Lee H. Mathews
Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Disposal Authority
ABSTRACT
Texas was first commissioned by state law in 1981 to site, finance, construct, operate and close a disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste generated in the state. Because of a lack of political support and judicial challenges, the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority (the Authority) was unable to effectively proceed with its work until 1991 when the Texas Legislature designated the siting area.
Following the legislative action, the Authority was able to identify and characterize a site in Hudspeth County, Texas that appears to meet all the requirements of state and federal law. The facility's safety will be enhanced by the use of belowgrade modular concrete canisters for waste disposal. Some local and regional opposition to the license application has arisen, and these concerns will be addressed in the ongoing adjudicative hearings. License issuance is expected in early 1998.
The Texas-Maine-Vermont compact pending before Congress may be approved in 1997, but with or without the compact, Texas will continue to pursue a license for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.
HISTORY AND CURRENT STATUS OF THE
TEXAS PROGRAM
In response to the passage in 1980 of the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, the Texas Legislature in 1981 created the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority. Operations began in 1982. The state statute creating the Authority directed the agency to conduct a statewide screening of potential siting areas in order to determine those areas relatively more suitable than others for radioactive waste disposal. Through a process of applying specific siting criteria, the Authority was to eventually select two or more suitable sites and then through further site characterization studies, select one as the preferred site.
The statewide site screening effort, conducted by the firm of Dames and Moore, moved quickly, and by July 1984, the siting study had identified suitable areas in several regions of Texas. Particularly attractive were areas in far west Texas, northwest Texas, and south Texas (south of San Antonio) that exhibited favorable characteristics--low rainfall, deep groundwater, and tight soils. In August 1984, the Authority's board of directors named two sites in south Texas for further study as preferred sites.
At this point, the Texas Legislature and the public became awarethat the Authority's siting effort had transitioned from broad screening to specific candidate sites. Alarmed by the prospect of a low-level radioactive waste site in its region, the powerful south Texas delegation succeeded in 1985 in passing a bill which effectively killed the siting effort in south Texas. The bill provided that in its site screening, the Authority should give preference to lands already owned by the state. Both prospective sites were on privately owned property. Since the bulk of state-owned land is in sparsely populated west Texas, the Authority abandoned the south Texas sites and began a detailed regional screening of areas west of the Pecos River.
The Dames and Moore west Texas survey identified potential siting areas in Hudspeth and Culberson counties. In February 1987, the Authority was prepared to name the Fort Hancock site in Hudspeth County as the prime site, but El Paso County (located west of Hudspeth County) filed suit against the Authority and secured an injunction preventing the naming of the site. Several years of litigation followed. In January 1991, the El Paso court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and prohibited further work at Fort Hancock.
These events frustrated the Texas Legislature whose members desired some closure of the seemingly indeterminate siting efforts. In May 1991, the Legislature, after heated debate, passed a bill defining a 400-square mile area in Hudspeth County in which the site should be located. Subsequent examination of the area resulted in the selection of a site on the Faskin Ranch as the most preferred. The Authority prepared a license application for the site and filed it with the state regulatory agency, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), in March 1992.
The designation of a siting area by the legislature was upheld in court action filed by opponents in 1993.
Following detailed review of the application, the TNRCC on April 1, 1996, issued an environmental assessment favorable to the site and a draft license. Adjudicative hearings are being conducted on the application in accordance with state law. A final decision on issuance of the license is expected in late 1997.
THE FASKIN RANCH SITE
The proposed site for Texas' low-level radioactive disposal facility is located about five miles southeast of the unincorporated town of Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County, Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert. The site is accessed via Interstate Highway 10. The largest city in the area is El Paso, located about 90 miles west of the site.
Sociodemographic, geological, hydrological, and meteorological characteristics of the site are extremely favorable to low-level radioactive waste disposal. Authority studies have revealed the following:
THE DISPOSAL FACILITY
The disposal facility will be located on a 377-acre tract, and will consist of 40-foot deep trenches. Low-level waste containers will be off-loaded into massive steel-reinforced modular concrete canisters positioned in the trenches. After each canister is filled, a concrete lid will be sealed over the top. The canisters will be grouted in place and covered by a gravel and soil mixture designed to drain moisture away from the canisters. The trenches will then be covered by a 16-foot thick engineered cap that will prevent rainfall from entering the disposal unit. Retention ponds will be located so as to capture rainfall runoff on the site. Salient features of the engineered facility are as follows:
The Authority has constructed an exploratory trench on-site to test trench performance prior to construction of the licensed trenches. In addition, a prototype trench cap will also be constructed to observe its performance.
THE TEXAS COMPACT
When the Texas Legislature created the Authority in 1981, considerations of possible formation of a compact were rejected, although compacts created under the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act have the attractive feature of being able to restrict the receipt of low-level radioactive waste to that waste generated within the compact. A University of Texas law professor opined at the time that a single non-compact state did have the legal authority to refuse waste from outside the state's borders.
As time passed, that view came under doubt as more national commentators and some hazardous waste court opinions seemed to take the contrary view; i.e., that compact membership was necessary in order to control the amount of waste coming to a state's site.
In 1992 the states of Maine and Vermont approached the governor of Texas with a proposal that the three states form a compact for disposal of low-level waste. Maine and Vermont were becoming increasingly concerned about the feasibility of providing their own disposal facilities because of high costs of constructing and licensing such a facility in their states (which, compared with Texas, contained very few attractive sites).
Texas was receptive to the Maine and Vermont overtures because of the legal uncertainties over the single-state approach to low-level radioactive waste disposal. Of interest too was the proposal that Maine and Vermont would each pay Texas $25 million for the privilege of forming a compact with Texas. In addition, each state agreed to pay the county that hosts the facility $2.5 million. The two northeastern states agreed as part of the compact to limit the amount of their waste shipped to Texas to 20 percent of the volume estimated to be disposed of by Texas during the period 1995-2045.
Compact legislation was passed by all three states and introduced in Congress in 1994 for ratification. Unexpected opposition arose from several members of the Texas congressional delegation and others. Opponents of the compact allege that the siting of a facility in Hudspeth County violates certain international agreements with Mexico and discriminates against minorities on both sides of the Rio Grande. As a result of opponents' efforts, the compact bill in the House of Representatives was defeated on a procedural vote in late 1995. Although the bill was eligible to come up again for a vote, no further action was taken as of the end of 1996. Proponents expect to re-introduce ratification bills in Congress in early 1997.
POLITICAL AND LOCAL ISSUES
The state political situation seems to favor the licensing of the disposal facility. As previously stated, the Texas Legislature has been frustrated at the recurring political and legal obstacles to siting that have delayed the program for several years. The legislative designation of the siting area in Hudspeth County has seemingly consolidated most political support in the state. The Governor's Office supports the site and the compact.
Several individuals, groups and local governmental entities in west Texas and Mexico have expressed opposition to the facility because of the perceived pollution threat to the Rio Grande and have alleged that the location of the site 18 miles from Mexico is a violation of the La Paz Agreement between Mexico and the United States. The opposition interprets the La Paz Agreement as prohibiting the establishment of a radioactive waste disposal facility within 60 miles of the United States-Mexico border. Most observers read the Agreement as requiring only that the two governments consult on issues of environmental concern along the border. The Authority has consulted with the Mexican government, given officials a tour of the site, and provided them the site technical studies. No opposition has been expressed by the Mexican government, although the states of Coahuila and Chihuahua are opposed.
Other groups, including regional organizations and national groups such as Greenpeace, oppose the site partially because it will be a repository for waste from nuclear power plants.
In the Sierra Blanca community, some support and others oppose the location of the site. The Hudspeth County Judge is on record in support of the project. Since 1992, the Authority has released over $2 million in funds to the county for public projects such as new parks, a library, emergency medical equipment, and improvements to the local schools. Most of this money has come from fee assessments on major radioactive waste generators. Once the site is operational, about 34 new jobs will be created in the county and the county will receive 10 percent of the gross disposal fees collected at the site.
Despite these benefits, opponents insist that financial assistance to the county and community of Sierra Blanca is "bribe money" that has divided the citizens. Some allege that the location of the disposal site in an area of Texas that is predominately Hispanic violates the principal of "environmental equity" and should not be allowed. Proponents point out that the nearest community (Sierra Blanca) is over five miles away and will not be adversely impacted by the site. In addition, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has developed an environmental justice statistical index which, when applied to the Faskin Ranch site, gives an index of five for a one square mile area and 12 for a 50 square mile area around the site. The scale is from zero (least environmental justice concerns) to 100 (most environmental justice concerns).
A LOOK AHEAD
The pending license application for the disposal site will likely be approved after extended contested hearings. These hearings are currently underway. The political climate appears favorable, the technical merits of the site are sound, and the regulatory agency that reviewed the application has issued an environmental assessment and a draft license that supports the project. If the application is approved, a Texas site could be operational by mid-1999.
The compact will probably be approved in 1997, although its situation is more tenuous. Two of the compact's most strident Texas opponents who were in Congress in 1996 will not be in Congress in 1997.
Citizen support will gradually increase once the safety of the facility is demonstrated in the on-going contested hearings, and as the economic condition and quality of life improve in the host county as a result of the construction and operation of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.