Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, March 27, 1987 Page: 2 of 12
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PAUL HARVEY NEWS
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Officials concerned with storing nuclear waste so near border
By Peter Brock
1
c
MEMBER 1987
• c1987 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sunday, March 15, 1937
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Second das postage mid in Dell City, Texas 79837
Subsidiary MARY-MARY, INC.
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Eat like a bird? Not likely. Birds eat at least half their
own weight in food every day.
The current Texas sources
of radioactive wastes are in-
dustries, hospitals, the Fed-
eral Government, and uni-
versities. These wastes are
generated primarily in Mata-
gorda and Somervell Coun-
ties, Houston-Galveston, Dal-
las-Fort Worth, College Sta-
tion and San Antonio. The
MAJOR FUTURE SOURCE
of these wastes, 90%, will
be from the four new nuclear
power plants which will
come on line in Texas in
the next few years.
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
over dump site
EL^S° HERALD-POST, Soturdoy, Morch 2). 1987
Dump, supercollider
trade-off a worry
PAGE 2, HUDSPETH COUNTY HERALD-Dell Valley Review, MARCH 27, 1987
Mexico raises questions
«
into a proposal. Whether that’s a
good idea or bad idea, I have no
opinion."
The pill with the sugar. The feder-
al government's least desired
project in return for the public
works plum of the decade. It’s a
proposition that has concerned
folks in Deaf Smith County near the
proposed Hereford dump site for
more than a year.
“There is some fear we could be
traded away in a giant pawn game,”
said George Drain, an Amarillo busi-
nessman who is president of Serious
Texans Against Nuclear Dumping.
Both projects are being sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Energy.
But reactions to them could hardly
differ more.
Hereford residents hanged the
Energy Department in effigy dur-
ing a town hall meeting on the pro-
posed dump two weeks ago. A high-
level state commission, meanwhile,
this week was allocated $550,000 in
hard-to-scrounge state money to
tantalize the Energy Department to
choose a Texas location for the atom
smasher.
Texas apparently is the only state
high on both lists — possible loca-
tions for the nuclear dump and the
supercollider. Contenders for the
nation’s first high-level nuclear
waste site already have been nar-
rowed to Texas, Washington and Ne-
vada. Among more than 40 states
clammoring for the supercollider,
Illinois and California have the
I will leave it to psychologists to explain, but most of us invest
in the things we know least about.
All around me in the communications business are people who own
stock in railroads, copper mines and car companies.
Radio, TV and newspapers have been highly profitable, yet the
insiders who know this nonetheless put their money on some “exo-
tic” long shot.
Many are the corporations which become conglomerates by acqui-
ring another industry they knew nothing about - to their ultimate
sorrow.
And nowhere are there more suckers for pie-in-the-sky than among
high-paid professional athletes.
We all want to be where we aren’t. The higher a man’s office is in
a skyscraper, the more he wants his feet in a furrow. The man with
a blonde wife most always has a brunette secretary.
And vice versa.
And the golfer who knows all there is to know about golf, golf
courses and golf equipment - is likely to invest in a Pontiac dea-
lership, a radio station,, a travel agency, a home-security company,
an oil and gas partnership and a real estate development. How I
know is that Jack Nicklaus did.
And the results were catastrophic!
When Jack Nicklaus’ bankers told him in November, 1985, that
Nicklaus got rid of his investment adviser, shrank his high-priced
corporate staff, cut overhead by 40 percent and decided to mind his
own business.
Recently he told The Wall Street Journal that from now on he’s
sticking to what he knows -- golf. And when he designs golf courses
it will be with somebody else’s money. And already he is prospering
again.
Athletes are bred to compete. Business investments are an exten-
sion of that urge.
Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett put most all his eggs in one basket --
drilling for oil - at precisely the wrong time. He lost half a million
dollars.
Brooks Robinson’s restaurant and sporting goods store failed.
There are a couple of exceptions - Gino Marchetti of the Colts
and Max McGee of the Packers. But most athletes inept at handling
money - and some of whose agents have no business background --
have lost the nest egg they’d sought to multiply.
Marvin Demoff, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents several foot-
ball players, says, “Athletes need to invest because their careers are
short - but they should invest conservatively and in something they
know something about.”
We all should.
(c) 1987, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
• There's something about a
closet that makes a skeleton
terribly restless.
-John Barrymore
(1882-1942)
"•iTlS.SLVWeUi
Madrid first," said De La Garza.
‘But it's a wonderful issue for them
to raise. They can look good and
take a stand against their northern
neighbor and gain a lot of political
ground."
Jorge Garces, acting director of
the Texas Good Neighbor Commis-
sion, said “Mexico is increasingly
concerned about the nuclear indus-
try in the U.S. Nobody in Texas
wants that disposal unit in their
backyard and neither does Mexico
who thinks of the border as their
backyard.”
“I think their concern is real."
said Garces. “There’s only one
thing worse than worrying about
nuclear problems in your own
country. And that’s worrying about
your neighbor’s problems.” ■
“I'm sure that before Mexico did
anything like that, de La Madrid
would give the governor a call and
talkTt over.” said Jim Kaster, Gov.
Bill Clements' legislative liason.
edge, while Texas trails a distant
third, Clements reported after his
trip to Washington, D.C.
Technically, there is no corihec-
tion between the two. The supercol-
lider will be an underground rare
track for particles of jnatt»‘r t« r -•• • •-
around and crash into smaller piec-
es. The nuclear repository will be an
underground holding container for
radioactive residue.
It’s the political nature of both
project site selections that has given
rise to worry.
“We are very concerned because
we know the decisions are not based
on topography,” said Boyd Foster,
president of Arrowhead Mills, a
Hereford producer of natural food
products. “They are political deci-
sions and that’s why we’re fearful.”
Energy Secretary John Herring-
ton made a special point, however,
to dispel notions that he will accept a
trade-off.
‘ ‘Those two projects are totally un-
related,” Herrington said last
month. “Using one as a payoff for
the other has been raised numerous
times in numerous states, butlthink
it’s bad policy.”
Peter Flawn, the former Universi-
ty of Texas at Austin president
whom Clements has chosen to lead
the National Research Laboratory
Commission, said that political con-
siderations will come into play later
in .the supercollider selection pro-
Cont’d. Page 8
Mary Louis* Lynch Editor-RxbHAer
Mary Gentry .Assistant
Joyce Gilmore Salt Flat Editor
C. Warren . Crow Flat Editor
Linda Rolk^ Ft. Hancock Editor
Bernice M. Elder Sierra Blanca Editor
Jean Ellison. jCourthouse News
Advertising rates upon request from Business Office, open
all day Mondays, and until noon Tuesdays. Open from DOO
a. m. until Noon Thursdays.
Box 659
Dell City, Texes 79837
(Hudspeth County)
Hxmet (915) 964.2426 -2490
964-2319 or 963-2694
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or re-
putation of any person, firm or corporation, which, may occur
in the columns of die Hudspeth County Herald will be gladly
corrected upon being brought to the attention of the editor-
publisher. The publisher is not responsible for copy omissions
sr typographical errors which mey occur other than to correct
them in the next issue after it is brought to attention, end in no
case does the publisher hold himself liable for covering the
error. The right is reserved to reject or edit all advertising copy
as well as editorial and news content.
Required by the Ibst Office to be paid in advance.
PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY OF EACH WEEK for Hutfcpeth County,
Texas, third largest county. Notices of church, entertainments
where a charge of admission is made, card of thanks, resolu-
tions of respect, and all matter not news, will be charged at
the regular rates.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $10.63 In County Out of County, Texas $11.69
Out of State $11,00
By KAREN POTTER
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau
AUSTIN —The governor’s nucle-
ar dump expert was asked about it 75
time?, during a twoday swing
through West Texas.
Will the governor drop his opposi-
tion to a high-level nuclear waste
dump in the heart of West Texas
agricultural country if it means he
can snag the much-touted supercon-
ducting supercollider?
“I’d say to you that’s a ridiculous
proposition to put forward,” Gov.
Bill Clements said in response to a
similar question last month.
But while officials publicly reject
any notions of a trade-off, the sub-
ject has been broached in strategy
sessions with state leaders and listed
in a briefing paper as a possible Tex-
as offering in the $6 billion supercol-
lider sweepstakes.
“It doesn't take any more than ?>
casual observer to draw the poten-
tial link,” said Dr. Arthur Porter,
president of the Houston Area Re-
search Center, where groundwork
research on the supercollider is
being conducted.
Porter wrote a supercollider
briefing paper for Clements and
House Speaker Gib Lewis that in-
cluded “nuclear waste repository”
under the heading “Texas incen-
tives to be considered.”
“My purpose in bringing it up is
simply to say it’s being discussed,”
Porter said. “More than one person
has suggested it might be played
The request was made by Lie.
Rene Altamdrana, of Mexico’s Sec-
retariat for Urban Development
and Ecology, who wants to know
specifics about how and why the
Fort Hancock site is first choice for
a low-level radioactive dump.
I'he request is considered unprec-
edented and is the first time Mexico
has officially shown concern for
low-level radioactive waste storage
issues involving Texas since a
presidential agreement on border
environmental issues was signed in
1983.
The U.S.-Mexico Border Develop-
ment Agreement, authorized by
Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mi-
guel de La Madrid, calls for discus-
sions on environmental issues af-
fecting areas less than 64 miles on
either side the Rio Grande.
Critics of the Fort Hancock
site say the're fearful of possi-
ble contamination of underground
water sources and contamination of
the Rio Grande from a radioactive
spill.
“We've seen the presidential
agreement, and we don’t think
we re doing anything that is not in
compliance with it." said Ruben
Alvarado, chief engineer of the
Texas agency.
But other state and federal offi-
cials fear Mexican concerns could
load to a formal diplomatic protest
which could further impede Texas'
plans for development of the Fort
Hancock dump before the 1993
deadline.
The Texas Legislature opted to
create its own radioactive waste
disposal authority in 1981 to com-
... Ph' with federal mandates that
las. said Wednesday the meeting states make provisions for handling
'■ '' • and storing their own waste materi-
als or face federal penalties.
If a low-level radioactive waste
dump is not in operation by 1993,
businesses and institutions “can
simply deliver radioactive wastes
to the state,” said Alvarado.
El Paso County officials plan to
keep the issue tied up in lawsuits,
hoping to force the slate to look
elsewhere for a dump site
A spokesman in lit-. office of
U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm. R-Tcxas.
office said concerns over a Mexican
diplomatic protest have prompted
questions to the U.S. State Depart-
ment "about how we re going to
handle it.
"We’re trying to gauge the likli-
hood of a protest from the Mexican
side because there is growing specu-
lation that Mexico may have a basis
for a protest." said Lariv Neal, a
Gramm aide.
UT Austin political scientist
Prof. Rudy De La Garza said
Mexico’s sudden inteiv-t in the
Fort Hancock site was a “sur-
prise.”
“Nobody would raise the issue of
a diplomatic protest in Mexico
t nless it was cleared by de La
AUSTIN - Mexican environ-
mental officials have asked for a
detailed briefing on Texas’ plans to
install a low-level radioactive
v. nste dump at Fort Hancock.
The planned location of the
facility is about 16 miles from
i he Rio Grande.
Al Davis, of the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency in Dal-
he’d have to t?*?5 ? ?? million loss to be forgiven a $35 million loan, between Mexican and U.S. environ
mental specialists w'ill include the
Texas Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Disposal Authority. Mexico
requested the presence of the Texas
agency.
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Lynch, Mary Louise. Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, March 27, 1987, newspaper, March 27, 1987; Dell City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1287499/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .