Proposed Dump in Needles

In response to Paul Feldman’s article “Trash Dumps May Intrude on Desert Serenity,” Oct. 28:

Feldman has captured the essence of our problems. Needles, situated on historic Route 66 (now I-40), is the entry way for Southern California; now this once-great highway has become what Feldman calls “trash alley,” and we find ourselves becoming the final destination for garbage, toxins and other radioactive and hazardous waste.

Needles has serious reservations regarding the proposed low-level radioactive waste facility in Ward Valley. Among other things, the statutes for the Southwestern Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact and the EIR confirm that California will be assuming the same type of liability that it faces in the Stringfellow matter. This issue should concern every citizen who realizes that California can ill afford more exposure to risks which involve millions of dollars. Moreover, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the statutory authority to grant any state “emergency access” to the facility; authority we expect it will exercise. California may find itself forced to accept waste from every other state in the union.

There are also numerous concerns regading the scientific aspects of the EIR/EIS. For example, Needles and other government agencies have strong concerns over the lack of “secondary containment” at the proposed Ward Valley site.

The City of Needles and the County of San Bernardino met with the California Department of Health Services to discuss the negative impacts associated with the project. We reiterated our concern with the EIR/EIS, the licensing procedure and our expert economist’s assessment of adverse economic impacts on our community. The attorney for the Department of Health Services abruptly summarized our concern as “garbage.” We realized at this point that the Department of Health Services has no sensitivity for Needles or its concerns.

MAYOR ROY A. MILLS, Needles