andrews.

"We do not want it here in Andrews. I think that our lives and the health of our children, the Heath of future generations should not have a cost," Padilla said as she represented her fellow community members who share her same concern.

During the public input meeting, dozens of people held "we don’t want it" signs and even the youngest residents wore signs asking to consider their future, but not everyone saw eye to eye.

"We think it’s scientifically based and it’s safe," Lynn Wilson, also a resident of Andrews said.

Wilson and her husband moved to Andrews in 1967. Since then Wilson said she has seen Waste Control Specialist grow and earn her trust.

Waste Control Specialist applied for a license to place a high-level radioactive waste disposal 30 miles west of Andrews. WCS said the plant will bring high paying jobs with it. According to the NRC the disposal plant will be federally regulated and not a permanent location. WCS also said the waste disposal is danger-free.

"It’s shielded in really strong robust containers and there’s been a long history of this around the globe of shipping canisters," WRC CEO, Rob Baltzer said.

Geologist and former university professor, Steven Schafersman, said the nuclear waste can eat through its surrounding no matter how much metal or concrete there may be.

However WSC said engineers will be working on site taking secure safety measures.

Fair Use Notice
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Public Citizen: Andrews nuke waste site an open target for terrorism

Midland County Dems react to Conaway’s support of storage bill

February 9, 2017

By Trevor Hawes thawes@mrt.com
Midland Reporter-Telegram

Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of PublicCitizen Texas office, speaks Thursday 02-09-17 during a press conference about how citizens can make their voice heard concerning the action of Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County changing to a high level nuclear waste depository. Tim Fischer/Reporter-Telegram

February 9, 2017

A recent letter from Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway about the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage site in Andrews has prompted Midland County Democrats to act in hopes of a better solution, and they’re reaching out for help.

The Midland County Democratic Party held a press conference at the DoubleTree hotel Thursday and brought with them activist heavyweights Tom "Smitty" Smith, longtime director of Public Citizen Texas, and Karen Hadden, president of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, better known as SEED.

"This is not just a Democratic thing to be concerned about," MCDP Chairman David Rosen said. "We invite our Republican brothers and sisters, as well as the unaffiliated. A waste dump 50 miles from Midland is not a good idea."

Conaway issued a press release on Jan. 12 with comments in support of H.R. 474, the Interim Consolidated Storage Act. The bill seeks to amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 "to authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts for the storage of certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, take title to certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, and make certain expenditures from the Nuclear Waste Fund," according to the bill’s summary.

A few companies are seeking to house high-level nuclear waste from dozens of decommissioned nuclear power plants that currently sit at reactor sites and from those to be decommissioned in the future. At issue is the Department of Energy’s inaction on taking possession of the waste and putting it into permanent storage, which by law it must do.

One company that seeks to take the waste for temporary storage while the Department of Energy finds a permanent home for the dangerous material is Waste Control Specialists, which already had a low-level radioactive waste storage facility west of Andrews. WCS wants to house the waste above ground while the Department of Energy finds a solution.

H.R. 474 would help move the process along, with the relocation of waste beginning in as little as five years. "This legislation allows the Department of Energy to cut through the red tape and enter into contracts with these licensed facilities, such as the one in Andrews, ensuring that nuclear waste will be properly stored until a permanent site is established," Conaway said in his press release.

WCS initially wants to take 5,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste for above-ground storage, according to previous Reporter-Telegram reports. Its facility will have capacity for up to 40,000 metric tons.

Smith said above-ground storage has "risks beyond what any community ought to take." He said that the waste should be buried underground, citing preliminary studies dating back to the 1980s that show perhaps the site with the best and safest geology is Washington, D.C. However, storage at the nation’s capital isn’t "politically feasible," he said.

Smith also said above-ground storage is dangerous because it’s an open target for terrorist attacks.

"We have a lot of concern about the potential of terrorist attacks," he told the Reporter-Telegram before the press conference. "This waste is basically going to be sitting on a big parking lot and visible to anyone who uses Google Maps. This is just putting a big nuclear target on West Texas and eastern New Mexico. Any terrorist worth his salt who wants to take a good shot at the United States would aim a rocket right at those locations."

Smith had no comment when asked during the press conference why waste storage casks shown to survive a battery of tests in the late 1970s, including impacts on a "rocket-powered train," were no longer viable but permanent site storage research from the early 1980s was.

Hadden said the canisters needed to be more robust because they will contain as much plutonium as the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Codenamed "Fat Man," the bomb was dropped on the city on Aug. 9, 1945. About 22,000 people died on the first day and 17,000 more perished in the four months after, according to the World Nuclear Association.

"Forty-two square miles of land could be uninhabitable from an accident," she said. Hadden said the steel casing for canisters in the U.S. are about a half-inch thick; in Europe, they’re up to 10 inches thick.

Ultimately, Smith and Hadden argued that temporary centralized nuclear waste storage wasn’t necessary. They said the current sites are secure and that what’s really needed is a safe, secure and permanent storage site underground.

Smith also expressed worry that temporary storage sites might wind up as de facto permanent sites because the federal government will no longer have incentive to actively find a forever home for the waste.

"I don’t think (the federal government) will officially name Andrews a permanent disposal site, but it will never move because nobody wants it," he said before the event.

Hadden and Smith are taking their message to Andrews on Saturday and were in Eunice, New Mexico, on Wednesday. The mini tour is setting up for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meetings next week. The first is 7-10 p.m. MST Monday at the Lea County Event Center, 5101 N. Lovington Highway, in Hobbs, New Mexico. The second is 7-10 p.m. Wednesday at the James Roberts Center, 855 State Highway 176, in Andrews.

"One of the opportunities within a democracy is to make your opinions heard," Smith said. "Democracy is a contact sport, and this is your opportunity to have contact with the people who make these decisions and tell them what you think about (putting high-level nuclear waste) in West Texas and the consequences for tens of thousands of years."

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes.

—-BE HEARD

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public comment hearings next week, where residents can weigh in on the proposal to store high-level nuclear waste in West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The schedule is as follows:

  • Hobbs, New Mexico.: 7-10 p.m. MST Monday at the Lea County Event Center, 5101 N. Lovington Highway.
  • Andrews: 7-10 p.m. CST Wednesday at the James Roberts Center, 855 State Highway 176.
Fair Use Notice
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Debate held on bringing high-level radioactive waste to west Texas

Feb 10, 2017

CBS7 News

ANDREWS — Could your backyard be the new home to a nuclear waste site? Andrews is waiting to be licensed as a temporary holding site for radioactive waste.

Tom "Smitty" Smith speaking at hearing on 2/9/17.
Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of the Public Citizen’s Texas office spoke to the concerns of bringing a high-level radioactive site in west Texas in a meeting Thursday.

According to Waste Control Specialist, "it’ll bring in somewhere around 40 or 50 new jobs and normally these are fairly high paying jobs," Vice President, Tom Jones said, "right now there’s already over 100 places around the county that this stuff is already being stored."

While one side argues bringing in a radioactive waste plant will help the economy grow a non-profit environmentalist group disagrees — citing safety over salaries.

"Putting high level radioactive waste out in west Texas is a really bad idea," non-profit group Public Citizen director Tom "Smitty" Smith said.

Both sides are going head-to-head about a proposed nuclear disposal site 30 miles west of Andrews. It’s an idea that lifelong resident of west Texas and mother, Delilah Cantu, is concerned about, "this is my home. This is what I want to protect."

From health concerns to even being worried about falling properly value, Cantu is working with the Public Citizen non-profit group called public citizen, whose most recent purpose is to stop the licensing of a radioactive waste plant in west Texas.

"WCS promises this is going to be a temporary sight but that depends on congress ever being responsible enough to ever create a long term repository," "Smitty" Smith said.

WCS the government will immediately take over the waste project but there’s no telling how many decades the plant will be in west Texas, "I think folks are scared of the unknown. This is material people have been dealing with for the last 50 or 60 years," Jones said, but that doesn’t ease Cantu’s worries her concerns keep growing like this one, "the remapping of the aquifer in Andrews," Cantu said.

According to WCS, Andrews is not on top of an aquifer, "we’ve had 640 borings out there. We’ve got over 400 wells dry. We can prove we are. It over a drinking source."

Other concerns like terroristic threats were posed but WCS said that doesn’t pose a threat.

Public hearing will be next week:

  • Feb. 13 in Hobbs, NM at 7 p.m. at Lea Country Event Center.
  • Feb. 15 in Andrews at 7 p.m. at James Robert Center.

Visit NoNuclearWasteAqui.org and WCSTexas.com for more information.

Fair Use Notice
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.