Following up on my previous post about sludge dumping in Sierra Blanca Texas: Bush Romances Atom in Texas –

[A]ggressive efforts by lobbyists representing Governor Bush worked with the utility industry to successfully push through federal legislation that could make Texas the largest low-level radioactive waste dumpsite in the country.

When George W. Bush was inaugurated as Texas Governor in 1995, one of the first federal initiatives he undertook on behalf of Texas industry was attempting to pass federal legislation creating the Texas-Maine-Vermont radioactive waste compact to fund construction of a radioactive waste dump in the small Texas border town Sierra Blanca.
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Environmental Justice Case Study: The Struggle for Sierra Blanca, Texas Against A Low-Level Nuclear Waste Site –

In 1994, the states of Texas, Maine, and Vermont entered a compact allowing the disposal of low-level nuclear waste at a proposed Texas site. This creates the tenth such compact in the United States since 1980, when a Federal law was passed requiring states take responsibility for their low-level nuclear waste, urging cooperation. This compact demands both Maine and Vermont to pay Texas $25 million to build a disposal facility. Prior to becoming law, the compact first needed to gain Congressional approval. Following its approval on September 20, 1998, the compact then required the state of Texas to license the project before moving forward. October 22, 1998, Texas officials voted to deny the compact’s proposed site located just outside of Sierra Blanca.

Sierra Blanca, a small West Texas town over two-thirds Hispanic, already hosts Merco Joint Venture. This company is the town’s largest employer shipping over 400,000 tons of New York City sludge daily to a nearby ranch. Furthermore, Sierra Blanca is located only sixteen miles from the Mexico border, on top of an aquifer, and in an active Earthquake area. Residents, environmentalists, and community groups have made numerous cries of “environmental racism”, even filing a suit under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The groups have faced an uphill battle defending the town from becoming a nuclear disposal site. However, while the fight was won in Sierra Blanca, the compact is law and these states will seek an alternative site.

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Nuclear Information and Resource Center –

President Clinton Pulls the Trigger on Minority Community
Okays Sending Radioactive Waste to Texas Border Town

Wash., D.C. — On September 20, President Clinton violated the very spirit and letter of his own 1994 Executive order on Environmental Justice by signing the Texas/Maine/Vermont Radioactive Waste dump Compact (HR 629) into law. His signature traded the civil rights of the low-income, Mexican American people of Sierra Blanca, Texas for the nuclear power industry.

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According to Thomas @ the Library of Congress –

H.R.629
Title: To grant the consent of the Congress to the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact.
Sponsor: Rep Barton, Joe [TX-6] (introduced 2/6/1997) Cosponsors (23)
Related Bills: H.RES.258, H.RES.511, S.270
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 105-236 [GPO: Text, PDF]
House Reports: 105-181; Latest Conference Report: 105-630 (in Congressional Record H5724-5727)

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Norma Chavez campaign–

Chairwoman Chávez marches 4 days from El Paso to Sierra Blanca against the proposed Sierra Blanca Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility.

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Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club: Position Statement on Radioactive Waste

See also: Yucca Mountain