ANDREWS, Texas — Out in Andrews County, precinct one commissioner Kerry Pack is looking for some community opinions.
He wants more calls, more emails and more text messages from his constituents, telling him how they would feel if high-level nuclear waste were to come to Andrews to stay.
Residents already know what it's like living with low-level radioactive waste.
"WCS has done a lot for our community," Pack said. "We have built baseball fields, we've added on to our rodeo arena, several projects have happened. We've bought buses and ambulances."
From the 150-200 text messages, emails, phone calls and Facebook comments he's received so far, the majority of residents are against it.
However, there are pros and cons.
"The storing and all will be a lot like the storing that they do now, which is very high tech and a lot of engineers involved, and a lot of thought process goes into that," Pack said.
There's also a financial benefit, but commissioners don't know exactly how much, since this would be the first time.
"There's been concerns on the storage of it because this is high level," Pack said. "There's been concerns that I've had come to me about our aquifer out there. Engineers say that there is no water underneath the facility."
Andrews residents also worry they would be the first target in a war or international threat.
Pack encourages education on the topic first, before commenting.
He said the Waste Control and Storage Services website, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website and protectthebasin.com are good resources.
"We're figuring we're hitting between 18 and 20,000 in our community now, and so we would like to hear from at least 50% of them," Pack said. "If not, we'll take the ones we have and get a majority from that. Time is of the essence right now for us as a community to stand up and say we want it or we don't want and the court is listening to the people as we speak."
To send your Andrews County Commissioner feedback, you can find their contact information here.