nuclear-news

Big campaign donations likely to get nuclear waste dump approved

The radioactive waste to be dumped near West Texas aquifers will be hot for tens of thousands of years.6 Waste Control’s license extends a mere 15 years. Thereafter that gullible sap–the Texas taxpayer–will be left holding the bag.

Rick Perry’s nuclear money machine dallasnews.com, Wayne Slater, Dec 20, 2010, Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons is the focus of a new study that says his $1.1 million investment in Gov. Rick Perry this year could pay many millions in return. The issue is the West Texas nuclear waste dump that Simmons controls.

For years, Simmons has lobbied the governor and the Legislature to license his nuke site – originally designed under a two-state compact to take radioactive waste from Texas and Vermont. Simmons’ effort now is to open the site to nuclear waste from all over the United States, potentially worth millions if not billions. The key is getting permission from an agency controlled by Perry appointees.

Texans for Public Justice , a nonprofit group that tracks campaign cash, followed the money this year and found that Simmons’ considerable largesse has made him Perry’s second-biggest campaign contributor. Number 1 is Houston homebuilder Bob Perry (no relation), who got the governor to create a state agency that protected homebuilders from complaints about defective houses. The Legislature, facing an tidal wave of homeowner complaints, subsequently abolished the agency. The homebuilder has also gotten the governor’s help on legislation to limit lawsuits against business. Bob Perry has vigorously fought suits against his business, rejecting for nearly a decade arbitration awards and jury verdicts to pay an elderly Mansfield couple with a defective Perry-built home.

According to TPJ, the low-level nuclear panel could make its decision soon on whether Simmons’ Waste Control Specialists can begin importing radioactive waste from states all over the country. While much of Simmons’ political money has gone to Perry and politicians in Texas, he’s also given donations to candidates in several other states that have nuclear plants (and thereby need someplace to dispose of the waste). Says the TPJ:
The radioactive waste to be dumped near West Texas aquifers will be hot for tens of thousands of years.6 Waste Control’s license extends a mere 15 years. Thereafter that gullible sap–the Texas taxpayer–will be left holding the bag.

Rick Perry’s nuclear money machine | TRAIL BLAZERS Blog | dallasnews.com

December 21, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes