Money For Ruin-And Smog For Free!

Renewing Oak Cliff...when I began thinking about this concept from an environmental standpoint, I had no idea how much there was to renew! Growing up in Dallas, I accepted the fact that many factories and industries were located just down Davis St and Jefferson Blvd or Hampton Rd- foggy, smoggy, smelly places where parents worked to keep the big city running. It was no big deal. Car exhaust, black smoke from the back of grinding buses...just the sights and smells of the metroplex-downtown especially was filled with them. Then, in the sixties, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer; in the eighties my mom developed leukemia; later adult schoolmates, their parents, and several Oak Cliff neighbors on our block had cancer, also. We were slow to make the connection between disease and the lead smelter, cement plant, and bio-waste landfill a few miles away. And let's not forget the metal fabricator and airplane/bomb makers as we entered Grand Prairie. We didn't know chemicals were being dumped into nearby lakes and river, then flooding onto surrounding land. We did know neighbors and co-workers were "getting cobalt" or taking chemo, and a surprising number of women who grew up in Oak Cliff had children with birth defects. Co-incidence? Perhaps, but I gradually became aware that my neighborhood, while residential, bordered industrial areas and that the lovely golf course a few blocks away along with a neighboring well were likely affected by heavy pesticide use.
So today, when I study the Dallas Naval facilities and Mountain Creek Lake, I'm seeking the bigger picture of Oak Cliff and Dallas - where we got our water supply through the years, how the Trinity River was abused as a secret dumping area for industry
across the metroplex, what chemicals were released into - not just water - but air and soil.
Sadly, we built our city with bad practices. We ruined wells (artesian or otherwise) and an amazingly rich and productive aquifer system. We traded our oil and gas for cash turned into skyscrapers and corporations, but ended up yet in need of a clean community. Life is a serious trade of resources for needs of-the-moment, and I've found we often regret that trade.
Still, along the way, a handful of well-placed citizens made courageous decisions-unique and wise for their time - that prevented even worse damage. The federal govt/EPA has remediated several well-known sites and the city of Dallas has provided "city water" so we don't need ruined wells filled with our toxic groundwater. We still pay a price for mistakes, but some positive tasks have been executed.
Of course, I'm left wondering about the US Navy's remediation of Mountain Creek Lake with its pollution-as extensive as the other Superfund sites in Dallas-if not more severe.
When will Mountain Creek Lake be restored?
At least at the adjacent Naval facilities, some attempt (partial and low cost)at clean up has been made. As far as I know, the lake has received no help except for some experimental matting laid here and there on its bottom. The matting's job? To trap PCBs.
The genius of this idea floats way over my blonde head. Kind of like the idea of fixing the aquifer with molasses.