Company That Greased Legislative Wheels Gets Nuclear Waste Dump
Vince Leibowitz | Jan 18, 2009 | Comments 0
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality last week granted Waste Control Specialists a permit to dump radioactive waste from around the nation in Andrews County.
This, of course, was made possible by Republicans, who passed a law in 2003 to allow nuclear waste from other states to be disposed of in Texas. Many of the lawmakers who voted for the bill took money from high-ranking officials with Waste Control Specialists.
From the Star-Telegram:
Two of the three members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted to grant two licenses that will allow Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists to dispose of waste from Texas and Vermont and from sites run by the federal government.
Commissioner Larry R. Soward abstained from voting.
The licenses will be issued and waste disposal can begin after the company completes condemning the land and obtains mineral rights at the West Texas disposal site.
“WCS is grateful that the TCEQ has entrusted us with the responsibility to dispose of waste resulting from activities that affect all our lives every day in a manner that will protect human health and the environment for thousands of years to come,” William J. Lindquist, the company’s chief executive officer, said in a news release.
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club opposed the licenses and is considering filing an appeal in state district court.
I hope that the Sierra Club does file a lawsuit, because I’d like to see how that plays out, and how the courts may treat the law.
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Filed Under: Texas Environment
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