[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 8 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S504-S505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SIERRA BLANCA

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I want to move on and talk about a 
related topic, in fact, very related, and this is a discussion that is 
urgent and long overdue. It has to do with the bill, S. 270, that would 
result in the dumping of low-level radioactive waste in a small, poor, 
majority Latino community in rural west Texas. I want to stop that from 
happening, not only in Sierra Blanca, but in poor minority communities 
all over this country.
  The best way to get this conversation going, which is a conversation 
about environmental justice, is to make sure that the story of Sierra 
Blanca gets told, and it is an incredible story.
  Last week, several of the people who have been telling that story for 
several years were here in Washington. Father Ralph Solis, who is the 
parish priest for Sierra Blanca, led a delegation of Texans who told us 
of the anger and the anguish of the people of Sierra Blanca. It is not 
just the people of Sierra Blanca who are organizing. Citizens from all 
over Texas, from cities and towns through which radioactive waste will 
be passing on its way to Sierra Blanca, are all demanding that their 
voices be heard. The newspaper columnist Molly Ivins has written that, 
``This is community action and local organizing at its very best.'' I 
couldn't agree more.
  Let me tell you something about Sierra Blanca. It is a small town in 
one of the poorest areas of Texas. The average income of the people who 
live there is less than $8,000 a year, and 39 percent of them live 
below the poverty line. Over 66 percent of the residents are Mexican 
American, and many speak only Spanish. It is a town that already has 
one of the largest sewage sludge projects in the world. Every week, 250 
tons of partially treated sludge are brought to Sierra Blanca.
  So why has Sierra Blanca been targeted with both a sewage sludge 
project and a radioactive dump? I am firmly convinced the issue here is 
one of environmental justice. The tragedy of Sierra Blanca is part of 
the larger and very disturbing pattern across the country. In far too 
many instances, poor people of color simply don't have the political 
clout to keep the pollution out of their communities. Studies by the 
United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice, for example, 
found that race was the single best predictor of the location of 
commercial hazardous waste facilities, and Texas was second only to 
California in the number of such facilities located in communities with 
above-average percentage of minorities. I don't think that is a 
coincidence.
  Let me be clear about one thing, Mr. President. Sierra Blanca is not 
being singled out because its residents are unusually fond of waste. In 
April 1992, the Texas Waste Authority commissioned a telephone poll of 
surrounding communities, areas where the poorest residents don't even 
have telephones, and they found that 64 percent of the people oppose 
the dump. But you don't need a poll to tell you that. Just show up at 
any town meeting or any licensing hearing. Local residents are often 
angry and emotional about their community being turned into a 
radioactive dump. And they have every right to be.

  Let us be clear about one other thing as well. Science does not 
explain the selection of Sierra Blanca, either. In the early 1980s, the 
Texas Waste Authority screened the entire State to find the most 
scientifically appropriate site. Their engineering consultants, Dames & 
Moore, concluded that the Sierra Blanca site was unsuitable for a 
nuclear dump because of its complex

[[Page S505]]

geology. But, lo and behold, that was the site that was chosen.
  You will hear again and again from colleagues on the other side that 
this siting decision is a purely local matter. It is not. The most 
obvious reason is that it is up to the Congress to ratify this Compact 
between Texas, Maine, and Vermont. Without the Compact, it is unlikely 
there will be a dump. Without the upfront payments from the other 
States, where is the construction money going to come from? And by the 
Texas Waste Authority's own projections, the dump will not be 
economically viable if Maine and Vermont do not sign up in advance. 
Texas does not generate enough waste.
  There are other reasons why this debate rises above the purely local 
level. If the Texas Compact passes the Senate, it is entirely possible 
that Sierra Blanca will become the low-level radioactive waste dump for 
the entire country. Backers of the Compact say that that is not their 
plan. They say no other States besides Maine and Vermont will ship 
waste to Texas. If that is the case, then I propose a solution. And I 
am hoping there will be support for this.
  Let the Senate agree to an amendment I want to offer, which is just 
like the Doggett amendment that passed the House, limiting the Compact 
to Maine and Vermont. Now, it seems to me, if the argument is being 
made that the only waste that is going to come to Texas is from Maine 
and Vermont, then let us just pass that amendment. And let us be clear 
about it. Then the debate is over.
  But we cannot shirk our responsibilities by pretending that this is 
nothing more than a State or local affair. The Sierra Blanca dump is 
unlikely to be built if the Senate rejects this Compact. But if the 
Senate approves this Compact, Sierra Blanca may become the Nation's 
premier dump site for low-level radioactive waste. It is that simple.
  The Senate vote will largely determine whether or not a grave 
injustice is inflicted on a community that deserves no such thing. It 
would be easy for all of us to turn our backs and just ignore this 
issue. But there is no way for the Senate to wash its hands of this 
business. For good or ill, we bear moral responsibility for what 
happens to the people of Sierra Blanca. This is a wrong that richly 
deserves to be righted. And we have the power to do just that.
  Mr. President, again, let me just make it clear that this is an issue 
of environmental justice. It is a David versus Goliath fight. There are 
lots of big guns in here that are pushing for this waste dump site. But 
we have one thing on our side. My colleagues have said, ``Rest assured, 
this will only be waste from Maine and Vermont that will go to Texas.'' 
I say, if that is the case, please support the Doggett amendment. It 
has already passed the House of Representatives. Then we can go 
forward.
  I will have one other amendment which just says that if we approve 
the Compact, but it turns out that it can be proven that this has a 
discriminatory effect on a community of color or low-income people, 
then they have the right to go to court. If those amendments pass, then 
this Compact will pass the floor of the Senate.
  Mr. President, I do believe that the people of Sierra Blanca and 
hundreds of minority communities just like them from around the country 
have not been given their due. But we can make the system work. I am 
firmly convinced of that. Sometimes justice needs a second chance. 
Sometimes it needs a little push. And over the next few weeks, I think 
we are going to give justice a second chance on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.

  I am hoping that these amendments will be accepted. I believe that 
would be the right thing to do. I think there should be strong 
bipartisan support for that. If that does not happen, then I am 
prepared to use all of the hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate that I 
have at my disposal as a Senator--and I will use those many hours--to 
talk about environmental justice in this country.
  Over and over and over again, we essentially take this waste and we 
dump it, right on the heads of low-income people. Over and over and 
over again, we look to the communities of color, we look to poor 
communities, we look to the communities that are not the heavy hitters, 
that are not well connected, and this is where we put it.
  This happens all across the country. I can bring to the floor of the 
Senate study after study after study that show that. I can marshal the 
evidence. I am hoping that we will agree that this Compact will be 
something we can pass, if we make it clear that the waste can only come 
from Maine and Vermont. If not, I think for the first time on the floor 
of the U.S. Senate we will have a really--maybe not the first time--but 
we will certainly have a very thorough and important debate, I think, 
about environmental justice.

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