Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1992 Page: 2 of 11
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PAGE 2, HUDSPETH COUNTY HERALD-Dell Valley Review, NOV. 20, 1992
G01K21 , BR BE
oxbeweetorme SEAAEL
Sincerely,
ENVIRONMENT
Commission fears sludge
will wipe out Indian sites
LOCATION,
LOCATION,
. AND
LOCATION.
Mary Louise Lynch..
Susan Barker............
C. Warren.................
Bernice M. Elder.......
Linda Polk................
Sally Brown..............
...Editor- Publisher
... Assistant
... Crow Flat Editor
...Sierra Blanca Editor
...Fort Hancock Editor
....Courthouse News
DALLAS
WAI.
FOR THE RECORD.
ARE THE TiRee Most
IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR
SELECTING A LOW-LEVEL
NUCLEAR PUMP SITE
FOR TEXAS?
think of printable words to
express my disgust to such a
letter. Coming from a public
official who is supposed to un-
derstand the problems of the
people, is another shock.
"Do-gooders” are numerous
in Dell City. We have a fine
school, run by intelligent
people, churches, local busi-
nesses, farmers, ranchers and
many others who make up our
city. The majority of these
November 5, 1992
By David Sheppard
El Paso Times
A court’s sanctioning of
sludge spreading in West Texas
endangers rich prehistoric Indi-
an sites, including ancient shel-
ters and rock drawings, a state
archaeologist says.
"We're very pessimistic that
those very important archaeo-
logical sites are going to be pro-
tected,” said James Bruseth,
deputy historic preservation offi-
cer with the Texas Historical
Commission. “In fact, many of
those sites are probably going to
be destroyed."
.The commission, along with
the Texas attorney general, sued
in federal court to stop the
waste handler MERCO Joint
Venture from spreading pro-
cessed New York City sludge on
desert rangeland in Hudspeth
County.
MERCO spokeswoman Marc
Sybert said the company will
take better care of the artifacts
than previous ranch owners did.
The finds are on a 200-square-
mile ranch MERCO bought last
spring for the sludge project.
“Access is limited to the ranch
now because we’re there; those
sites are more protected than
they ever have been,” she said.
State archaeologists alleged
that the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency violated the Nation-
al Historic Preservation Act by
failing to study the Indian sites
before this project started in Ju-
ly-
But the EPA said last month
no environmental permit was
needed to use the sludge, revers-
ing its earlier decision to require
the permit. U. S. District Judge
Lucius Bunton threw out the
lawsuit Friday on grounds that,
with no federal regulation in-
volve d, there was no federal vio-
lation.
A 1973 state survey turned up
117 Indian sites dating to the
Mogollon Culture, which van-
ished about 600 years ago. Scien-
tists found campsites, pottery
shards, rock tools, rock paint-
ings and some rock shelters.
Office of the Attorney General
State of Texas
512/463-2100
P.O. BOX 12548
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548
"do-gooders” oppose the filthy
dump that has been imposed
on them. Are you of the opin-
ion that these people have no
right to speak? After all, Judge,
our country has freedom of
speech. There is considerable
difference between fact and
opinion. In your anger at
those you cannot control, you
have lost your dignity as a Judge,
and should make an apology to
Page 8
"We're very pessimistic
that those very important
archaeological sites are
going to be protected."
James Bruseth
Texas Historical
Commission
Dan Morales
Attorney General
LETTERS
Box 333
Dell City, Texas
November 6, 1992
Judge Bill R. Love
County Judge, Hudspeth
County
Dear Sir:
Your letter of October 30,
1992, was unbelievable!
As I am a lady, I cannot
:ccccccceccoooceecoccceseceoccececice
Hudspeth Count/C. 04
and DELL VALLEY REVIEW C eOU
Serving Dell City and Hudspeth County
290 Trail West Park, P. O. Box 659 Dell City, Texas 79837
Second class postage paid in Dell City, Texas 79837
Subsidiary MARY-MARY, INC.
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation
or any person, firm or corporation which may occur in the columns
the Hudspeth County Herald will be gladly corrected upon being
brought to the attention of the editor-publisher. The publisher is
not responsible for copy omisssions or typographical errors which
may occur other than to correct them in the next issue after it is
prought to attention, and in no case does the publisher holdhimself
liable for covering the error. The right is reserved to reject or edit
advertising copy as well as editorial and news content.
PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY OF EACH WEEK for Hudspeth County
Texas third largest county Notices of church, entertainments where
a charge of admission is made, card of thanks, resolutions of respect,
and all matter not news, will be charged at the regular rates.
SUBSCRIPTIONS - Required by the Post Office to be paid in advance.
$12.00)IN COUNTY $13.00 OUT OF COUNTY
$12.00 for Military and College Students
Phone: 915-964-2426 915-964-2490 91 5-964-2467
ccccocdce.osecocobesococc....22022e2-_-__=
80M. L
HUDSPETH COUNT
FAR, FAR AWAY
DAN MORALES
ATTORNEY GENERAL
September 11, 1992
The Honorable Ann Richards
Governor of Texas
State Capitol, Room 200
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
Re: Interstate Compacts Regarding Disposal of
Low-Level Radioactive Wastes
Dear Governor Richards:
I am writing in response to your letter in which you posed questions
pertaining to compact agreements with one or more states to dispose of those
states' low-level radioactive wastes.
I cannot, of course, recommend any procedure which would allow Texas to
become a "dumping ground" for the radioactive waste of any other state.
There is a reasonable basis for a legal prediction that, in the absence of a
compact, Texas can successfully provide for disposal of low-level radioactive
waste generated in Texas, without sacrificing our ability to exclude out-of-state
waste.
As a matter of sound public policy, each state, if not each locality, should take
care of its residents' wastes within its own borders. Only in this manner will
we all become educated about the wisdom of minimizing waste generation in
the first place, and recycling and detoxifying wastes as much as possible.
You and I share a belief that our first obligation is to the citizens of Texas
Until such time as pending questions concerning the appropriateness of our
state’s participation in a compact are resolved, this office will not endorse
such a proposal.
Very best wishes.
Based on the evidence, the
historical commission asked
MERCO to comb up to 40,000
acres set aside for sludge spread-
ing and protect valuable finds
before heavy machinery scours
the land.
MERCO is spreading 100 tons
of sludge a day under a $168 mil-
lion, six-year contract with New
York. The company’s ranch is
outside Sierra Blanca, about 90
miles east of El Paso.
Bruseth said MERCO offered
to do a 90-day survey of the
ranch and produce a short re-
port — of four to five pages
on the findings. He said that is
"woefully inadequate.”
"You can’t do anything in 90
days," he said. “It takes time to
gear up and identify sites on
that much land, and then you
have to have an ongoing study.”
'Bruseth said maps of the 1973
survey, which covered only part
of the land, show a few Indian
sites in areas now planned for
sludge spreading.
But MERCO is confident its
research by archaeologists with
Batcho & Kauffman of El Paso
and Las Cruces, will identify any
significant ruins, Sybert said.
Company officials could not
be reached for comment.
"We’ve found rock art and
cave-type shelters in the moun-
tains that the archaeological
team said are still in pristine
condition. The application areas
aren’t even near there,” she said.
Ranch managers are checking
the land for Indian sites before
sludge is spread. Sybert said *>
that, if any are found, "we’ll just
flag them and go around them. It
doesn’t take any particular extra
effort to do that."
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Lynch, Mary Louise. Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1992, newspaper, November 20, 1992; Dell City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1602385/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .