TEXAS COMPACT TO HOLD HEARING ON WASTE IMPORT RULE TOMORROW

The Texas Compact Commission will hold a public hearing tomorrow to get stakeholder input on its proposed radwaste import rule. The rule would outline forms and procedures required for generators outside of Texas or Vermont to ship low-level radioactive waste to Waste Control Specialists’ Andrews, Texas disposal facility. The public comment period for the rule will expire tomorrow as well. The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time in the agenda room at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (Room 201-S in Building E) in Austin, Texas. No vote will be held on the rule; the Compact Commission will meet in March to vote on the rule, and if approved it must be published again in the Texas Register.

The Compact has been working on the import rule for more than a year, with the initial rule approval coming Jan. 4, 2011. The Texas legislative session immediately following saw a bill, SB 1504, pass that approved import to WCS. After the Compact Commission members were shuffled by Gov. Rick Perry (R) in September, a newly-formed Compact committee worked through November and December 2011 to align the proposed import language with the Texas law. The Compact voted to approve the current proposed language Jan. 5, and published the rule in the Texas Register Jan. 20.