http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5627661.html March 17, 2008, 11:59PM
Official backs radioactive dumping
Residents near the West Texas site worry about risks to water
By JANET ELLIOTT
AUSTIN — The executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is recommending approval of a Dallas company's license to dispose of radioactive uranium waste in Andrews County.
The license application, which now goes before the three-member commission, is one of two sought by Waste Control Specialists, a politically connected company that wants to operate the nation's largest privately run radioactive waste dump.
The site, on the New Mexico border about 130 miles west of Midland, has been controversial because of the potential risk to groundwater. Four geologists and engineers last August recommended that the license for a low-level radioactive waste dump be denied.
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The company is owned by Harold Simmons, one of the state's top political donors. He has contributed nearly $500,000 since 2001 to Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints the environmental commissioners.
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