US government's 'environmental racism'
On August 6, Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the entrance of the US embassy in Mexico City to protest against the construction of a low-level radioactive waste dump in Sierra Blanca, Texas, 32 kilometres from the Mexican border. On that day, public hearings regarding the permit for the facility began.
Seventy per cent of the waste going to Sierra Blanca would come from nuclear power plants. The dump would therefore contain radioactive elements with half-lives of hundreds and thousands of years.
There are 109 nuclear reactors in the US that have accumulated an enormous quantity of radioactive waste which is currently stored on-site. If approved, Sierra Blanca could become the principal facility for this waste.
Texas regulations prohibit construction of a dump such as the Sierra Blanca facility in areas of seismic activity, geological faults or wind or rain erosion.
However, an independent study carried out by Radioactive Waste Management Associates recognises that the proposed site suffers erosion problems, seismic instability, geological faults and a high risk of radioactive contamination of the sub-surface due to the porousness of the soil. In addition, the study identifies the proximity of the dump to the Rio Bravo as a grave threat to the millions of people living in the border zone.
On April 13, 1995, the strongest earthquake to hit Texas in 60 years (5.6 on the Richter scale) occurred in Sierra Blanca. In 1931, in the same region, the largest earthquake in Texan history took place. Between 1923 and 1993, 64 earthquakes registering three or more on the Richter scale were recorded within a 350 km radius of the dump site.
Greenpeace says "that the Sierra Blanca dump confirms yet again the practices of environmental racism of the US government."