Tiny Nordheim Proclaims Small Victory in Oilfield Waste Vote
With the eyes of Nordheim cast upon them, state regulators have granted new life — if just a breath — to the tiny South Texas town’s effort to thwart an oil and gas waste site that locals argue threatens their way of life.
The Texas Railroad Commission on Tuesday voted to delay final approval for a dump that would store more than a million cubic yards of waste — such as drill cuttings, oil-based muds, fracking sand and other toxic substances — just outside the boundaries of Nordheim, which has a population of about 300 and is a mile away from a school.
The town fears that pollutants would leach into groundwater, that winds would carry volatile compounds outside of the site and that heavy truck traffic would tear up roads.
Pyote Reclamation Systems of San Antonio, the site’s developer, insists its facility would be safe.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/15/tiny-nordheim-proclaims-small-victory-waste-vote/
Earlier threads:
Pit Stop: Nordheim inherits the waste, and few of the profits, from the South Texas oil boom November 7, 2014
Small South Texas town upset at prospect of oil and gas waste dump September 14, 2015