THE EYES OF EPA...

Thanks for taking a look at this blog! If you're a new reader, you might want to peruse earlier posts that discuss the condition and status of Mountain Creek Lake. Basically, the city of Dallas won 53 million lawsuit dollars from the Navy (2001) to clean up the Dallas Naval Air Station located on the lake. But, the lake has not been cleaned up by either Dallas or the Navy, and it's been turned over to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for clean up. TCEQ has decided there is no cost effective way to clean up the lake, so they'll let nature dilute the poisons over the next 20-70 years! Meanwhile, contaminants spread with rain and flood, and are likely airborne; and Exelon Corp and Vought-industries on the lake continue business as usual. Groundwater is still contaminated, and we await 2017 when the Navy has to have remediation in place addressing that distressing circumstance. (Oh no, I read another article that said groundwater will be unusable until 2032!)
Some knowledgeable people say the lake is beyond help-so why isn't that ever discussed? Why are we told good progress has been made? (relative to what-run-off from a weapons lab?)
Some, including myself, would like to see an accounting of the way Dallas spent the 53 million! I've requested such info through the open records system and received nothing relevant-just "executive session" printed several times on the list of things I requested.
There's a lot more to this story, and it's my hope that one day a formal investigation will bring more facts to light-especially regarding suspected weapons experimentation on the naval air base, impacting the lake.
But meanwhile, I see two conflicting viewpoints operating. One says: Polluters must be held accountable. Clean up, though costly, can and should be thoroughly completed. The earth and its people are worth it, and this is the right, fair thing to do. The other viewpoint counters: Why spend a lot of money on something that doesn't really matter? Clean up would be an overwhelming job and would stir up the chemicals in the lake. Leave things alone and let businesses do what they need to do to make a profit and provide jobs, products, and services-and pay taxes to the city!
Superfund law or other environmental laws should speak to this situation, but, for the life of me, I can't see how the law has worked to actually solve the problem of Mountain Creek Lake. Keep watch and let your opinion be heard. While I can't promise the eyes of Texas are upon Mountain Creek Lake; the eyes of EPA are upon Texas!