In the west part of Andrews County on the border with New Mexico (see the state border issue below), a private company, Waste Control Specialists (WCS), formerly owned by the late Harold Simmons and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, operates a 14,000 acres (57 km2) site.

The company was awarded a license to dispose of radioactive waste by the TCEQ in 2009.

The permit allows for disposal of radioactive materials such as uranium, plutonium and thorium from commercial power plants, academic institutions and medical schools.

[5] The company finished construction on the project in 2011 and began disposing of waste in 2012.

[6] For years, there has been a simmering dispute over which state these waste sites are lawfully a part of: Texas or New Mexico?

The straight north–south border between the two states was originally defined as the 103rd meridian, but the 1859 survey that was supposed to mark that boundary mistakenly set the border between 2.29 and 3.77 miles too far west of that line, making the Waste Control Specialists waste sites, which are west of the 103rd meridian, along with the current towns of Farwell, Texline, and part of Glenrio, appear to be within the State of Texas.

New Mexico's short border with Oklahoma, in contrast, was surveyed on the correct meridian.

New Mexico's draft constitution in 1910 stated that the border is on the 103rd meridian as intended.

The disputed strip, hundreds of miles long, includes parts of valuable oilfields of the Permian Basin.