Tonya Kleuskens

Dawn | Farmer

Ms. Kleuskens is a farmer based in Dawn, Texas who was part of a successful citizens’ effort involving a coalition of the Nuclear Waste Task Force, Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping, the Texas Energy Alliance, Texas Corn Growers, Texas Wheat Growers, Texas Sugar Beet Growers, and a number of food processors such as Frito-Lay, Holly Sugar and Arrowhead Mills, that managed to dissuade the Department of Energy from siting the nation’s first high-level civilian radioactive waste disposal facility in the Panhandle. Mrs. Kleuskens and other opponents to the disposal plan pointed out the poor characterization and understanding of the local geology and aquifers, the questionable design of the waste shaft and storage bins, the risks of transport to the site, the heavy regional reliance on groundwater reservoirs, and the national importance of the agriculture based in the Panhandle. In 2002, Mrs. Kleuskens again became involved in waste issues, this time concerning a proposed unlined 103-acre municipal landfill facility for the City of Hereford. She and other critics of the plan were successful in persuading the City to withdraw their permit application by showing that the proposed site had flowing springs and possible aquifer recharge routes within it.