BORDER ENVIRONMENT

by Ana Vinas, FNS Staff Writer

A CHRONICLE OF DISSENT: PROTESTERS DENOUNCE
SIERRA BLANCA RADIOACTIVE WASTE SITE

(Editor's Note: According to the FNS Border Environment file for June 1997, written by Ana Maria Ruiz-Brown and Kelly Simmons, opponents of the proposed Sierra Blanca Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility contend that its construction would be in violation of the 1984 U.S.-Mexico Peace Treaty, signed by then-Presidents Reagan and Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado.

Brown and Simmons write, "According to the second Article in the Treaty, both countries agreed to 'prevent, reduce and eliminate sources of contamination in their respective territories that can affect the border zone of the other' within 100 kilometers."

The Sierra Blanca Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility is being constructed approximately 25 kilometers from the U.S.-Mexico border and the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo international boundary.)

Tues., July 28: Mexican Organizers Seek Support of 20 U.S. Counties To Fight Waste Dump

Opponents of the Sierra Blanca Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility, which would be built in Texas and 16 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, say they have secured the support of Mexican legislators in the border states, and now hope to enlist the support of 20 U.S. counties which border Mexico and the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico).

Andrés Marés, leader of the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, said that El Paso County has already written up a resolution protesting the waste dump, and hopes other Texas counties will do the same.

In addition, Marés and his organizers have sent a petition to Texas Gov. George W. Bush with over 8,000 signatures calling for the cancellation of the project.

"Our community has a voice, and we are saying that the construction of the nuclear waste dump in Sierra Blanca is environmental racism," said Marés.

Source: El Diario

Mon., July 27: Protesters Block Free Bridge To Demand Respect For Border Treaty

Led by legislators from five Mexican border states, dozens of men, women, and children marched through Ciudad Juárez yesterday, July 26, and eventually took the Córdova-Las Américas International Bridge, blocking traffic for five minutes, in protest against the construction of a Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility near Sierra Blanca, Texas.

During the blockade, protesters chanted, "Respect, Respect, Our Environmental Treaty!"

They also hoisted banners which read, "Stop Sierra Blanca. Stop the Nuclear Wastedump" and "Gov. Bush, Stop Dumping on the USA."

The protesters, with the various state diputados in the front line, marched halfway across the bridge, to the space between the flags of the two countries, and there interlocked arms.

United States officials complained to Juárez municipal police about the international crossing. Juárez police sent an agent from the Federal Highway Police (FPC), who watched the protest but did not intervene. The blockade was voluntarily disbanded at 7:05 p.m.

Source: El Diario

Mon, July 27: Texas Commission Will Decide Waste Site's Future

Sierra Blanca's future plans for a low intensity level radioactive dump site will be decided by October or November when Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commision (TNRCC) comes up with a decision based on technical and social facts.

Source: El Diario

Sat., July 25: Legislators Send Clinton Document Against Sierra Blanca

Legislators for six Mexican states will send Bill Clinton a document which expresses their negative feelings about the building of Sierra Blanca's nuclear waste site.

They will also participate on a march scheduled for Sunday, July 26.

Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez

Fri., July 24: Bi-National March To Waste Site Planned For August 6 to 9

A group 50 persons say they will march for four days from El Paso to the proposed waste site in protest of the proposed Sierra Blanca Low-Level Radioactive Wastye Facility on August 6. A group of protestors from Ciudad Juárez will join the rally on August 9.

The coordinator of "Operation Backbone," Carlos Gallinar, said that the members of this march will mostly be university students who will be able to handle the four day walk. The El Paso group will walk in the US side of the border while the Juárez group will take the Mexico side of the border.

Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez

Tues., July 14: Activist Says Gov. Bush Doesn't Care Too Much About Southwest Texas

Richard Boran, Coordinator for the Bravo Ecologist Alliance , an El Paso activist in the fight against opening Sierra Blanca's nuclear waste site, said that both sides had over a year to give their sides and prove their points--now it is all up to TNRCC and Governor George W. Bush.

Boran said, "Bush doesn't care too much about this part of the state because we have supported mostly the Democratic party and he thinks that Sierra Blanca will not hurt him too much politically."

Source: El Diario

Mon., July 13: Dump Protesters Announce August 6 March to Sierra Blanca

Operation Backbone, an organization committed to fighting the proposed waste site in Sierra Blanca, announced it has organized a 90 mile march to begin August 6, starting at Rio Vista Community Center, 901 Rio Vista, in Socorro, Texas. The rally will begin at 6 pm and the march to Sierra Blanca starts at 7 pm. There will be guest speakers and entertainment before the march.

Source: El Paso Times

Sat., July 11, 1998: Carlsbad Resident Reminds Protesters Not To Forget WIPP Site

Sierra Blanca's neighbors worry about dump site approval. However, Lily Zaragoza said the dump site in Carlsbad, New Mexico is bigger than Sierra Blanca.

"WIPP would be an international dumpsite where people from different parts of the world would come to bring their waste," she said.

Edward Zaragoza, Lily's husband, was exposed to radiation a day after the bombing to Nagasaki, Japan, on August 8, 1945. She had eight pregnancies and six of the babies died, she told El Diario.

Source: El Diario

Fri., July 10, 1998: Texas Disposal Authority Predicts Sierra Blanca Will Be Approved

The agency which will oversee the Sierra Blanca waste site believes Texas will approve of the site, even after a judges' ruling recommending not to do so.

Lawrence R. Jacobi Jr., official with the state's Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, said "there is evidence on documents that the study failure is not the problem and we are sure our request will get approved."

Even though the final decision lies with the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the recent judicial recommendation is an unfavorable sign for the company running the site. Sullivan and Rogan said the interested party on opening this site failed to prove the low radioactive dump would not affect the quality of life for the community's population of 700.

Opponents of the project hold that this site would not only receive low intensity materials, but also those of nuclear energy plants like plutonium. According to Sierra Blanca opponents quoted in El Diario, plutonimum has a half-life of 500,000 years. The site would also be used to store iodine, with a half-life of 160 million years; nickel, 760,000 years, and "iodine 129" which would last for 100 million years, in addition to "nickel 63" and "tectenio 99."

Source: El Diario

Wed., July 8: Judges Say State of Texas Study Was Not Adequate

Two Texas administrative law judges, Kerry Sullivan and Mike Rogan, ruled the Sierra Blanca dump should not open. The judges found the state failed to adequately study the environmental and other effects of the disposal site and should have considered El Paso in its studies. El Paso owns a ranch in the general area which is above an aquifer that could be used as a water resource in the future for the city, although it could cost millions to build the pipeline

"This is good for the city," said El Paso lawyer Norman Gordon..

Source: El Paso Times

Thurs., June 25: Mexican Governors Oppose Waste Site

Nuevo Leon's governor, Fernando Canales Clariond, announced that governors from six different border states in Mexico do not want Sierra Blanca's waste site to open. He said the governors, three of whom are PRIistas and three of whom are PANistas, will demand the US government to back out on its plans for Sierra Blanca.

Source: El Diario