WHEN YOU VOTE...

With elections for governor and attorney general of Texas on the horizon, I can't help but put together politics and the current, appalling environmental scene in Dallas. Lately I have seen a pitiful lack of complete site clean ups, lack of response to records requests; illegal dumping, failure to follow up on known groundwater problems, re-categorizing sites so thorough clean up could be avoided; and, of course, the coming of natural gas wells-perhaps en masse-to Dallas. Lawsuits, bribes, monetary bonuses for attorneys...Texas is known for a shady big business/environment tension that many seek to keep hidden.
How did things get to this point?
I see a Texas in need of leaders that can evaluate and respond to past environmental obscenities still hidden in soil and water-not leaders who want to sue the federal govt over emission standards. And the past is just a starting point.
What about CO2 emissions and drilling chemicals in the air now?
Texas needs to view pesky "regulations" as something citizens require and deserve.
Really, we should have regulated ourselves and not required pressure from Washington to be clean, healthy, and responsible to all our citizens-especially children, the elderly, and people with respiratory problems.
Talk about DISCRIMINATION! Everyone has the right to breathe clean air and have access to pure drinking water.
Do not take a clean environment for granted. It can be gone in a day, a year, a decade; and more has has been lost in my lifetime than I want to try to comprehend.
So when you vote, please carefully weigh whether you want a leader who thinks no "authority" has RIGHT to tell a business it can't poison fellow Texans.
Elect a leader with a mission to lead in doing what's right-not one who reacts like a rebellious adolescent who thinks ignorance and arrogance will win again.