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- NATION, Page 53American NotesTEXASNot in My Backyard
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- As much as Texans like to brag, their state has one
- distinction that few are proud of: it is the nation's leading
- producer of hazardous waste. Some 11,000 Texas businesses
- generate 70 million tons of the stuff annually. But last week
- Texas became the first state to ban temporarily the development
- of new commercial disposal sites for such waste and to stop the
- expansion of existing ones. "No more will hazardous-waste
- facilities be rammed through the permit process over the
- objections of local communities," said Governor Ann Richards.
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- areas."
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- Last year the U.S. produced an estimated 350 million tons
- of hazardous waste, and the disposal industry generated about
- $4 billion in revenues. The Texas decision highlights the
- nation's growing concern about how to balance industry's needs
- with the environmental impact of waste disposal. Alabama, New
- York, and North and South Carolina are also debating their
- policies on hazardous waste.
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