County clarifies borehole support

The Quay County Commission approved on a resolution to clarify its withdrawal of support for a borehole project in a 2-1 vote Monday during the county commission meeting.

The borehole project is designed to test whether the three-foot-deep boreholes are a possible solution to permanent storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste, such as spent fuel from nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons manufacturing.

The commission withdrew its October resolution supporting the project on Feb. 13 after two meetings that were attended by hundreds of opponents to the project. Residents of Nara Visa and their supporters suspect that nuclear waste could be buried in the Nara Visa borehole, despite reassurances to the contrary from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the companies who are bidding for the contract from the DOE to dig the borehole.

Enercon, based in Atlanta, Georgia, with an office in Albuquerque, and DOSECC Core Drilling Services of Salt Lake City, Utah, are the companies who are seeking the DOE bid for the borehole project.

District 3 Commissioner Franklin McCasland proposed the clarification resolution enacted Monday, saying he wanted to make sure the commission’s withdrawal of support for the borehole project did not imply it would disapprove of other projects, such as solar and wind energy developments.

“We want people to look at this and see we support this kind of energy,” he said, adding that the borehole project “did not have the support of the community.”

District 1 Commissioner Sue Dowell voted to support the clarification.

“I think it’s important we make clear to the Department of Energy what our intention was,” she said.

District 2 Commissioner Mike Cherry voted against the clarification.

The lack of community support for the borehole project, he said, was why he voted to rescind commission support for the borehole project, adding that the action requires no further clarification.

Besides, Cherry said, in the absence of zoning that would prohibit the borehole project, it should be a matter between the testing and drilling companies, the DOE and the landowner.