Contran Corp

simmons

—Harold Simmons, 80, gave $100,000 following an earlier $100,000 donation in January. He also gave $100,000 last month to Winning Our Future, the super PAC supporting Gingrich; his wife, Annette, gave $1 million to the Red, White and Blue Fund. A billionaire, Simmons was the top benefactor for Rove's group, providing $12 million between his personal checkbook and the coffers of Texas-based Contran Corp., a holding company with interests including chemicals and waste management.

=But a moral question continues to hang in the air. If, as Kennedy put it, even the appearance of quid quo pro must be avoided to uphold trust in democracy, does the light shone on the modern American way of staging elections by the John Doe files leaked to the Guardian give cause for public concern?<h2 style="margin: 0.8em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The lead paint mystery</h2>The strange case of lead paint might help answer that question. Lead, as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/28/lead-drinking-water-level-nrdc-report-flint-crisis" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">terrible events</a> of Flint, Michigan, have shown, is a potent poison that can seriously impair the intellectual ability of young children. The Flint health crisis was caused by contaminated water, but another peril to public health is the presence of the toxin in household paint before 1978, when it was banned in the US.The John Doe files reveal that the billionaire owner of NL Industries, one of America's leading producers of lead used in paint until the ban, secretly donated $750,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth at a time when Walker and his fellow Republican senators were fighting their recall elections. Also in the same time-frame, the Republican-controlled senate passed, and Walker signed into law, legal changes that attempted to grant effective immunity to lead manufacturers from any compensation claims for lead paint poisoning.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: auto;"><pre class="rtecenter" data-ascii="simmons" style="text-align: center;">
</pre><div class="rtecenter" style="text-align: center;">HAROLD SIMMONS</div><div class="rtecenter" style="text-align: center;">OWNER, NL INDUSTRIES'</div></div>Since the laws were passed, the federal courts have stepped in and <a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/appeals-court-reinstates-wisconsin-lead-paint-suit-b99317605z1-268494482.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">overturned</a><a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/news/304161421.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">key</a><a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/news/304161421.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"> elements</a> of them, leaving NL Industries – or National Lead Company as it was once known – still facing many legal challenges. But the point remains: had the new provisions been allowed to stand, they had the potential to save the company and others like it millions of dollars in damages.Lawyers working on the lawsuits argue that at stake were the rights of hundreds of children from poor urban areas whose lives were devastated by lead poisoning inhaled from paint when they were growing up. “These children were perfectly innocent. They entered life with all the gifts and health that God gave them and were devastated by this neurotoxin,” said Peter Earle, the principal attorney on 171 cases that are currently ongoing against NL Industries and other former manufacturers of lead paint.The owner of NL Industries, Harold Simmons, made the<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p5" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">undisclosed</a><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p5" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"> payments to WCfG</a> in three tranches between April 2011 and January 2012, precisely when the GOP senators and then Walker were facing a fight-to-the-death at the ballot box.Simmons, who died a year after Walker won his recall election, was a prominent funder of rightwing causes who, along with Donald Trump, was <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-18/news/mn-12355_1_contribution-limits" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">reprimanded</a> by the Federal Election Commission in the 1990s for exceeding legal limits of political campaign contributions. He <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?ein=201041228&cycle=2004" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">bankrolled with $3m</a> the notorious Swift Boat smear campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election that erroneously questioned the current secretary of state's Vietnam war record.Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature made an initial attempt to change the law on the liability of lead paint producers shortly after Walker became governor. As the name implied, Act 2 was one of his opening gambits that he rammed through the legislature in less than a month after he came to office in January 2011.One of Act 2's key provisions was to tighten tort law to make it much more difficult for lead victims to sue. Under its terms, anyone injured by lead paint who wanted to issue a new lawsuit had to prove that the company they were taking on was responsible for making the specific paint that was on their walls at the time they inhaled the toxin – a practically impossible task given the number of different manufacturers and the layer-upon-layer of paint on the walls of old houses.The measure in effect granted immunity to NL Industries and other lead producers from any new claims for compensation.Less than three months after the law was enacted, Simmons arranged for the <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p5" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">first and largest check</a> – of $500,000 – to be paid directly from Contran Corporation, his business empire, to Wisconsin Club for Growth. It landed at the time that the six senators were in their recall battles.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: auto;"><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p5" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"><img data="" src="https://movetoamend.org/sites/default/files/u625/screen_shot_2016-09-15_at_1.07.35_pm.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; width: 614px;" /></a><div><div style="margin-left: 5px;"> </div></div></div>Later that year, Walker's interest in soliciting more money from Simmons for use in his own personal recall election is made plain in an email among the John Doe files dated 14 November 2011. It was written by Keith Gilkes, Walker's then senior campaign adviser.The email was sent just one day before opponents of the governor formally triggered the recall procedure, putting Walker's job on the line. Gilkes rehearsed the names of several wealthy donors to hit up for donations, singling out Simmons and<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p61/a317549" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">“Sheldon</a><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p61/a317549" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"> Aldenhouse”</a>, presumably a garbling of the name of Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate who later<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p74/a317508" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">donated</a><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p74/a317508" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"> $200,000</a> to bolster Walker's recall chances.The Gilkes memo sets out for Walker some of the “red flags” associated with Simmons and other potential corporate donors “so you are aware of what you might need to defend in terms of contributions from donors when these are disclosed”. He<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p72/a317550" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">warns</a><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105984-2012-08-14-Exhibits-01-100-PT1.html#document/p72/a317550" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"> Walker</a> that Simmons had a controversial track record for reportedly dumping toxic waste in Texas. Gilkes pointed to <a href="http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2010/february/harold-simmons-is-dallas-most-evil-genius/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">an article</a> by Dallas Magazine in which the billionaire was dubbed “Dallas' most evil genius”. The memo also notes that Simmons avoided having to pay millions of dollars in damages to pay for medical treatment for child victims of lead poisoning in Wisconsin's largest city Milwaukee after an appeals court cleared NL Industries of causing a public nuisance and dismissed a lawsuit brought by the city for <a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/35084654.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">$52.6m</a>.The leaked John Doe files do not record what conclusion Walker and his chief adviser reached about Simmons when they discussed him as a potential donor. What the documents do reveal is that only a month later, a <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p6" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">second corporate check</a>from Contran Corporation for $100,000 was sent to WCfG.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: auto;"><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p6" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"><img data="" src="https://movetoamend.org/sites/default/files/u625/screen_shot_2016-09-15_at_1.08.41_pm.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; width: 614px;" /></a><div><div style="margin-left: 5px;"> </div></div></div>The third and final <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p6" target="blank" title="Guardian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">check from Simmons</a> for $150,000, also made out to WCfG, was cut the following month from his own personal account.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: auto;"><a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3105164-Corporate-Checks-Sanitized.html#document/p6" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;"><img data="" src="https://movetoamend.org/sites/default/files/u625/screen_shot_2016-09-15_at_1.10.47_pm.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; width: 614px;" /></a><div><div style="margin-left: 5px;"> </div></div></div>At this point, the Wisconsin legislature and Governor Walker made a renewed pitch to change the law to the benefit of NL Industries and other historic manufacturers of lead paint. They had already passed Act 2, but that only covered new claims, leaving the company still facing a mountain of lawsuits that were already ongoing.So the legislators had another go. In the same month as the third check landed, senate Republicans introduced a bill that would make the effective immunity for former lead paint manufacturers retroactive, thereby scuppering all existing lawsuits.That attempt failed to pass the Wisconsin legislature. But even then the Republican group did not give up. In 2013, after all the recall elections had been fought and won, partly with the benefit of Harold Simmons' support, the legislators tried one more time to pass a bill making the immunity retroactive.They did so with a great deal of encouragement from NL Industries. Earle, the lawyer acting for victims, has discovered under freedom of information laws that the firm employed a professional lobbyists for <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3036372-GAB-Lobbying-Summary-Table.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">330 hours</a>, at a cost of $172,500, to persuade the Wisconsin legislature to pass the retroactive immunity bill.Another <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3036374-EP-Memo.html#document/p5/a316185" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">Foia document</a> shows that NL Industries' lobbyist directly suggested to the Republican leader in the state senate the language that should be added to existing law to make the effective immunity retroactive. The lobbyist encouraged the Republicans to write four words into an amendment that would apply the new immunity protections to all negligence lawsuits “whenever filed or accrued”.Two months later GOP senators slipped into a <a href="http://www.twincities.com/2013/06/06/wisconsin-civil-litigation-provision-angers-attorney-pursuing-lead-paint-claims/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">budget bill</a> an amendment that contained the same four words proposed by NL Industries: “whenever filed or accrued”. The amendment was introduced after midnight just before the bill was finalized. It can be found by anyone who looks hard enough on <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3036359-Exhibit-8-2013-WI-Act-20-Biennial-Budget.html#document/p548/a316191" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">page 548 of a 603-page bill</a> that Scott Walker duly signed into law.NL Industries used the amendment to press for dismissal of the negligence lawsuits it was facing. But the move failed. A federal appeals court stepped in and ruled that such a retroactive granting of corporate immunity was a violation of the US constitution.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: auto;"><div class="rtecenter" style="text-align: center;">
</div></div>It is perhaps worth asking what it would have meant for the victims had the amendment stood. Victims like Yasmine Clark, one of the plaintiffs. She suffered such severe poisoning from lead inhaled from residential paint in her home in Milwaukee that she was hospitalized twice, when she was two years old and again when she was five.When she was at rock bottom, Clark was found to have a lead level in her blood of <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3036375-Mushak-Report-3-13-10-Copy-1.html#document/p6/a316189" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(26, 76, 127); text-decoration: none;">48 micrograms per deciliter</a> and had to undergo chelation therapy to remove the toxins. To give a sense of what that meant, doctors in Flint, Michigan, sounded the alarm after children were found to have levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter from polluted water supplies – about one-tenth of Clark's concentration.Clark's negligence suit, and 170 other cases like hers, are still ongoing against NL Industries and other former manufacturers of lead pigment paint. “They haven't been able to shut me down,” Earle said.“Yasmine is a victim of egregiously vindictive behavior by these corporations,” the lawyer said. “The idea of freedom in the US is that no matter how poor you are you have the opportunity to surmount those disadvantages, and these lead companies took that opportunity away from her.”As for Scott Walker, Earle said: “The governor has chosen to ignore the children and instead fought tooth and nail for the corporations that did this. I don't have words to describe that conduct.”Scott Walker's campaign did not respond to Guardian questions relating to its relationship with NL Industries. NL Industries itself, and Contran Corporation, did not respond to numerous invitations to comment.As researchers pore over the Guardian's leaked John Doe files, seeking light amid the darkness of today's political process, they may ponder the lead paint mystery. There is no evidence that Wisconsin Republicans led by Scott Walker attempted to change the law as a favor in return for Simmons' $750,000 donation that had helped some of them win their own elections and stay in office. No charges have ever been brought.But is there even the slightest appearance of quid pro quo? And if potentially there is, should that be a matter that the American people care about? Give the last words to Donald Trump, the presidential nominee of Scott Walker's Grand Old Party: “When you give to them, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”

Critics of the facility have claimed that millions in donations by Harold Simmons (Owner of WCS) to Texas Governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry" title="Rick Perry">Rick Perry</a> and other politicians were used to persuade support for the controversial project. The individuals that licensed the facility at TCEQ and the individuals that had aquifer maps redrawn to allow the facility were appointed by Governor Perry. Members of the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission which voted to expand the facility were also appointed by Governor Perry. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-7">[8]</a> Critics also cite WCS' safety record after losing a 22-ton shipment in 2001 for almost a month.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-8">[9]</a> The company was fined in 2004 & 2005 for a string of incidents including an employee improperly releasing radioactive material by flushing it down a toilet. The company agreed to pay $161,000 in fines.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-9">[10]</a>

---

bs: Contran is a holding company that owns stakes of varying sizes in subsidiaries, including the largest,  Valhi, Inc.  (a publicly traded company about 95% controlled by Contran). Primarily through Valhi, the company has stakes in diversified operations in chemicals ( NL Industries  and  Kronos Worldwide ); metals ( Titanium Metals Corporation ); waste management (Waste Control Specialists); and computer support systems,  precision ball bearing slides, and security products ( CompX International ). Contran also holds a controlling interest in  Keystone Consolidated Industries , a maker of fencing and wire products. Trusts benefiting chairman Harold Simmons' family (with Simmons as the sole trustee) own 95% of Contran.

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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading">Waste Control Specialists</h1>

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<table class="infobox vcard" cellspacing="5" style=" width: 22em;"><caption class="fn org">Waste Control Specialists</caption><tbody><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_business_entity" title="Types of business entity" class="mw-redirect">Type</a></th><td class="category"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_company" title="Private company" class="mw-redirect">Private</a></td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Industry</th><td class="category">Nuclear Materials</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Founded</th><td class="">1989</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Headquarters</th><td class="label"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas,_Texas" title="Dallas, Texas" class="mw-redirect">Dallas, Texas</a></td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Key people</th><td class="agent">

Harold Simmons, Owner Rodney A. Baltzer, CEO

William J. Lindquist, CFO</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Employees</th><td class="">155</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style=" text-align: left;">Website</th><td class=""><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com//">www.wcstexas.com</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Waste Control Specialists is a treatment, storage, & disposal facility for radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes. The company, owned by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Simmons" title="Harold Simmons">Harold Simmons</a>, is headquartered in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas,_Texas" title="Dallas, Texas" class="mw-redirect">Dallas, Texas</a>. The company was licensed for disposal of low level radioactive waste in 2009, and held a grand opening event in November of 2011.

Waste Control Specialists LLC

Founded in 1989 as a landfill, Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS) is a waste processing and disposal company that operates a fully permitted 1,338-acre treatment, storage and disposal facility near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrews,_Texas" title="Andrews, Texas">Andrews, Texas</a>. It is located in an area known as "nuclear alley" which also includes the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Enrichment_Facility" title="National Enrichment Facility">National Enrichment Facility</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Isolation_Pilot_Plant" title="Waste Isolation Pilot Plant">Waste Isolation Pilot Plant</a>.

WCS is a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc., with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas. Valhi, Inc. is publicly traded on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NYSE" title="NYSE" class="mw-redirect">NYSE</a> under the ticker VHI.

WCS’ facility in western <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrews_County" title="Andrews County" class="mw-redirect">Andrews County</a> is the only commercial facility in the United States licensed in more than 30 years to dispose of Class A, B and C low-level radioactive waste. It is also licensed for the treatment and storage of low-level radioactive waste – and has served as a temporary storage facility for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-0">[1]</a>

WCS met all operating guidelines established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-1">[2]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCEQ" title="TCEQ" class="mw-redirect">TCEQ</a> Executive Director (August 2004 to June 2008), Glenn Shankle, later became a lobbyist for WCS. State records indicate he earned as much as $149,999 per year from WCS.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-2">[3]</a>

The plant is located 5 miles east of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice,_New_Mexico" title="Eunice, New Mexico">Eunice, New Mexico</a>, and 35 miles west of Andrews.

After WCS drilled almost 600 wells to document the hydrogeology of the site, the state of Texas determined the WCS facility does not sit above or adjacent to any underground drinking water formations. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Texas_Water_Development_Board&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Texas Water Development Board (page does not exist)">Texas Water Development Board</a> changed maps that previously indicated the site lay above the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer" title="Ogallala Aquifer">Ogallala Aquifer</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-3">[4]</a>

The WCS facility also is the site of the disposal facility for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact, and most recently was the site of the successful storage and disposal of byproduct material from the DOE <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernald,_Ohio" title="Fernald, Ohio" class="mw-redirect">Fernald, Ohio</a> cleanup site. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-4">[5]</a> In 2011 a vote was held by the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission that will allow WCS to import waste from 36 other states across the US. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-5">[6]</a>

Disposal of low-level radioactive waste will be in concrete containers buried 30 to 100 feet below the surface in lined cells in the red bed clay formations. Space between the containers will be grouted to prevent shifting and to preserve the integrity of the containers. As the cells are filled, they will be covered by more than 300 feet of liner material and red bed clay and the surface will be restored to its natural state.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_note-6">[7]</a>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-0">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com/">"Waste Control Specialists"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com">the original</a> on 2010-08-19. "WCS is now the only facility in the United States licensed in the last 30 years, to dispose of Class A, B, and C low level radio active waste."</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-1">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com/PDF_downloads/01-19-10%20%20BP%20Amendment%2004.pdf">"Radio Active Material License"</a> (PDF). Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com/PDF_downloads/01-19-10%20%20BP%20Amendment%2004.pdf">the original</a> on January, 2010. Retrieved 2009-11-17. "Radio Active Materials License"</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-2">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/tedd/lobcon2009d.htm">"Texas Ethics Commission Archive"</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-3">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6075/how_does_your_water_glow/">"How Does Your Water Glow?"</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-4">^{</a></span}> Fischer, Timothy. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/ohio/OH6890008976.htm">"US EPA Feild Production Center"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/ohio/OH6890008976.htm">the original</a> on January, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-19. "WCS is now the only facility in the United States licensed in the last 30 years, to dispose of Class A, B, and C low level radio active waste."</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-5">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.texassolution.com/documents/Senate%20approves%20bringing%20in%20more%20radioactive%20waste.pdf?nxd_id=98546">"Senate Approves Bringing In More Radioactive Waste"</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-6">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com/">"Waste Control Specialists"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wcstexas.com">the original</a> on 2010-08-19. "WCS is now the only facility in the United States licensed in the last 30 years, to dispose of Class A, B, and C low level radio active waste."</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-7">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140506401/perry-donors-radioactive-waste-site-deal-scrutinized">"Perry Donor's Radioactive Waste Site Deal Scrutinized"</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Control_Specialists#cite_ref-8">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://texas.sierraclub.org/radwaste/highway.asp">"Coming Soon To A Highway Near You"</a>.</li>

</ol>

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----

Tue Sep 06, 2011 at 11:01 AM PDT

<h2><a id="titleHref" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/06/1013970/-Perry-accepts-1-mill-bribe-to-turn-TX-into-a-nuke-waste-dump">Perry accepts $1 mill bribe to turn TX into a nuke waste dump</a></h2>

by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/Old%20Redneck">Old Redneck</a><a class="type-user do-hotlist do-updateContent size-tiny off altTooltip ajaxON" alt="Follow this author" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/06/1013970/-Perry-accepts-1-mill-bribe-to-turn-TX-into-a-nuke-waste-dump#?friend_id=127881&is_stream=1">Follow</a>

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</div>

Here's the short version:  Over at her blog, Malia Litman lays out the details of:

--  how Rick Perry allowed a nuclear waste dump to be set up in West Texas near the New Mexico border; and,

-- how the guy whose company will operate the dump donated around $1,000,000 to Perry's campaigns; and,

-- how the corporation running the waste dump has NO LIABILITY if anything goes wrong; and,

-- how things already are going wrong.

<a href="http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/the-texas-nuclear-waste-dump-is-worse-than-you-knew/">Read the full story here</a>, highlights below the fold.

This needs to go viral.

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Here are quotes -- lots of quotes -- from Malia Litman's blog piece on Perry's nuke waste dump.

Since Rick Perry announced his decision to run for President, the internet has been filled with multiple examples of corruption and unethical behavior of Mr. Perry. One of the more memorable examples of corruption in the Rick Perry administration is the nuclear waste dump which has been approved by appointees of Perry to the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission.  Here are the undisputed facts:

1. The Commission has approved a landfill south of Austin, and right at the border between Texas and New Mexico,  which will receive nuclear waste from 36 states.

2. Waste Control Specialists LLC is the company who is building the landfill and will receive millions of dollars in revenue from accepting the nuclear waste.

3. Harold Simmons is a billionaire, and the owner of Waste Control Specialists, LLC.

4. An LLC is a limited liability company, which means in the absence of fraud a court will not find the owners of the company liable. Thus, even if the owners and operators of a LLC are negligent, there may be no legal way to hold them accountable for the damage or harm they cause.

5. Harold Simmons has donated over $1,000,000 to Rick Perry’s campaigns.

</blockquote>

I skipped over all the good stuff about how Perry packed the Texas state commission that gave the okay to the nuke waste dump -- go to Litman's blog for the whole story.

And now, for the best part:

<blockquote>8. The implications for Texas get even worse. The nuclear disposal site has earned six violations since 2004. Just last year the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a Notice of Violation to Waste Control Specialists for storage of a concrete canister filled with the hottest low-level radioactivity material beyond the 365 days allowed under a waste processing license.   Two years ago environmental commissioners signed off on an agreement for two violations and fined the company about $151,000. The site mismanaged hazardous waste near a rail-car unloading area and personnel failed to get authorization before letting radioactive material – including Plutonium 239 and Radium 226 – be released into the septic system inside a laboratory.

In a routine check at the site near Andrews, close to the New Mexico border, state inspectors also found cracks up to an inch wide on a 10-acre asphalt pad near where the canisters of radioactive material sit.

It seems the only thing the Waste Control Specialists LLC specializes in is increasing its wealth, ensuring the election of Rick Perry, and endangering the people of Texas and New Mexico.

</blockquote>

And the Texas miracle continues.

</div>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/Harold%20Simmons">Harold Simmons</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/nuclear%20waste%20dump">nuclear waste dump</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/rick%20perry">rick perry</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/Texas">Texas</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

===

<a id="anchor5" name="anchor5">New York Foundry Town to Get Lead Cleanup</a>

DEPEW, New York, November 3, 2004 (ENS) - Concentrations of toxic lead on residential properties near a 112 year old brass foundry in Depew, New York have tested more than four times the allowable levels. But 25 properties in the area are about to get a soil cleanup, and sampling is taking place on 10 more properties to see if cleanup is necessary.

On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed an agreement with NL Industries, Inc. to remove the lead contamination surrounding the NL Industries/Depew Superfund site.

The company will remove and dispose of lead contaminated soil from residential properties according to a consent order under the Superfund law.

"EPA will work with NL Industries to ensure that contaminated soil is removed in a safe and efficient manner," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane Kenny. "Our primary concern is the health of the residents, and we are directing our efforts toward getting the work started as soon as possible."

From 1892 until 1972, NL Industries owned and operated a 7.5 acre brass foundry on Walden Avenue in Depew. In 1974, NL industries sold the foundry to Anglo-Recycling Corporation. The facility's current owner is Norampac Industries, Inc.

Operations at the foundry resulted in contamination of soil located on the foundry property and on nearby residential properties. Contamination at the foundry is being addressed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation through agreements with Norampac Industries.

When NL Industries sampled soil on the nearby residential properties, tests showed lead at levels as high as 5,300 parts per million, more than four times what is allowed by federal law.

Under EPA standards, lead is considered a hazard if there are greater than 400 parts per million of lead in bare soil in children's play areas or 1,200 parts per million average for bare soil in the rest of the yard.

Lead exposure can harm young children and babies even before they are born, the EPA says. Even children who seem healthy can have high levels of lead in their bodies. Children take up lead by breathing or swallowing lead dust, or by eating soil containing lead.

NL Industries employees will meet with residents to obtain access to their properties, and to discuss the details of the cleanup which will begin in the spring.

Under the consent order, NL Industries must provide EPA with a detailed cleanup plan and schedule for agency review and approval prior to start of the work.

Following completion of the soil cleanup, the EPA will offer residents of the affected area an opportunity to have the interior living spaces of their homes sampled for lead to determine if indoor cleanups are necessary.

The EPA will oversee the work and NL Industries will reimburse the agency for its oversight costs. NL Industries, Inc., a publicly traded international chemical company, conducts its operations through its majority owned subsidiary, Kronos Worldwide, Inc.

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