One of several public hearings on a proposed nuclear waste dump near the U.S.-Mexico border concluded in Sierra Blanca, Texas, with accusations of "environmental racism" and calls from Mexican officials to cancel the project, according to reports in the Diario de Juarez. The proposed site is 8 kilometers from Sierra Blanca, 152 kilometers from El Paso and 28 kilometers north of the Rio Grande. A local resident voiced his opposition, predicting the dump, which is planned as a "low level nuclear waste storage site", would leak and pollute the Rio Grande. Representatives and residents from Juarez, Chihuahua, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, as well as El Paso, Sierra Blanca and other cities in Texas testified before the Texas state hearing officers regarding the proposed project. Among those appearing were representatives from the State Legislature in Chihuahua, the National Senate of Mexico and the City of Juarez.
The Mayor of Ciudad Acuna, Emilio de Hoyos, told the hearing officers that the site is in a seismic zone and too close to underground aquifers and the Rio Grande that supply water to both sides of the border. He called the possibility of contamination to the water systems "an ecological catastrophe".
The General Manager of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, Lawrence Jacobi, explained that many of those opposed to the project were misinformed with erroneous facts that came from environmental organizations such as Greenpeace. When the situation is explained with the correct information, he added, people will understand that the facility will be beneficial. The Authority is seeking a license to open and operate the facility which would receive waste from Maine and Vermont. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission has final approval on granting the license. Their decision will be based upon arguments made in a more formal legal hearing next year, according to a report in the El Paso Times.
Two more public comment hearings are scheduled on the proposed project, including one in El Paso, in September.
Sources: Norte, Diario de Juarez, El Paso Times
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