West Texas' Loving County hopes to store nuclear waste

Video: Andrews County gets radioactive waste

SAN ANTONIO - A family in Loving County, which amounts to a quarter of the voters in the least populous county in Texas, is torn on whether to store toxic waste in return for hundreds of millions of federal dollars.

County Judge Skeet Jones has lobbied the 95 people who live in the county, many in his own family, as well as state lawmakers, to support housing radioactive material on about 400 acres in the 668-square-mile West Texas county, which would require local, state and federal legislation.

"With the money that this would generate for the county, we might even be able to pay the taxpayers back," Jones told The New York Times. "We could build some roads. We could bring in some more water. We could have a town that's incorporated, have a city council, maybe even start a school... Maybe even have a Walmart."

However, Elgin R. Jones, who was sheriff in Loving County from 1965 to 1992 and is Skeet Jones' father, is vehemently opposed to the idea of storing the spent fuel from nuclear reactors.

Skeet Jones, a county judge, at the courthouse in Mentone, Texas, July 9, 2014. Loving County is big, dry, stretches for miles and is the perfect place to store high-level radioactive waste, say local officials, who hope to entice the federal government - with $28 billion to spend on disposal - into considering the possibility. Jones says that with the money, "We could build some roads. We could bring in some more water. We could have a town that's incorporated, have a city council, maybe even start a school." less Skeet Jones, a county judge, at the courthouse in Mentone, Texas, July 9, 2014. Loving County is big, dry, stretches for miles and is the perfect place to store high-level radioactive waste, say local ... more Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, New York Times Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, New York Times Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close West Texas' Loving County hopes to store nuclear waste 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

"It's going to be a problem, and some people are going to get hurt," Elgin Jones told The New York Times. "They shouldn't be dumping (the toxic waste) out here, where there's not many people, because they know there going to have some accidents."

Skeet Jones told The Associated Press that county commissioners were wary about storing the nuclear waste when he first mentioned the idea last year.

"When we first mentioned it there was a little hypertension," said Jones. "After we learned how it'd be taken care of, the benefit of having one is much greater than the risk that's involved."

The spent fuel would be kept in aboveground dry casks, according to The New York Times.

Loving County is not the only community in the area vying for the toxic waste. Eddy and Lea Counties, just across the border from Loving County in New Mexico, have mentioned interest in hosting the spent fuel.

Andrews County, about 100 miles east of Loving County near Midland, began storing nuclear waste in April after the Texas Legislature approved the facility, operated by Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists.

The county will receive $8.8 million to store the waste for up to a year, according to The Texas Tribune.

kparker@express-news.net

Twitter: @KoltenParker