Battalion/Page 9
September 1, 1982
state
Panhandle may get
nuclear waste site
1 United Press International
AUSTIN — Texas environ-
TieHitalist Ken Kramer says the
Estate should take action to keep
ithe federal government from
)lat ing the first permanent nuc
lear waste storage site in the
Panhandle.
py
next summer the Depart
ment of Energy will recommend
three sites in different kinds of
rock formations for construc
tion of permanent depositories
for nuclear waste that will re-
lain radioactive for millions of
years
■ The DOE is trying to decide
: : ii whether salt bed formations in
|fPTexas or Utah would be better.
Utah residents opposed to the
plan may make Texas the win
ner by default.
^ Two federal reservations — a
|salt area in Washington state
and a tuff area in Nevada —
already have been picked, offi
cials said. The DOE also is con
sidering two salt-bed sites in the
Panhandle — the Dalhart and
Palo Duro basins — and one in
Utah’s Paradox Basin as possible
repositories for the nuclear
waste.
Kramer said Texas is not
doing enough to keep the site
out of the Panhandle.
Kramer said a number of
public statements from Gov. Bill
Clements indicate nuclear waste
from other states will not come
to Texas, but not much concrete
action has been taken to pre
clude a site being located here.
“In other states, you are hav
ing a lot of political action, and
when there is a state like Texas
that is not taking such action, the
reality is that DOE will look
more closely at that state,” he
said.
This summer Utah Gov. Scott
Mathieson ordered state agen
cies not to issue the necessary
exploration permits to DOE
officials until the state had stu
died earlier findings. A
Mathieson aide said the delays in
Utah would give the govern
ment time to catch up on its
scouting efforts in Texas.
However, DOE spokesman
Phil Garon in Washington, D.C.,
said it is too early to tell whether
Texas or Utah will be selected
for a salt-bed exploratory shaft
to be drilled next year.
“It is a very emotional, politic
al issue, and the Energy Depart
ment understands that,” he said.
“Our problem is everybody
wants to do something with nuc
lear waste, but nobody wants us
to do it in their state.”
umper grain crops
Face storage shortage
United Press International
JABERNATHY — Grain ele
vators are already brimming
and newly approved emergency
storage facilities will do little to
help West Texas producers this
fall, an agriculture spokesman
said.
'DC , Elbert Harp, president of the
^^■rain Sorghum Producers
^^^ssociation, said this year’s
bumper wheat crop and 1980
corn sold, but not delivered, to
Russia will create massive stor
age problems.
I Last week Agriculture Secret-
ary John Block approved
bnergency storage of grain in
surplus barges, rail cars and
■ther facilities not normally
Hualified to store harvested
Strops, but Harp said they will
barely make a dent in the im
pending storage problem.
“We had a surplus of all
rains. Then, an all-time record
P wheat crop was piled on top of
^Piat. There’s just so much stor
age available,” Harp said. “A lot
of elevators are full."
The High Plains region pro
duced about 64 million bushels
of wheat this year, with large
carry-overs remaining from the
record 1981 harvest of about 71
million bushels.
Harp said this year’s corn-
sorghum crop carry-over will be
more than can be used in Texas,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas
and two-thirds of Nebraska.
“Much too much was grown
this year for next,” he said. “And
that will add to the surplus we’re
already carrying.”
Harp said that since the corn
and milo harvest has begun,
producers in the Texas Panhan
dle and elsewhere will have mas
sive storage problems this fall.
“An area from Plainview to
Muleshoe north will have prob
lems,” he said.
Harp said some of the 200
storage elevators in the High
Plains region of Texas have
been full of corn since 1980,
when the USDA purchased
crops that had been sold to Rus
sia, but then embargoed by
then-President Jimmy Carter.
About 40 million bushels of
corn shipped from Illinois, Wis
consin and Iowa have remained
in Texas elevators since the
embargo. About 40 million
more bushels are stored outside
of Texas, he said.
“Without the embargoes of
the past several years, we would
not have the supply or storage
problems,” Harp said, adding
that such problems will continue
until the government makes
long-term grain agreements
with other countries, especially
Russia.
“A few years ago, the govern
ment encouraged us to produce
more for the Russians,” Harp
said. “All of that grain is still left.
With that and the surplus grain,
we’re going to have problems
nationwide.”
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ATTENTION STUDENTS!
INTERESTED IN
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Theatre Complex is hiring part-time student
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There will be a meeting for interested per-
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