Why Andrews County Is Open To Taking in Radioactive Waste

Local Andrews, Texas residents, including Peggy Pryor, are fighting Waste Control Specialists, a company that is attempting to store low-level nuclear waste in the county. She, like others, have semi-given up on fighting the corporation because of their political and financial influence on the community. Waste Control Specialists (WCS) have successfully lobbied the Texas government to change the laws regarding storage of nuclear waste. 

Residents of Andrews and Eunice, New Mexico (actually closer to the dump site than Andrews) have been turned in favor of WCS because of aggressive marketing campaigns by the company in order to showcase themselves as saviors of the economy and generous donors to local organizations. 

Andrews and Eunice sit in the Permian Basin, the largest oil and natural gas producing area of the United States. It’s prone to busts and booms, which is how WCS used their leverage to persuade local Andrews leaders, like John Roberts, that storing nuclear waste would benefit the economy. But in reality, the number of jobs that WCS offers the area is 2% of the total workforce. Unfortunately, residents and Andrews leaders are often not aware of that low number. 

Pryor and other activists were subject to intimidation by WCS when they attempted to fight the proposed nuclear dump site.