X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAsAhQG2nRzcT+r0HOj3EzUJ89q+gh27QIUQXoboE9gPS4unlXSGXQj8TMjp1s= From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 15:02:59 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: SIERRA BLANCA [borderlines UPDATER] --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503 --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503 [207.79.35.91]) by postoffice-121.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/po.gso.24Feb98) mailsorter-101.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:07:57 -0600 (MDT) Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:06:17 -0600 (MDT) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:08:53 -0600 Sender: owner-frontera-l@nmsu.edu From: borderlines To: frontera-l@nmsu.edu Subject: SIERRA BLANCA [borderlines UPDATER] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ borderlines UPDATER October 20, 1998 Sierra Blanca Protests Sweep Both Sides of the Border: TNRCC Decision Set for October 22 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editor: George Kourous Reporter: Kent Paterson An occasional electronic service of the Interhemispheric Resource Center's (IRC) U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Project. For more information read the footer of this message or visit our website at http://www.zianet.com/irc1/ Our apologies for any duplicate postings. CONTENTS: 1. Sierra Blanca Protests Sweep Both Sides of the Border: Final TNRCC Decision Set for October 22 2. A Movement Blossoms: Cross-border Activism Picks up Speed: CEC Submission Possible if License Granted 3. Sierra Blanca Rises to Top of Mexican Political Debate, But Official Condemnation Not Likely 4. Resources and Contacts for Further Action ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIERRA BLANCA PROTESTS SWEEP BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER Activists and Residents Fear Safety Concerns Go Unaddressed by Kent Paterson* With just days remaining before an expected Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) decision to license the proposed Sierra Blanca low-level radioactive waste disposal site in west Texas, cross-border opposition to the dump is picking up steam. On October 11 and October 12, for example, citizens in both Mexico and the United States staged rallies to demand that Texas state authorities reject the facility, planned for a location roughly 80 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and only about 15 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Opponents charge the dump site is located on earthquake-prone ground and could eventually leak radioactive elements into underground aquifers and the nearby Rio Grande river. Over the last 70 years, some 64 quakes of 3.0 or greater on the Richter scale have occurred within 200 miles of Sierra Blanca. According to the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the West Texas Geological Society, one regional fault runs directly under the proposed site: In 1931 the small town of Sierra Blanca experienced a quake that measured 6.1 on the Richter scale. All six existing low-level radioactive waste burial sites in the United States have registered leaks. Supporters counter that earthen covers and other measures will prevent any leaks or spills from occurring. Although Texas Gov. George Bush Jr. has stated that the project won't be approved if new information indicates any danger, all the legal steps to make the dump a reality have been, for all practical purposes, set in place. According to Bush, "the evaluation of the safety of the project [should be] based upon sound science, not hysteria." Bush's aggressive lobbying on behalf of the dump has convinced many that the governor's concern with safety only runs skin deep. After years of debate, the fate of Sierra Blanca now rests with the TNRCC, having recently cleared a number of hurdles at the federal level. In late July, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Radioactive Waste Compact permitting the exportation of radioactive waste to Texas from the States of Vermont and Maine, stripping the bill in the process of amendments designed to limit waste received by Texas to just those two New England States. The axed amendment would also have provided a means for residents of Sierra Blanca to register official opposition to the dump on grounds of environmental justice. Saddled with a high poverty rate, the largely Latino town of Sierra Blanca already receives 250 tons of New York City sludge each week at a disposal facility constructed there in 1992. In 1994, President Bill Clinton issue an Executive Order on Environmental Justice that was supposed to, argue activists, protect less politically powerful communities of color like Sierra Blanc! ! ! ! a from being sited with dumps unwanted elsewhere. The Senate followed up with a vote in favor the compact on September 2nd, and sent the bill to President Clinton. Clinton signed the bill into law soon after. A MOVEMENT BLOSSOMS Sierra Blanca Encourages a New Activism On Sunday, October 11, about 150 people from Mexico and the United States joined hands on the Bridge of the Americas between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez to symbolize the international alliance against the waste dump. Before they were chased off by U.S. bridge security personnel, who also warned photographers not to take officers' pictures, the demonstrators chanted slogans at passing motorists and vowed to oppose any radioactive dumping in the Chihuahua Desert. The same day, Greenpeace-Mexico and other organizations rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. According to the Mexican daily La Jornada, actress Ana Colchero and members of the popular rock group Cafe Tacuba were among those in attendance. On October 12, Dia de La Raza, hundreds of Juárez schoolchildren briefly blocked three international bridges on the Mexican side of the border. Earlier, Felix Perez, Juárez spokesman for the International Ecologist Alliance of the Rio Bravo, accused the backers of the Sierra Blanca project of pursuing an environmentally racist policy. Besides siting a dump close to the Mexican border, the facility is in a majority Hispanic, low-income community on the U.S. side. "The demonstration against the dump has been a reaction to the racist attitude that's been manifested in different actions. One of the them is the establishment of this nuclear cemetery," charged Perez. On the U.S. side, activists also kept busy. Members of the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund recently marched for three days in the August heat from El Paso's Lower Valley to Sierra Blanca. In September, they also delivered petitions with nearly 30,000 signatures to Gov. Bush and the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission. SBLDF organizer Ed Patrykus, the owner of a small lot in Sierra Blanca, said he enrolled in the movement "to protect that beautiful stretch of scenery and the wildlife and the Rio Grande." On the political front, Sierra Blanca became an issue in this year's Texas state gubernatorial race. The latest protests cap a year of intensive organizing against the dump. In March, the Border Environmentalist Coalition emerged at a Juárez conference and united anti-Sierra Blanca dump activists with Native American opponents of the Ward Valley project in California and Mexican residents of Hermosillo, Sonora, who've been battling toxic lead waste disposal in their own community. The spring also witnessed a hunger strike by Juárez City Councilman Jose Luis Rodriguez and the first protest by the city's public school students. In many ways, the Sierra Blanca movement represents the kind of cross-border linkages activists have envisioned ever since the NAFTA debate raised awareness regarding the deteriorating border environment. Thousands of citizens from both sides of the frontier have taken a stand on preserving their shared ecology while remaining divided by a politically imposed border. Veteran El Paso community activist and SBLDF activist Andy Mares identified Sierra Blanca as the catalyst for future efforts to protect the vast Chihuahua Desert bioregion from further environmental degradation. Felix Perez considered the current groundswell of anti-nuclear sentiment to be the fruit of six years of hard work by NGOs and environmental groups. Today political parties, churches, public and university students, educators, and civic organizations have all enlisted to the cause. "Teachers are participating and talking to their students and parents," commented Perez. "They're educating themselves on this subject in order to have sustainable development in the future. This obviously doesn't stop here. This is a permanent struggle." The Juárez organizer added that vigils are planned in different Mexican cities for October 21, the day prior to the expected Sierra Blanca license decision. Turning to international tribunals, one group of Mexican legislators joined with Greenpeace and other environmental organizations last month in filing a notice with the Canada-based Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC)-- the body charged under the NAFTA side agreement with considering environmental disputes between the trade partners-- advising that if Sierra Blanca is licensed they will formally complain to the CEC. In addition to charging the U.S. with failing to honor the 1983 La Paz accords between Mexico and the United States, intended to protect the border environment, activists working on the planned CEC submission will also try to focus the institution's attention on Texas' compliance with the federal Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act and what they assess as a recurring failure by the U.S. federal government to enforce radiation regulations in the state. The siting seems to clearly violate the terms of La Paz, which prohibits the construction of such dumps in a specified area on both sides of the border. Alberto Szekely, one of the 1983 agreement's principal authors, told the Mexico City News in a recent interview that the U.S. is obligated under the agreements to re-site the dump. "As chief negotiator for the peace accord," said Szekely, "I am worried about the attempts to deny that this document [the La Paz agreements] is a genuine legal obstacle to the construction and operation of the radioactive dump site. The peace accord was signed precisely to prevent a project of this nature to be placed within the border area that both parties agreed to respect." If the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission gives a green light to Sierra Blanca on October 22, activists are prepared to explore various strategies to keep the dump from opening. They include pursuing the NAFTA complaint with the CEC, going to the United Nations and World Court, and lobbying Texas state legislators to deny funding for the waste dump. SIERRA BLANCA RISES TO THE TOP OF MEXICAN POLITICAL DEBATES At the same time, the dump issue has risen to the forefront of Mexican political discourse. Sierra Blanca was transformed into an unusual unifier in a usually fractious political scene: All the country's five major political parties came out against the project. Mirroring the federal congress' anti-dump stance, the state congresses of Chihuahua and Coahuila passed resolutions against the dump, as did the city councils of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and Ciudad Acuña. The common battle cry was the defense of Mexican sovereignty against what's widely viewed as a violation by Washington of La Paz. (Others in Mexico have pointed out that the siting also flies in the face of the UN's 1972 Conference on the Environment, which states that while countries can manage their toxic wastes according to their own laws as long as they shouldn't pollute or threaten to pollute the borders or territories of neighboring countries.) Nonetheless, the Sierra Blanca debate also generated contradictory signals from the Zedillo Administration. Statements by the heads of the federal environment and energy departments that Sierra Blanca appeared to be safe as planned appeared to be at odds with earlier protests by the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. Pressed by opposition party legislators, Foreign Secretary Rosario Green stated in September that resorting to international law would probably do little good since Washington doesn't genuinely respect the jurisdiction of the World Court. However, Green added to the confusion days later when she added that Mexico still retains the option of going to the international tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands. One possible explanation for the Zedillo Administration's hedging could rest with Mexico's own looming need to get rid of radioactive waste from the Laguna Verde nuclear plant and other facilities. Activists such as Felix Perez fear Chihuahua and other border areas are under consideration for such a facility. If erected, a site built within the restricted zone as defined by the La Paz Accord would certainly undercut any Mexican opposition to Sierra Blanca based on the binational agreement. * Kent Paterson is a freelance writer based in Albuquerque, NM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOURCES OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund Website http://www.compassionate.org/sbldf/ "Nuclear Dump Near Border Passes First Step," borderlines, vol. 4., no. 4, April 1996. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1996/bl23/bl23dmp.html Richard Boren, "Waste on the Way? West Texas Town Targeted for Nuclear Dump," borderlines, vol. 5, no. 7, July 1997. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1997/bl37/bl37wast.html "Decision on Proposed Sierra Blanca Nuclear Waste Dump Pending," borderlines UPDATER, February 1, 1998. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/updater/feb10sierra.htm INCITRA Action Kit: Hazardous Waste (Directory of contacts and resources for border hazardous waste issues). http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1998/bl46/bl46inci.html KEY CONTACTS Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, El Paso: Voice: (915) 369-2541 Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, Austin Voice: (512) 447-8906 Binational Coalition Against Toxic and Nuclear Dumps: Voice: (915)-543-9378 International Ecologist Alliance of the Rio Bravo: Voice: 0-11-52-(16)-11-43-14 or (16) 17-26-55 El Paso Solar Energy Association: Voice: (915) 772-SOLR Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority: Voice: (512) 451-5292 Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission: Voice: (512) 239-5500 Texas Governor George Bush: Toll Free: (800) 252-9600 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAIMER: This story is not a press release but an original article authored by the Interhemispheric Resource Center. Please feel free to repost or reprint it as long as proper credit is given the IRC/borderlines. Thank you. ABOUT US: The Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) is a non-profit policy research institute dedicated to providing information and progressive analysis to citizens, activists and policymakers regarding U.S. foreign policy, environmental and economic justice, and sustainable development. The IRC's U.S.-Mexico Border Project seeks to provide information and analysis regarding the way these issues play out in the U.S.- Mexico borderlands. borderlines and INCITRA (Information for Citizen Transboundary Action) are the two main components of the Border Project. borderlines is our primary publication, consisting of a monthly print edition focusing on one specific border topic, and occasional electronic updates. INCITRA is a binational project of the IRC and La Red Fronteriza de Salud y Ambiente (Hermosillo, Sonora). Its mission is to function as a clearinghouse of information and resources related to sustainable development issues in the U.S.-Mexico border region and to respond to the needs of border citizens with appropriate and useful information related to the struggle for environmental, social, and economic justice on the border. Funding for the IRC's Borderlands Project is provided by The Ford Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation. CONTACT INFORMATION: IRC Borderlands Project P.O. Box 2178 Silver City, NM 88062 Voice: (505) 388-0208 Fax: (505) 388-0619 Email: irc1@zianet.com borderlines on-line: http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline INCITRA on-line: http://www.zianet.com/irc1/incitra ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503--