• Mission & Governance
• Services Overview
• How to Get Involved
• Standing Committees
• NCSL Foundation

• Issue Areas: A-Z
• State-Federal Relations
• NCSL Standing Committees
• News from D.C. and the States

• About State Legislatures
• Elections, Campaigns & Redistricting
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory
• Web Sites

• Online Guide to NCSL Services
• Staff Sections and Networks
• Meetings & Professional Development
• Staff Directories

• Meetings Calendar
• Online Registration
• Meetings Home Page
• Legislative Summit

• Bookstore
• State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory

Environment, Energy and Transportation Program

"Texas Wins One, Loses One on Waste Disposal Site"

An Article from February 1999 State Legislatures Magazine

In its efforts to develop a low-level waste disposal site, Texas has found itself riding a policy roller coaster for the past several months.

First, its multistate compact agreement with Maine and Vermont finally was approved by Congress and the president in September 1998. Under federal law, formation of a compact allows the host state (Texas, in this case) to restrict a disposal site to members only.

Earlier this year, after years of study and an investment of millions of dollars, the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority was nearing final approval of its chosen site near Sierra Blanca in the western part of the state.

Texas was considered the nation’s leader in development of a low-level waste disposal site because of the political will within the state and the physical characteristics of the site (arid, rural and sparsely populated).

But the authority--and, by extension, the compact--was dealt a crushing blow in October when its license application for the proposed disposal facility was vetoed by the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, which stated that the authority had failed to adequately analyze the potential risk of an earthquake fault, as well as the socioeconomic on the host community.

Rick Jacobi, authority general manager, said state geologists had agreed the fault would pose no problem. However, Governor George W. Bush noted the commission decision and announced that "the dump will not be built at Sierra Blanca, period."

The immediate consequence is that the compact's 700-plus in-state generators, Maine’s five and Vermont’s three will have to store low-level waste on site or pay higher disposal costs at the facility in Barnwell, S.C. A further complication for Texas, however, comes from recent statements by the governor-elect of South Carolina that his state may limit the number of states that may use the Barnwell facility or even restrict the site to South Carolina waste only.

The authority's next step is to ask Texas legislators whether they wish to change the law that restricts placement of the site to Hudspeth County and whether the agency should consider counties that have volunteered to host a low-level waste disposal facility.

Two private companies--Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and Envirocare--are offering their properties in Andrews County near the New Mexico border as sites for the waste facility. Though WCS holds a number of permits, licenses and authorizations for the treatment, processing and storage of low-level radioactive waste, Texas law prohibits private disposal of low-level waste. For its part, Envirocare's 888-acre site in Andrews County has no infrastructure. WCS and Envirocare also are expected to lobby the Legislature during the 1999 session for changes to the law.