It may come to pass that Vermont Yankee’s nuclear waste will ultimately end up on the Texas-New Mexico border in a privately owned 1,338 acre waste site.
Vermont’s partner in Texas is Waste Control Specialists, a nuclear waste disposal site owned by Texas billionaire Harold Simmons. A Texas news magazine calls Simmons the “King of Superfund Sites,” and notes an example of his genius:
[Simmons] has figured out a way to clean up a radioactive mess one of his companies made in Ohio by—according to some experts—creating another radioactive mess in West Texas. The best part: he’s gotten the folks in West Texas to support the plan and the federal government to pay for it.
Harold Simmons “King of the Superfund” may also benefit from two of Vermont Gov. Douglas’ appointed officials that voted against what some see as the state’s interest. In November Vermont state nuclear engineer Uldis Vanags and Steven Wark director of consumer affairs and public information for the Vermont Department of Public Service as members of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission voted preliminary approval to allow the Texas nuclear waste site to accept waste from other states. Vtdigger.com reports that:
In audio testimony, Vanags and Wark voted against amendments to the proposed rules that would have given Compact members first dibs to the landfill and also that would have delayed action and allowed the Texas and Vermont legislatures an opportunity to weigh in on the matter.
This will end Vermont’s exclusive deal with Simmons’ Waste Control Specialties and expand its potential profit base. Wark and Vanags rationale was that this would lower costs for Vermont. Governor elect Peter Shumlin immediately raised concerns that opening up the site might limit space and thus the access needed for VY’s waste. “It’s a race for space,” Shumlin told The New York Times. “When push comes to shove, the first waste that arrives is the waste that gets in.”
The waste compact will meet on January 4 to make the decision on how much low level waste can be processed.
Earlier legislative changes in Texas and national reclassification of nuclear waste types made Simmons’ private nuclear waste site possible. In a 2006 interview he explained:
“It took us six years to get legislation on this passed in Austin, but now we’ve got it all passed. We first had to change the law to where a private company can own a license [to handle radioactive waste], and we did that. Then we got another law passed that said they can only issue one license. Of course, we were the only ones that applied.”
Among Harold Simmons’ many civic minded philanthropies he also donates heavily to conservative Republican causes. He is one of Texas governor Rick Perry’s biggest contributors, partly funded Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against John Kerry and paid for anti-Obama ads.
predictably enabled by short-sighted Douglas appointees.
Wark is staying on as deputy commissioner for Shumlin and Vanagas will also be staying so after Jan. 6 you might have to call them “short-sighted” Shumlin appointees.
over their role in attempt to undermine VT. This was in the Reformer Letter box from Vanags:
“Your article “A new home for nuke waste?” (Dec. 4-5), contains incorrect information and I respectively ask that you correct it…We did not, as noted in the article, vote “in favor of allowing other states to dump waste at the new facility”.
http://www.reformer.com/letter…
Original story not in reformer, but they’re selling it in their archives. Here are the comments:
http://www.topix.net/forum/sou…
Commission to vote on nuclear waste rules two days before Shumlin takes office
By Anne Galloway on December 26, 2010
“A Texas-Vermont commission will consider action on Jan. 4 on a controversial proposal for a nuclear waste facility, two days before Vermont’s Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin takes office.”
http://vtdigger.org/2010/12/26…
Uh huh.
It is my hope that this will all backfire, that VT will decide to close VY for the public good sooner to accelerate cleanup before the space recieves any other nuclear waste(s).
Entergy must decide by April whether fuel will be purchased as they will be out of it in Aug/Sept.
Groundwater legislation statute could move this along as well, since VY has been leaking nuclear waste into Conn. River since 1995, over fifteen years, plus has been leaking nuclear waste into ground since @ least 2007 & dragged a*ses re finding/fixing ‘leak’ to run down the clock to refueling outage a year ago.
Mishaps have continued, VY has leaked & we do not really know what the true status since they do not need to tell public anything unless required.
Continued a*sdragging re pumping. Face it, they do not care about VT & as Shumlin said this vehicle will not run any better for his neighbor re sale.
Following their Openess & Transparency Initiative, typical irresponsible & neglectful corporate-wide behavior they were faulted for by VY POP as well as Fairewinds Assoc. has continued.
Vermont’s nuclear waste showdown in Texas
8:44 PM Mon., December 27, 2010
By Terri Hallenbeck
“Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin’s inauguration is causing a stir in Texas that’s reverberating back here to Vermont.
…commission will meet two days before Shumlin takes office to vote on whether to allow radioactive waste from states to be dumped in a long-planned Texas site that was going to be strictly for Texas and Vermont…
…Critics of the plan say the timing is meant to ensure it passes before Shumlin has a say.”
http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…
…(Shumlin) “I would urge our two commissioners to not get on the plane to Texas to give my administration the time to really evaluate the deal and make sure it’s as good as it can be.”…
(O’Brien) “I think this is what we believe is in the best interest of the state. I think there will be ample opportunity for the new administration to have an imprint on this. I sure hope that they look at this very closely before they unwind anything we’ve done.”
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail…
Vermont Yankee, evacuation plans, & more has several related stories:
http://www.evacuationplans.org/
Judge orders halt to radioactive waste dump
By Jay Root
AUSTIN, Texas-A Texas judge ordered a temporary halt Thursday to a proposal that could allow three dozen states to dump their radioactive waste in far West Texas, a ruling that sided with environmentalists and caught the state attorney general’s office off guard.
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
Judge allows Texas-Vermont nuclear waste commission vote to move forward
By Anne Galloway on January 3, 2011
A Texas Low-level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission meeting will go ahead as scheduled Tuesday. The commissioners are expected to vote on whether to allow entities from outside the Texas-Vermont compact to use a radioactive waste landfill in West Texas.
http://vtdigger.org/2011/01/03…
– crosspost –
HOUSTON – January 4, 2011, 07:26 pm ET
A Texas commission approved rules on Tuesday that paves the way for 36 states to export low-level radioactive waste to a remote landfill along the Texas-New Mexico border.
http://www.npr.org/templates/s…