ML22139A144

5-19-22 Texas V. NRC - Fasken Standing Declarations (5th Cir.)(Case No. 21-60743)

ML22139A144
Person / Time
Site:	Consolidated Interim Storage Facility
Issue date:	05/19/2022
From:	Thomas Taylor Fasken Management
To:	NRC/OGC, US Federal Judiciary, Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
References
00516324941, 21-60743
Download: ML22139A144 (35)

Text

Exhibit A Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 4 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 5 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 6 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 7 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 8 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 9 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 10 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 11 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 12 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 13 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Exhibit B Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 14 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 15 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 16 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 17 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 18 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 19 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 20 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 21 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

$77$&+0(17$

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 22 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Exhibit C Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 23 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

1 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT STATE OF TEXAS; GREG ABBOTT, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF TEXAS; and TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Petitioners,

v.

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondents.

Case No. 21-60743 DECLARATION OF GRANT HUCKABAY

1. My name is Grant Huckabay and I have a degree in natural resource management, legal studies, and urban development. Since May 3, 2021, I have been employed by Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd. (Fasken), located at 6101 Holiday Hill Road, Midland, Texas 79707, as Health, Safety & Environmental Coordinator. I am duly authorized to execute this affidavit on behalf of Fasken.

2. I have personal knowledge of the information as stated herein.

3. Fasken presently has lands and mineral interests within eighteen miles of the Interim Storage Partners, LLC (ISP) consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) located in Andrews County, Texas. Fasken is a member of the Permian Basin Land Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 24 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

2 and Royalty Owners (PBLRO). PBLRO presently has lands and mineral interests throughout Andrews County, Texas, with the nearest member holding land and minerals within four miles of the proposed ISP CISF.

4. In my capacity as Faskens Health, Safety & Environmental Coordinator, my duties include primary management of all environmental policies, procedures, and programs for air, soil, and water concerns. My specific duties include coordination and oversight of all spill incidents, air permitting and air compliance, management of radiation issues, all regulatory interaction and notification, as well as management and oversight of environmental vendors. I have knowledge of, interpret, and prepare comments on and ensure compliance with all new and current federal, state, and local regulations under the U.S. Environmental Protection Act (EPA), the U.S.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and the State of New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (NMOCD), among others. Additionally, I monitor legislation, regulations and ensure compliance with any protected, threatened and endangered species and habitat program requirements. I also ensure compliance with all Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations

5. As part of my responsibilities at Fasken, I frequently travel in the vicinity of the ISP CISF along regional transportation infrastructure. I am generally familiar Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 25 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

3 with the natural resources of the area, including the air, geology, and soils throughout the Permian Basin Region and have personal knowledge of the geology and soils encompassing Faskens land and mineral interests in the vicinity of the ISP CISF.

6. The ISP CISF site is situated in the approximate geographic center of the Permian Basin Region. The Permian Basin produces the largest volume of oil and gas in North America and recently surpassed Saudi Arabia in petroleum production.

The Permian Basin region encompasses a relatively large region in Texas and southeastern New Mexico and has a population of more than half-a-million people.

7. The ISP CISF represents a threat to Faskens personnel, private property, real property, mineral and water interests, oil and gas leases, and agricultural interests. It also represents a threat to numerous communities throughout Texas and New Mexico.

8. The Permian Basin Region is comprised of fifty-five counties in west Texas, and south-eastern New Mexico. The counties in the Permian Basin considered to be most imminently threatened by the ISP CISF site include some of the most prolific oil producing counties, including Andrews, Crane, Dawson, Ector, Gaines, Glasscock, Howard, Loving, Martin, Midland, Reeves, Upton, Ward, and Winkler Counties in Texas and Eddy and Lea Counties in New Mexico. These imminently threatened counties have a population of nearly 500,000 and a collective area of over 20,000 square miles in the Permian Basin. A radiological event within any of these Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 26 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

4 counties could be devastating to the nations oil and gas industry and would decimate the economies of Texas and New Mexico. By way of comparison, the 1,835 square mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone would compromise 13.2% of the highest oil producing region in the Americas, the Permian Basin.

9. Any pressurized release, dry cask rupture, explosion, or fire involving spent nuclear fuel will release radioactive particles and fragments into the air. This is a direct threat to both PBLRO members and Faskens personnel, private property, real property, oil and gas reserves and leases, as well as agricultural interests.

10. Currently, the closest Fasken oil and gas wells are approximately 18 miles due east of the ISP CISF (Fasken Monterrey University and Lowe University leases).

Dozens of other Fasken oil and gas wells are present in all directions from the site.

11. Faskens private property, the C-Ranch, begins 38 miles nearly due east (northwestern property line) of the site and continues south to the Midland city limits. This broad expanse of land has a high probability of receiving airborne radioactive contaminants from the ISP CISF as a result of typical wind patterns in the area.

12. Public data from the National Weather Service and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) indicates that regional winds around the ISP CISF blow to the southeast approximately 25% of the time on an annual basis. On average, the Permian Basin Region has higher winds than much of the rest of Texas Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 27 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

5 and the United States. According to the ISP application seeking a CISF license, the average windspeed is 11.0 miles per hour. It fails to account for the frequency of high-wind gusts in the area of the proposed CISF. In comparison Houston, Texas winds vary from 8.3 mph to 6.7 mph, depending on the season. Any release of radioactive material might arrive in the Midland-Odessa metropolitan area (with a population of more than 260,000) in a matter of hours with no warning. The most dominant direction of wind is from south to north, placing the town of Hobbs, New Mexico (population 38,000), which is less than 20 miles away from the proposed ISP CISF, in direct danger in the event of a release. Also, imminently threatened is the town of Eunice, New Mexico (population 2,900), which is approximately 5 miles from the proposed site.

13. The broader perspective is that the Permian Basin Regions winds are highly variable and change direction frequently throughout a given day. With the ISP CISF sites geographically central location in the Permian Basin, any release carried by winds in any direction risks contaminating large areas of the most productive oil and gas region in North America. Depending on wind direction and speed, hundreds of thousands of people could be affected, including personnel of Fasken and other members of PBLRO.

14. And any radiological incident in the Permian Basin poses a serious threat to regional industries and economies. A Department of Energy Report found that an Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 28 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

6 accident involving only one dry cask where only a small amount of waste was released in a rural setting would contaminate a 42-square mile area with clean-up costs exceeding $620 million dollars. A similar release in an urban setting might cost

$9.5 billion per square mile.

15. The ISP CISF is also a direct threat to regional groundwater usage. Several aquifers or geologic formations containing groundwater exist in Andrews County, including the Ogallala aquifer with potable water, shown to be present and at a great thickness beneath the ISP site itself.

16. Water usage from wells near the ISP site are from the Ogalla / Antler /

Gatuna aquifers and are crucial for domestic stock, irrigation, and commercial purposes, including the operations of Fasken and other members of PBLRO.

17. Any threat of radiological contamination of these important water resources poses a threat to regional land uses, a threat to the assets and property value of Fasken and PBLRO members a threat to ongoing regional industry operations generally, as well as threats to the environment and health and safety of nearby residents and those working or traveling through the area. Knowing that any radiological contamination would be virtually impossible to recover and would continue to emit radiation for decades until the half-lives are expended, those threats and adverse health, safety and environmental impacts could last for decades.

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 29 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

7

18. Without proper groundwater monitoring, the ISP CISF poses unacceptable and imminent threats to the environment, the health and safety of water supplies to nearby communities and extensive industry operations.

19. In addition to the presence of groundwater in the subsurface directly below and in the vicinity of the ISP CISF site, the location is also situated over Permian aged halite formations (rock salt) and other easily dissolved evaporite mineral formations leading to the potential for substantial ground movement issues, sinkhole formation and subsurface instability. For example, there is historical evidence of extensive sinkhole formation in the Permian Basin Region, including the very well known "Wink Sinks" outside of Wink, Texas, a large area of subsidence beneath the city in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and sinkholes and karst features north and east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. There are also numerous documented ground movement issues in Pecos, Crane, Monahans, Imperial, and Kermit, Texas where shipments of spent nuclear fuel will travel on over-sized railcars to the ISP CISF and share rail lines with the transport of oil and gas industry materials.

20. The WCS/ISP facility is located within 26,000 square miles of the Salado Salt Formation that is replete with surface salt lakes and salt formation outcrops that critically contain magnesium chloride salts (MgCI2) that are the most reactive salt species for the induction and propagation of Chloride induced stress corrosion cracking (CI-SCC). The proposed CISF location is increasingly experiencing the Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 30 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

8 haboob sandstorm phenomena that translocate tons of surface sediments for tens of miles. The historical paths of haboobs have included sweeping storms across the Salado surface salt flats in eastern New Mexico and West Texas.

21. Additionally, persistent fog and mist conditions are prevalent during the fall and winter in this region of the country. When combined, a single salt deposition event from a haboob, along with a sufficient amount of fog/mist event, could easily create the conditions that would initiate CI-SCC.

22. CI-SCC poses a critical and imminent threat to the integrity of canisters and increases the potential for radiological contamination and radiation in the region.

In the NRC draft report, Identification and Prioritization of the Technical Information Needs Affecting Potential Regulation of Extended Storage and Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel, the federal government recognizes the potential risk for monitoring dry casks and the pitting and crevice corrosion of the stainless steel canisters, which affect the safety functions of confinement, criticality, retrievability (of fuel from the dry storage canister), shielding (of radiation from people and the environment), and thermal (degradation of the fuel, potentially leading to fuel fires).

23. I personally travel in the region of the ISP CISF as part of my responsibilities at Fasken. The area around the ISP CISF site is still under active exploration and active production. Within a 10-mile radius of the site, there have been a total of 4,947 Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 31 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

9 well bores drilled in Texas and New Mexico. Presently 3,656 of these well bores are still in production. 905 wells are shown as a dry hole. Of the total of nearly five thousand wells within ten miles of the facility, only 386 have been recorded as permanently plugged and abandoned. Regardless of the current volume of oil produced within the vicinity of the proposed ISP site, there are hundreds of active oil and gas wells, tank batteries, gas plants, and other petroleum production facilities within reasonable vicinity of the site, each requiring frequent and regular visits from personnel for maintenance and monitoring. Some facilities, such as gas plants, are staffed 24-hours a day, seven days a week. I have concerns for personnel of Fasken and personnel of other members of PBLRO, who by the very nature of their profession will be in close proximity to the ISP CISF and be exposed to doses of radiation.

24. State Highway 176 serves as a main motor vehicle access to the ISP site. It is also a major artery for the travel of both private citizens and oil and gas industry traffic, including Fasken and PBLRO personnel in the region. I personally utilize State Highway 176 routinely for projects relating to my responsibilities at Fasken, which include monitoring the several dozen wells that Fasken operates in the area, and for personal reasons. At present, State Highway 176 between Andrews and Eunice is completing a widening project to accommodate the large volume of heavy oil industry traffic that utilizes this regional highway and Fasken is contributing land Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 32 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

10 to accommodate an overpass at the intersection of State Highways 176 and 1788 in Andrews County, Texas.

25. I have personal knowledge of the use of regional rail lines and can attest that the rail transport of oil commodities is the most prevalent in this region with the second highest use of regional rail lines being agricultural commodities. It is a risk to share these same regional rail lines with nuclear waste destined for the ISP CISF, as any delay or disruption in rail transport caused by said waste would devastate the oil and agricultural industry. I have personal knowledge of studies that show that even one 24-hour period of interruption of rail transport would cost millions of dollars in losses to the oil and agricultural industries.

26. I also have concerns about the ISP CISFs adverse impacts and threats to the surrounding environment. The ISP CISF site is entirely within the known range of the Dune Sage Brush Lizard and a portion of the site lies within the known range of the Lesser Prairie Chicken. I have personal knowledge of the extensive conservation efforts in both Texas and New Mexico by the oil and gas and ranching industries, including Fasken and other members of the PBLRO, with respect to the Dune Sage Brush Lizard and the Lesser Prairie Chicken. Specifically, participation in conservation programs has prevented both species from being currently listed as endangered. Fasken is an active participant in conservation programs for these and other species that will be threatened by the ISP CISF. The Lesser Prairie Chicken in Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 33 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

11 particular is highly sensitive to surface disturbances such as construction activities, fences, power lines, and permanent structures that will be placed in and around the ISP CISF site. The failure of the NRC to participate in conservation programs and engage the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on this matter is an offense to state and federal regulations.

27. Any release of radioactive material or any amount of radiation or contamination to the environment will become a direct threat to the survivability of both species, as well as the Texas Horned Lizard, which is protected under Texas law and is the State reptile.

28. The ISP CISF also poses an imminent threat to surrounding playas, which according to Texas Parks and Wildlife, serve as the most important wetland habitat for waterfowl. Playas are a direct connection to groundwater and nexus for contamination from the surface to groundwater beneath the ISP CISF site, which could decimate known and historic migrating bird populations. The ISP CISF lacks proper identification of playas and recharge to aquifers and without proper conservation practices in place, will further harm important butterflies and pollinators vital to regional ecosystems.

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 34 Date Filed: 05/19/2022

Case: 21-60743 Document: 00516324941 Page: 35 Date Filed: 05/19/2022