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Toxic chemical pollution threatens every American family
and every community. Over 6.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals
are released by industry into the nation's environment each
year, including nearly 100 million pounds of recognized carcinogens.
The Southern Plains region produced over 5.5 billion pounds
of toxic waste in the 2000, with over 4.6 billion pounds produced
in Texas alone.
Southern Plains Issues:
Nuclear Waste
Burial of Nuclear Waste
Transportation of Nuclear Waste
Superfund Sites
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Nuclear Waste
Coming soon... if you have comments or suggestions about what you'd
like to see here, let
us know!
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Burial of Nuclear Waste
Coming soon... if you have comments or suggestions about what you'd
like to see here, let
us know!
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Transportation of Nuclear Waste
- Yucca Mountain Transport Routes: The State of Nevada
provides a map of probable high-level nuclear waste transportation
routes to Yucca Mountain: the
map shows that all four Southern Plains states will be affected.
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Superfund Sites
Since the Superfund tax expired in 1995, industry has saved $10
billion by forcing citizen taxpayers to pay a greater share of toxic
waste site cleanup costs. The trust fund for clean-ups has been
reduced from a high of about $3.7 billion in fiscal year 1996, to
about $400 million in fiscal year 2002, according to EPA. The fund
is expected to be depleted by the end of the fiscal year in 2004.
EPA estimates that more than 112,000 sites still need to be cleaned
up. Cleaning up these toxic sites will require billions of dollars.
How should we pay for this? The answer is simple: reauthorize the
tax on corporate polluters. Preliminary estimates show that reinstating
the Superfund tax would generate $15 billion to $16 billion over
the next 10 years which is enough to cover the costs of cleanups
for the next decade.
- Superfund sites in your state: Factsheets and spreadsheets,
listing Superfund sites in y our state which would be affected
by budget cutbacks, where they are located, and what are their
environmental dangers are available for each state. Find
yours at the Sierra Club national site.
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