Public Comments Submitted in September
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is currently in the
process of reviewing comments on its proposed rules for implementing HB 1567,
the new law on radioactive waste management enacted by the Texas Legislature
this past spring.The deadline for public comment on the rules was in late September.
Among the comments submitted were a set of comments by the Texas
Radioactive Waste Defense Fund (TRWDF).
TRWDF is the informal network of environmental and public interest
organizations and individuals working together in opposition to the radioactive
wastes dumps. The Lone Star Chapter of
the Sierra Club is actively involved with the network.
Radioactive Waste Defense Fund Comments
The comments submitted by TRWDF were
prepared with input from acknowledged experts in the area of dealing with
radioactive waste. They pointed out
several areas of concern in the specifications of a site that would accept not
only waste from Texas’s “compact” partner states, but also vast amounts of
“federal” waste. Remember that the
compact is an agreement set up through Congress for host states (in this case
Texas) to accept for disposal radioactive waste generated in partner
states. Maine and Vermont were the
partner states when the compact was formed several years ago; Maine has since
decided to withdraw from the compact early next year. The second, separate facility at the site would be ‘disposing’ of
waste from federal nuclear weapons programs.
The main concern expressed in the comments is
the lack of appropriate limits on concentrations and quantities of
radionuclides acceptable for disposal in a “low-level” radioactive waste
facility licensed pursuant to these regulations. This concern relates to the fact that there are essentially no
limits imposed on the amounts or the level and longevity of radioactivity of
waste that would be allowed at the dump. While the term “low-level” might lead one to think that the radioactive
waste is not very dangerous or long-lived, in fact, much of this waste could
have enough radioactivity to damage or kill people very quickly, and will
remain dangerous for thousands and even millions of years. This is a task that humankind has never
contemplated or tried before – to contain and control substances that are
deadly longer than all our history thus far.
Next Steps
By the end of November TCEQ is scheduled to respond to all of the comments
submitted by TRWDF and other individuals or organizations (including, of
course, the company most eager to operate these facilities, Waste Control
Specialists). Then, on December 17,
there will be a meeting of the commissioners where they will vote on the
adoption of the rules (with whatever modifications proposed in response to the
comments). There will be public
comments allowed at this meeting – please contact the Lone Star Chapter of the
Sierra Club if you would like to attend and speak at this meeting but have
questions on how to do so.
In the meantime, representatives from the Texas Radioactive Waste Defense Fund are
meeting with each of TCEQ’s commissioners separately to discuss the issue and
raise concerns about some legal conflicts between HB 1567 and federal law on
radioactive waste. Although the
legislation mandates an accelerated process for licensing a private company to
create the dump and begin burying waste in west Texas, there are still a lot of
long steps in that process. The Lone
Star Chapter and the other participating groups in the Radioactive Waste
Defense Fund will not and cannot give up the fight.
For
more information contact Margot Clarke, Outreach Coordinator, Lone Star Chapter
of the Sierra Club, at margot.clarke@sierraclub.org or 512-477-1729.