Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, July 12, 1991 Page: 2 of 12
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What Will Congress Do With WIPP?
PAGE 2, HUDSPETH COUNTY HERALD-Dell Valley Review, JULY 12, 1991
6
by Don Hancock
review for the Southwest
During the current stage of license
California
Compact facility proposed for the Needles,
6
3.
6
r
CITIZEN ALERT
Hudspeth KpuntHevald
6
TP
6
Time
become the protector of nature.
—Jacques-Yves Cousteau
r
MEMBER 1991
„h
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
6
It should be noted that the Texas legislation provides
that the Governor of Texas will establish the 50-year
total of waste projected to be generated in Texas and
consequently she will determine the 20% ceiling. Accord-
ingly it is possible that the 20% ceiling will be set at a
level higher than 1.2 million cubic feet.
Questions about the Current Status of the California and Texas
Possibilities
Time is like an hour-glass
Placed within our hand.
Precious as the air we breathe
Walking in God’s land.
authority over WIPP unless it
passed a bill.
A key player in the legisla-
tive battle is Rep. George Miller
(D-CA). the new chairman of
the Interior Committee. While
considered to be a strong
environmentalist. Miller ap-
pears unwilling to resist DOE
pressure to allow WIPP to open,
despite the technical problems
with the site and the fact that
the site has not been shown to
comply with Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) radio-
active waste disposal stan-
dards. DOE also has not re-
ceived a permit from the state
of New Mexico for the mixed
wastes that are covered by the
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA).
At a hearing on April 16.
Miller refused to support the
position of New Mexico's gover-
nor, attorney general. Con-
gressman Bill Richardson and
citizen groups that WIPP should
not open until the DOE demon-
strates full compliance with
EPA standards. Instead, Miller
appears ready to endorse
waiving compliance until after a
“test phase" lasting five to seven
years.
Witnesses at the hearing
pointed out that DOE’s record
of non-compliance with envi-
ronmental standards and its
self-regulation had been instru-
mental in creating the current
situation in which all DOE
facilities have severe contami-
nation problems that will cost
hundreds of billions of dollars
to clean up.
How Congress responds to
New Mexico’s opposition to
WIPP will be an indicator, not
only of the future of the New
Mexico facility, but also how it
will treat Nevada and whether
lawmakers really will insist that
DOE facilities meet environ-
mental requirements.
(Don Hancock is a member
of the Advisory Board of Citizen
Alert His articles on WIPP are a
regular feature.)
Spring 1991
The Department of Energy
(DOE) is trying to rally support
in Congress behind legislation
that would allow the Waste
Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) to
open without complying with
environmental standards. WIPP
would be the first new DOE site
to open in more than 30 years
and the world’s first nuclear
repository.
Citizens have long main-
tained that WIPP should meet
environmental protection
standards before any wastes
come to the site, even for
“tests." Although New Mexico's
governor and attorney general
also support that position, DOE
wants to put the waste in the
ground later this year without
meeting standards for radioac-
tive and mixed — radioactive
and hazardous — wastes, in
order, as DOE put it, “to see
what happens.”
The DOE's WIPP land
withdrawal bill would transfer
the site from control by the
Department of the Interior (DOI)
to DOE. The bill will be consid-
ered in the House Interior
Committee and then the Armed
Services and Energy Commit-
tees. The Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee
has Jurisdiction over the meas-
ure in the upper house. Action
in the various congressional
committees should occur in late
spring.
The congressional battle
was set up on January 22.
when DOI issued an adminis-
trative land withdrawal to allow
wastes to come to WIPP. On
March 6, the House Interior
Committee passed a resolution
requiring the Secretary of
Interior to issue an emergency
withdrawal to prohibit waste
transportation and emplace-
ment. The department’s re-
sponse was that it would not
allow wastes at WIPP before
June 30, 1991. but it refused to
recognize the committee’s
.........Editor Publisher
........Assistant
........ CrowFlat Editor
.........Sierra Blanca Editor
........Ft. Hancock Editor
........ Courthouse News
A manned rocket reaches the moon today in less time than it took to travel the length
of England in a stagecoach.
Mary‘Louise Lynch...
Mary Gentry..............
C Warren..................
Bernice M. Elder........
Linda Polk.................
Sally Brown...............
? 4
W
All the time we give to God
To use for good untold
Changes all our grains of sand
into grains of gold.
-Margaret Peterson
Since the beginning each generation has fought nature. Now, in the
life-span of a single generation, we must turn around 180 degrees and
STATUS OF OUT-OF-STATE DISPOSAL ALTERNATIVES:
INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND LONG-TERM CONTRACTS
CITIZENS ADVISORY GROUP
BANGOR, MAINE
JUNE 1991
98
Serving Dell City and Hudspeth County
290Trail West Park, P. O. Box 659, Dell City, Texas 79837
Second class postage paid in Dell City, Texas 79837
Subsidiary MARY-MARY, INC.
Assuming the Needles facility is licensed without delays
or court challenges, it is expected to operate by March 1992.
It is not expected that the Southwest Compact will consider
any contract proposals until the facility actually begins to
operate.
area, compact officials are unwilling to entertain proposals from
other states for disposal of LLRW at that facility. However, there
is some prospect for working out a 30-year, non-reciprocal contract
with the Southwest Compact for disposal of Maine's LLRW at the
Needles facility. It is likely that other states (including
potentially Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire) will also be
interested in this prospect. There appears to be no physical
constraint on the capacity of the Needles facility, given the
characteristics of its desert site. The constraints appear to be
political and possibly (from Maine's perspective) economic. The
site will commence operations in early-Spring 1992, assuming that
the California DEP issues a license at year-end 1991.
582 "ge
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation
of any person, firm or corporation, which may occur in the columns
of the Hudspeth County Herald will be gladly corrected upon being
brought to the attention of the editor-publisher. The pubusher is
not responsible for copy omissions or typograplical errors which may
occur other than to correct them in the next issue after it is brought
to attention, and 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.
PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY OF EACH WEEK for Hudspeth County,
Texas, third largest countv. Notices of church, entertainments where
a charge of admission is made, card of thanks, resolutions of respect,
and all matter not news, will be charged at the regular rates.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Required by the Post Office to be Paid in Advance
PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY OF EACH WEEK
For Hudspeth County, Texas
$12.00 in county $1X00 Out of county
Phone 915-964-2426 915-964-2490 915-964-2319
Because the fifty year period ending 2045 includes the
scheduled decommissioning deadline for four newly-built
nuclear units in Texas (each 1150 MW), there is ample room
below the 20% ceiling for Maine's waste stream and for
decommissioning volumes from Maine Yankee (at 890 MW). The
20% ceiling corresponds to a limit of 1.2 million cubic feet
for out-of-state generation. Maine's waste stream for the
30-year license life of the Texas facility will be no more
than 240,000 cubic feet (less if Maine Yankee installs its own
compaction system). Maine Yankee decommissioning volumes are
likely to approximate 630,000 cubic feet. If the 20% ceiling
is set at 1.2 million cubic feet, this leaves 360,000 cubic
feet for one or more ocher out-of-state compact partners.
b. Can Maine's LLRW Generators fit into Texas 20% ceiling on
out-of-state LLRW?
a. When will we know -.■■•'nether the Southwest Compact will
entertain 30-year ..ontract proposals from other states?
2. Prospects of a Long-Tern Contract Relationship with California,
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Lynch, Mary Louise. Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, July 12, 1991, newspaper, July 12, 1991; Dell City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1536025/m1/2/?q=denton+history: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .