In Sierra Blanca, Texas, someone burned Bill
Addington’s family lumber yard to the ground last September.
Addington says the arson was a message to him and others: Stop
protesting the importation of sewage sludge and nuclear waste.
Addington heads a citizens’ group of over 70 people which has
resisted waste disposal from other states for the past 10 years.
But last year, Texas officials allocated 129,000 acres near the
town of 3,000 as a dumping ground for some of New York’s sewage
sludge. Now, 45 train-cars per day deliver the sludge to the south
Texas town. Pat Shaughnessy, an information specialist with the
Texas Natural Resources Commission, says another plan is pending
that could send up to 1.8 million cubic feet of low-level nuclear
waste to Sierra Blanca in the next 30 years. Most waste would come
from Texas, but nuclear power plants in Maine and Vermont might
also buy some of the space. According to Addington, the soils of
Sierra Blanca are permeable, the site is close to a major aqueduct,
and it lies in an established earthquake zone. For more information
contact Bill Addington, Save Sierra Blanca, P.O. Box 218, Sierra
Blanca, TX 79851, or call the Texas Natural Resource Commission at
512/463-4632.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Texan fights out-of-state wastes.
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