Judge Refuses to Block Nuclear Waste Dump

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A federal judge has refused to block Tuesdays’ vote on whether to dump more radioactive waste near the West Texas town of Andrews.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by environmentalists and a ruling by a state district judge to stop a proposal to allow three dozen states to put their radioactive waste in Texas.

The dump owned by Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists currently only accepts waste from Texas, Vermont and the federal government.

The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Andrews to consider expanding how much waste could be processed.

Environmentalists argued the commission didn’t follow proper public comment rules and published a bad e-mail address to accept comments.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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