A billionaire wants your money for his radioactive waste dump!
Waste Control Specialists wants to make Andrews County the site for a major radioactive waste dump. And the company’s owner, Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons can’t find any investors. So, instead of reaching into his own pocket to finance his project, he wants to reach into yours for the $75 million he needs. This amount averages out to about $16,000 per Andrews County household.
As of right now, the dump will be taking "low level" radioactive waste. But once it is functional, Andrews County will be poised to become the nation's largest and perhaps one of the most deadly radioactive and hazardous waste dumps, mainly for nuclear power and weapons waste.
Even at this first phase, Harold Simmons expects to make a couple of hundred million dollars a year from this dump. If he wants it so bad, let him put up some of his own $3.9 billion
“I live pretty good. I've got a couple of airplanes and four homes. We've had a home near Santa Barbara, Calif., for about 20 years. We go out there about once a month for four or five days. We have a big estate in Montecito that we bought from (the actor) Gene Hackman. Oprah (Winfrey) lives a few miles away, and we're good buddies with her.”
- Harold Simmons, quoted in the Dallas Business Journal, 8/11/06