After the original bill to expand annual import limits was killed by a technicality May 20, late yesterday Waste Control Specialists succeeded in getting that expansion added via amendment to another bill, ultimately gaining House approval. In amendments added to a bill addressing the Texas Compact Commission’s funding, approved by the Texas state House on the floor late last night, WCS secured an expansion of import capacity to 275,000 curies annually, up from the 120,000 curies per year limit in current state law. That is lower, though, than the 300,000 curies per year that WCS had hoped to secure in its original bill, introduced in February by state Sen. Kel Seliger (R) and brought down by long-time WCS opponent Rep. Lon Burnham (D).
In addition to expanding annual import capacity, the amendments state that, beginning Sept. 15, 2015, WCS can only accept non-party compact waste if it has been volume-reduced by a factor of three, unless such reduction would cause the waste to be classified as Greater Than Class C waste. Noncompliance could result in a fine from the Compact Commission under the bill. The bill will be sent to the Senate for concurrence before the last day of the legislative session, May 28. View the amendments here.