Renewing Oak Cliff-One Lake At a Time

WHAT KIND OF AMERICA?

2011-05-30T12:01:00.007-05:00

It's Memorial Day! Usually we "do up" our yard so it looks its best-and fly the stars and stripes.
A few burgers on the grill-and a simple, happy holiday.... not much fuss.
This year, I've been doing a bit more thinking.
It all started when I found "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on You Tube and posted it on my Facebook page. This song has haunted me (in a good way) since I heard it at Robert Kennedy's funeral in the late 60s. For years, I tried to figure out what the song means-and, in a way, the lyrics still stir the pot of theology, church and military history.
Then came a friend's FB post-reminding that we should "keep" the America we've known and loved. Keep it? Is it going away? Hmmm.
So-I formed a query and posted it in return: When our soldiers lay dying on battlefields all over the world, what were they dying FOR? I mean REALLY...
Were they paid to fight and die? Paid to follow orders?
Did they die for freedom? Freedom for who to do what?
Did they die for their own subjective idea of America? For their families and neighbors in a small town somewhere?
Death is a very serious, powerful thing that should have great, enduring meaning.
So, I think about these martyred soldiers when I -from the extremely blessed position of being alive-look at America.
I see a nation that is giving money to enemy governments for favors, giving corporations tax breaks even as the economy has been de-stabilized, workers laid off, jobs shipped overseas,
oil hoarded, our land polluted, etc. I see a nation that will tax a middle class which is losing its health care, Medicare; even as many members have lost their jobs. Oh, and to top things off, schools are being closed and kindergarten taken away-not to mention de-funding for indigent, sick, elderly in nursing homes-whle CEO of Wall St corps get millions in "bonuses."
Is this the America our soldiers died for?
If they died for "freedom" and they did-we better define freedom quickly!
No one is free to play global war games fast-and-loose with precious tax-payer resources, and bet the homes and households of America on risky mortgage loans.
Americans, we have gotten so big and complex and have made deals with the devil for so long that the American dream may be no more.
We need to find our values once more in this fog. What is it we are really about? What will we sacrifice and die for?
Once we know, we need to also know that America is not "one"- and there are enemies within, some obvious, others are wolves in sheep's clothing, I'm afraid.
Often the most dangerous enemies sound the most noble. They know current issues are so complex we can barely stand to study them, that all people are not smart; and they (unscrupulous leaders) throw down "red meat" issues to distract us while they undercut our bedrock foundation.
Instead of "trusting politicians" we need to trust our fellow citizens and together find candidates to represent us. Everybody wants to be a "grassroots" candidate-but they are few and far between.
So why look now at who we are as a nation? Because we are out of money.
Money is a great cover up for mistakes, confusion, schemes, and lack of money really forces us to face priorities and look our leaders in the eye. So perhaps this period of America's history can somehow be a productive one. I hope and trust so.
....Thanks to soldiers, veterans, those who died in service, and even those who live to serve.
That means us, too, fellow voter, by the way. We had better not let our veterans down.

Kessler Park, Murph's/RSR Lead Smelter, Wells, and Cancer : Any Info?

2011-04-20T08:20:00.007-05:00

I am 57 years old and know of 6 people my age raised in Kessler Park who now have brain tumors. These folks were raised a few blocks apart, and lived just across I 30 from the old Murph's/RSR lead smelter - as well as other industrial complexes having to do with cement, roofing materials, etc. on Industrial Blvd.
(It is likely there are other numerous cases of cancer I don't know about... especially since so many children and teens raised in KP live elsewhere now. )
So, we should be aware that with extremely high lead and arsenic levels at RSR, a cancer cluster is possible.
Official records say that air in a 13 mle radius was affected by the lead smelter; but no definitive record of water/well involvement is easy or possible to attain. Thirteen miles extends from I 30 to Davis St -if not a lot farther south-according to an online map.
Please leave a comment if you have any info to add. THANKS

PS I have found reliable info that cancer causing chemicals were found in the soil at RSR.

EARTH DAY AND THE MCL LANDFILL LEGACY

2011-04-17T20:25:00.005-05:00

What a nice Earth Day at Lake Cliff Park on Zang Blvd today. The park with its vintage fountain never looked lovelier, and what a joy to see people outside together enjoying gorgeous weather and fine music. (a sax-even!) Interestedly for me-and I hope you-I met an Oak Cliff gentleman who gave me a better picture of the Mountain Creek Lake situation than I got from searching old docs on the Internet. He painted a few words pics like "old batteries dumped in the lake" that helped me think of the lake, not just as a repository for chemical run-off, but actually an underwater landfill for old, throw-away military/airplane equipment. Yes, I had noted on this blog that an entire plane is down in the lake-and has been there for decades. Since half the depth of the lake is silt, the old equipment is embedded in the silt, along with Cesium 137, layers of PCBs, metals, hydrocarbons, etc. A real stinking mess quite hidden from view. Someone driving across the Mt Creek Lake Bridge would have no clue they were on a bridge over psychotic water! Just looks pretty and brown.... My Earth Day gentleman acquaintance also referred to national security aspects relating to the Naval Weapons facility on the lake, and when I threw in references to missile-making at TEMCO, we rather agreed that Mt Creek activities were simply not fully discussed back in the day. That is, the days of our youth when we were forbidden by parents to stick our toes in that water. Thorough records were likely not kept or made available to the public, although today it is possible to see records from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that refer to Vought as being contaminated with a radioactive substance probably buried on site. Not important now, I'm sure, as these things go in Texas. I wonder what the cost would be to truly clean up this lake and its surrounds. A projected two billion dollar cost has likely inflated to ten times that amount-so we do nothing, expect nothing, demand nothing. Fellow citizens, the law of our land says polluters have the obligation to clean up their toxic legacy and return property to the citizenry in a livable condition. Even the military-especially the military! But no-we get the toxic landfill legacy. The taxpayer loses however this deal goes down-and, to me, it just feels like a double or triple loss: of land and enjoyment, of health, of tax money, and of tax money going to pay for further war and contamination of more land.

CESIUM 137-in Japan's Nuclear Reactor and in Our MCL

2011-03-15T13:27:00.006-05:00

As the tragic situation with radiation in Japan continues, I see Cesium 137 in the news. Cesium is the radioactive substance which has been released to the atmosphere from the reactors-proving that the containment box has been breached. Cesium 137 comes from the reactor core.
Well, as noted in earlier posts, Cesium 137 is embedded in sediment in Mountain Creek Lake.
No official explanation for its presence has been given.
But research shows missile development by TEMCO (as in Ling-Temco-Vought) occurred at the site prior to or during the Cold War.
Cesium 137 likely was in run-off water, which ran off into the lake, along with a host of fuels and toxic chemicals. Acording to the Texas Wildlife and Fisheries Dept, any contribution of toxic substances by industry or the military was most definitely illegal.
In fact, I can't think of anything that would more violate the spirit of the Clean Water Act than radioactive Cesium.
Could this material be removed from the lake? Probably-but then it would be stirred up to possibly endanger humans and would have to be stored elsewhere.
However, I do have problems with Dallas/Grand Prairie's lake remaining radioactive 300 years and polluted forever... or until flooding forces toxic water into inhabited areas.
What do you think?
Citizens' voices needed!!!

Update on Mt Creek Area-Is It Ever Good News?

2011-03-14T08:28:00.004-05:00

I attended a very informative political discussion yesterday in the home of a neighbor; and learned a couple of things worth sharing about the Mountain Creek Lake area.
First, Hensley Field...As you may know, Dallas sued the Navy for mega millions because the Navy damaged Dallas Naval Air Station land, which is owned by the city. A funded account was set aside for future improvement to the facility by the city-money coming from the lawsuit; but that MONEY IS GONE-having been legally transferred for use on another favored project.
Second-the Naval Station area is where police training happens; and remember! A grenade was found under the Mt Creek Lake bridge, and a huge ammunition theft, said to be an inside job, took place...This area is troubled by "practice" GUNFIRE, which is halting further development of the area and expansion by existing businesses and organizations.
GUNFIRE? MISSING MONEY?
And I thought I knew about this area! Only a fraction...I'm sure.
Here's hoping Oak Cliff will soon have representation on the city council, representation that will bring these problems out of the ammunition closet where thieves seem to break in and steal. If you get my drift...
This industrial/military area cannot go on as it is with residents living and working on its shores.

HOW CAN WE TRUST WHAT HAS BEEN PROVEN WRONG?

2011-01-22T11:14:00.009-06:00

EPA vs. TCEQ-it's in the news.
EPA needs to take over air permits because TCEQ has not been the answer to our dirty air problems- that is, our gases are filthy blights and blots upon the parchment of the Clean Air Act . I agree-EPA needs to regulate what Texas won't.
But that leads me to ask, how can EPA expect the people (us) to TRUST and BELIEVE TCEQ
and the work it has produced or ignored in the past????
TCEQ approved closure of the polluting factory in my old neighborhood. It-TCEQ- knew the deep groundwater was contaminated, and the soil toxic. Heck, the soil was basically removed and replaced in parts; but all I really, specifically know now is: TCEQ SAYS THIS PLACE IS OKAY!
I have to trust their bottom line judgment, their calculus; which bears the stamp of the state seal of Texas.
SO, I am to trust TCEQ? The same TCEQ that hid radioactive water in Houston and put the river bottom industries back in business after a surface clean up expected to last five years? The same TCEQ that made deals with toxic industries to end lawsuits? The same TCEQ that let gas drilling pollution in air and water around Ft. Worth get so bad that citizens had to run a campaign in the media to save their health and property?

EPA, in my opinion, needs to review all the closures of toxic industries in Texas that TCEQ approved and decide if they were appropriate in the past, and protective of citizens in the present and future.
The local closure I have studied doesn't look appropriate; and, by the way, I don't love testing done by the pollutor and presented as favorable -in the midst of other unfavorable tests.
WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Since when does the pollutor control testing and the submission of test results?

EPA, do not ask us to trust an agency that you say you can't trust.

If we citizens trust wrongly- we literally absorb the cost in our lungs and bones; and many of us never even know what hit us. LITERALLY.

____________________________________

Update: I talked with a highly knowledgeable friend today who had such a good comment:
(I paraphrase) It may take a Congressional investigation to prove that government and state agencies have failed to protect the people of Texas, through laws and statutes which have been enacted for the people's benefit. (From what I've experienced, this feels right and passes the logic/scholarship test.)

DIOXIN STUDY NEEDED FOR DIXICO

2011-01-18T08:20:00.004-06:00

Continuing thoughts on the Dixico incinerator:
When organic solvents are burned at low temperatures, and burned incompletely, dioxin and furans are produced. These are known and undisputed carcinogens. The Dixico incinerator was documented repeatedly as burning at too low temperature. One document reads temp was "400."
Back in the 80s, dioxin was not reported by industry-including Dixico; although the dioxin problem is practically synonymous with plastics and PVC, which Dixico dealt with in tons.
Dioxin degrades to half in 15 years, years which have past, UNLESS it is below ground and mixed and bound with sediment in soil as at the bottom of a lake, stream, river, or creek.
I am thinking a dioxin study of Dixico is in order. And...a water study also.
If Dixico were to be studied for CERCLA, many enlightening studies would be done.
But will that happen?
Isn't it easier to let bygones be bygones? It would be if ... so many neighbors had not died.
If two creeks weren't involved, if the chemicals used had been less dangerous and in smaller amounts....So many ifs and so many buts...
What ever happened to enforcing the intent of environmental law in a timely manner-or at all?

Drilling-It takes vast quantities of ground and surface water and makes it carcinogenic-permanently

2011-01-06T14:39:00.005-06:00

This is a very helpful article on fracking, written by Wilma Subra, chemist and MacArthur Fellow Genius Award recipient.
I hope you will read this as we anticipate the city council vote on natural gas drilling in Dallas, which happens next Wed, at noon, downtown in council chambers on Marilla St. A petition is available for those wishing to protest drilling within our city limits, near our public water sources.

http://splashdownpa.blogspot.com/2009/10/letter-from-wilma-subra-to-new-york.html

Past Incineration - Present Tragedy

2011-01-03T07:53:00.014-06:00

As previously noted, I have made a year long study of DIXICO, INC, formerly of Polk St in Oak Cliff, Dallas, using publicly available documents from EPA and TCEQ (Texas Water Commission and Texas Air Commission); and records from 1989, which were obtained and stored for twenty years by a citizen interested in Dixico's incinerator. Basically, I learned that Dixico used and burned hydrocarbons and solvents of various sorts; and at times, discharged chemicals into Cedar Creek, which runs along their site, through the Elmwood residential area.
Citizens opposed Dixico in 1989, with its chemical run-off into the creek, and its ink spray discharged into the air coating cars, and its incinerator with ash covering neighbor's property-eventually leading to the closure of the facility. Also troubling - soil contamination and a hydrocarbon water plume came to light as "closure" of the facility was occurring, leading to lawsuits and perhaps questionable agreements about final closure. (More contamination was allegedly found in the closure process, which caused denials and dispute.)
From what I can tell, and records tell a convoluted tale, Dixico was let off the hook for environmental damage to the land, water, and air of Texas; YET....I see that official online EPA records show an "INCOMPLETE" clean up or RCRA status.
Hopefully, the status question will be rectified, though I dare not anticipate that anyone will ever figure out what happened to the hydrocarbon plume that moved around underground, hopefully dissipating - but possibly expanding under people's homes.
Yes, that is a lot of emphasis on HOPE, friends; not much emphasis on knowledge and science!

But backing up a bit to tell the Dixico story....
In the 1980s, environmental laws were forcing industry, including Dixico, to report chemicals used, and to report the official burial/disposal places for waste-especially toxic waste. Further, Dixico was forced to put lids on storage barrels, label its waste and solvent tanks, keep records, find invoices for raw materials purchased, provide a flow chart for operations, and identify the contents of the bottom of the nasty incinerator, report leaks from the storage tanks-the list goes on....
After reading about NUMEROUS Dixico violations, I realized that as bad as chemical leaks into the soil and water were-AND THEY WERE BAD; the incinerator really was the most worrisome.
To this day, citizens do not know exactly what was burned in that incinerator, in what amounts, and where all the particles of hazardous waste fell. Particles from incinerators can cover a 65 mile radius around the burner and depending on the chemicals/elements burned can be lethal to persons absorbing those substances.
For example, a woman in her fourth week of pregnancy can produce a defective baby due to chemical exposure; while another woman in her twelfth week may be unaffected. This is playing Russian roulette with human life - because a mother-to-be takes walks in her neighborhood or works in her yard? Because a neighborhood industry got a burn permit? What a ridiculous risk of birth defects.
As for cancer, toxins will alter the DNA of one person causing cancer to form years after exposure, when no industrial endeavor could ever be blamed, yet not obviously impair another person in the same time frame.
Toxins can knock out human immunity allowing cancer and many other diseases to take hold in virtually every organ system-in a percentage of a population.
Chemical exposure ups risk - with certainty.

To discover what was burned at Dixico, we must look at the contents of storage tanks and the metals (chromium) in inks, lead and hydrocarbons - including benzene -which saturated the soil; and understand plastics with dioxin, which coated paper. All that survived the manufacturing process-all waste, specifically solvent waste, was burned and flew like Forrest Gump's feather out into the Oak Cliff night (without equipment that could have possibly trapped dangerous vapor).
What a picture...and a destructive gift to sleeping neighbors who would awake to find white ash covering their home environment!
What was in that ash? Chemicals, metals, and other elements that had formed toxic by-products in the burning process.

So why study this now? What good will it do?
I hope that in studying Dixico, Elmwood residents learn why loved ones got sick, and how citizens were and were not protected by agencies charged with public safety. I would like to know the precise condition of the soil and water in this area now; and I would like to see the parent company of Dixico make restitution for harm-if harm honestly occurred.
Also, if more true clean up has been done than my records show, I would like to know what happened; and if toxic areas have been capped/covered with asphalt/concrete, which seems evident in current photos, I'd like to know that for sure.
Yes, these processes and violations happened 20 years ago, maybe 30, maybe more....but as long as someone is alive who lost a parent, a child, a spouse, a sibling to poison that killed as surely as an assassin's bullet, this travesty is, in my opinion, present tense.
We would be wise to distill important lessons from the story of Dixico.

EPA JUST MESSED WITH TEXAS

2010-12-23T18:39:00.005-06:00

What do you think about EPA today seizing TCEQ's ability to give permits to facilities (energy, refineries) under the Clean Air Act?
I don't see that EPA had much choice given that THE LAW states certain standards have to be met; and that our governor's "we're doing better" doesn't satisfy that criteria.
Many folks are worried about increased energy prices and job loss in Texas; and rightly so-but this so could have been avoided if a difficult revamping of the way Texas produces and does business had occurred. Instead of doing the hard things that needed to be done, we dug in our heels and tried to sue the federal government.
Being a loyal Texan, I will say no more about what I think of that-but "adolescent" comes to mind. If you disagree-fine; but I would suggest you carefully study the realities of toxic water and air in our beautiful, beloved state. Industry simply could not continue to exploit natural resources forever and not pay a high price, no matter how long it tried to delay the inevitable.
And as for EPA, it exists for a reason-to protect the environment and all American citizens-many of whom can't speak out for themselves.
In my life, I have been confronted many times with the necessity to change. Undoubtedly you
have, too; in times of down-sizing, staff reduction, job change, making less money for more work...even starting over from scratch in a brand new endeavor. It's not easy, but we choose whether we blame others and cause new ideas to fail because of our own negativity and inaction; or whether we accept challenge and create a secure job and more meaningful contribution to the world.
I think business in Texas can work clean and smart if it wants do; and that doing so could create more higher-paying jobs-for scientists, engineers, designers, skilled tradesmen, on and on... What worries me most is whether we have the educated work force to solve our environmental problems in a timely, cost effective way.
Every problem winds its way back to education; education is based hugely on motivation; and motivation comes from having to grow, learn, and change. Do you see how these things can work together?
Instead of saying DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS, we'd be better off chanting TEACH TEXAS!
Or TEXAS, LEARN AND INNOVATE! to earn and survive. Pride and a tenacious spirit will neither save us from poison-and corporate greed; nor will it provide us with livelihood to support ourselves, our communities, and schools.

Yesterday-Our Troubles Aren't So Far Away...

2010-12-18T12:03:00.007-06:00

Toxins in the environment, as a subject, is one thing it is easy not to think about- if you don't have asthma or other breathing difficulty, if your skin isn't too sensitive, and you have reasonable immunity to disease. And if you have a lot of other problems to worry about-why add one more?
So I'm really heartened that so many folks including the courageous Flower Mound City Council
have seen and reacted to the dangers of natural gas drilling, in its present form in the Barnett Shale.
I do wonder why more people have not been concerned about toxins in Mountain Creek Lake and the TCE plumes extending out from the Dallas Naval Air Station/Vought plant.
I do question how Dixico in Oak Cliff flew under the radar in a residential neighborhood for so long, and why complete records on Dixico's ink manufacturing and laminating activities have been difficult or impossible to find.
I question how the river bottom industrial area is not a BIG RED FLAG for developers of a supposed recreational, tourist area. Personally, I would not put wildlife in the river bottom in a "refuge"-must less tourists! "REFUSE" is the word for the river bottom-not refuge or respite.
Ruined groundwater is not what Dallas needs to be known for-but what are you going to do?
Our city and state decided to require clean up of asphalt, asbestos, and metal graveyards to a level that would endure a mere five years-until everyone forgets about them and goes on to the next "new thing."
Old and new is an important concept in modern society.
When pollution is "old" we forget about it-not realizing that the ruined land or water will never be renewed by nature in our lifetime, and perhaps not in the lifetime of our children.
The pollution at Mt Creek Lake and Dixico is "old" but still very real. The pollution Flower Mound
avoided would have been "new"-and something we can really do something about.
Should sites polluted thirty years ago be cleaned up now? Is it worth the money?
Personally I would say yes-especially as new technology makes clean up more feasible and less expensive.
In difficult economic times, it is important to remember that the planet and her resources are our
life and comfort, and a trust we care for until we pass it on to others. It is not okay to live for today and live for self only.
Just speaking from my heart, I feel a responsibility to those who were made ill by industry and never knew why. Do you ever think about that? We can't bring these victims back; but we can help their loved ones understand what happened, and work for scientific knowledge and social progress that will eventually spare others.
I think Flower Mound's citizens and city council took a bold step toward making this happen; and I rejoice that they "saw" what toxins do to bodies, families, and cities.
Open your eyes-to see both the risks of today... and the industrial travesties of yesterday that seem to powerfully live on after claiming their susceptible victims.

Drilling "Somewhere Else" - Perchance???

2010-12-14T08:20:00.003-06:00

To the person who sent comment about Ledbetter Hills: I cannot find anyone who knows why gas companies would be interested in the location you specified, but it would make sense that if drilling is not going to happen alongside water supplies and residences, alternate locations would be sought. The most knowledgeable guy I know is checking into this and says be aware of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by city leaders who need to make this 34 million dollar take come out well.
Keep watch and keep in touch.
Wishing everyone involved the best, safest possible outcome, which we will achieve by careful oversight and unwavering conviction.

NO DRILLING BESIDE JOE POOL LAKE!

2010-11-17T07:59:00.010-06:00

I am beginning my day reflecting on the vote tomorrow by the Dallas City Planning Commission on approving or BLOCKING a drilling rig beside Joe Pool Lake.
As my readers know, I have made a two year study of Mountain Creek Lake (very close by Joe Pool); and I realize if southern Dallas desires a recreational lake of reasonable cleanliness-Joe Pool is it.
We CANNOT afford to pollute and ruin the one lake that is atop the Cedar Mountain watershed-draining down on the Mountain Creek/Oak Cliff area.
Friends, I don't think any of us fully knows the damage pollution of Mountain Creek Lake has done to Oak Cliff-underground - affecting creeks and underground springs which ultimately drain into the Trinity River.
Dallas is in a river bed, in an alluvial region, and all our water is interconnected.
Drilling near our few remaining reservoirs is extremely unwise.
Further, the chemicals coming from the higher regions of Cedar Hill will rain down pollution on the rest of us below.
XTO presents a scenario which they believe they can control.
I say you can't outsmart Mother Nature; and things like height, depth, gravity, wind, etc. will win in the end.
We are but fallible humans on this planet, and we need to work with the forces and processes God has put in place-not against them with our radioactive tracers, salt water, fracking cocktail, ponds, pipes, and trucks filled with waste water.
If drilling must be done-get out of the city!!!
Please read Raymond Crawford's DALLAS DRILLING BLOG - dallasdrilling.wordpress.com. Jenny Land, has one, also. See DALLAS CITIZENS FOR A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON GAS DRILLING on Facebook.
These are both top flight; and will tell you how to attend tomorrow's important meeting or sign a petition asking city leaders to stop, learn, and evaluate what is best for Dallas-rather than give XTO the "go ahead" tomorrow!
Remember, no good decision needs to be rushed and made under PRESSURE.
A sound decision can wait until all the facts are in!

EARTH, WIND, and FIRE-Chromium on Polk?

2010-11-09T17:38:00.012-06:00

Did you see today's news story about the chromium 6 plume in California which has grown and migrated until it covers two miles, contaminating numerous wells? This, by the way, is the famous Erin Brockovich contamination situation updated with latest info. See current story at http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/hinkley-9653-lower-showing.html
CHROMIUM...Hmmm. Prevents rust, hardens and coats steel, and creates yellow and green colored pigments, among other things.
Chromium along with lead and toluene has long been a major problem at the Polk St Dixico site in Oak Cliff. And, yes, the word "plume"- pooled excess chemicals - is included in the Dixico records.
If you or a loved one has cancer, and has lived near this plant, I would research Dixico Inc (Dallas) toxic release info-requesting Dixico records from EPA and TCEQ. Several documents and request forms can be found online- but the entire story would require a book- or in my case, a garage full of boxes.

Water is not the only worry at Dixico-maybe not even the primary one. Waste solvents-benzene, xylene, MEK, alcohols, and worse - as well as plastics with dioxins-were INCINERATED for years on S Polk-filling the air with carcinogens for possibly 50-60 years.
This plant offered multiple pathways for chemical exposure: soil, groundwater, the creek, the sewer system, the air...and all in a RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD!
What were we thinking to allow families and carcinogens to co-exist a few feet from one another?
Where were our city fathers with zoning capability and responsibility?
In offices thinking about how Dallas needed Dixico's 250+ jobs, while citizens prevented Dixico from becoming a large scale toxic waste incineration center. (Thank God for citizens with common sense and self-preservation ability.)
Yes, we Texans need industry and goods and jobs-but not poisonous ones in our backyard or neighborhood greenbelt.
Dear reader/friend, I hope you grew up far, far away from Dixico-and I wish my deceased schoolmates had. I wish Dixico had been light years from Winnetka Heights, Winnetka School, and Greiner Jr. High; that lovely old, sheltering Oak Cliff had never heard of laminating potato chip bags with petroleum-based ink and adhesive.
Dixico, from an environmental standpoint, is a disaster that never should have happened anywhere; but especially not next door to Cedar Creek and the Elmwood residential neighborhood of OC.

JUST ONE VOICE-YOURS!

2010-10-27T08:03:00.004-05:00

It's a good thing....that EPA wants careful adherence to conditions or standards for safe drilling at Hensley Field. When I first heard about air monitoring and chemicals being placed in tanks
instead of ponds/pits, I thought: Well, this is great. Maybe things will be okay.
THEN-BRAINSTORM! Weren't these or similar safety measures supposed to happen in many residential areas but didn't?
The key is not having good safety ideas, it's enforcing them!
I think we've seen evidence that drilling companies do not regulate themselves well.
And even agencies that try to regulate them have, historically speaking, been enticed to look the other way when rules are broken and public safety is POSSIBLY (surely) compromised.
The history of Texas is replete with stories of money luring the do-gooders away from their mission!
Private energy companies can out-pay and out-lawyer the best intentioned workers, even hiring away regulators to work for the other side...the oil and gas "enemy" who needs knowledge of how to beat the system.
We can give up on the law, give up on our aspirations for a clean environment, OR we can overcome the power of wealth with millions of voices demanding justice for our neighborhoods.
Funny how the powerful only yield to doing what's right when there's little option.
Ah, the flawed nature of humanity....Drown it out, citizens, with your voices!

FRACKIN CHEMS-BLOWIN IN MY BACK DOOR

2010-10-22T12:51:00.006-05:00

I am elated about the Commissioners 7-6 vote to postpone a decision on gas drilling wells (all 23 of them) at Mountain Creek Lake/Dallas Naval Air Station.
You know what that said to me?
It said that regular people who see oily pools, smell chemical odors, cough and wheeze, have neighbors with cancer, and read chemical levels in the newspaper for benzene; people who have smelly flaming tap water and unusable wells, who have lost value in homes next to drilling rigs ARE NOT CRAZY! We have not hypocondriacked up a frack-fear or hallucinated the physical results of drilling chemicals. WE ARE AT RISK-a risk yet unknown.
So why was the vote so close when the risk is so obvious?
Anyway, the pressure to get gas now out of West Dallas shale -frail, breakable shale, is explosively intense. After all, the 34 million Dallas was paid for the gas leases has reportedly been spent!
Reminds me of the pressure to get gas from the Gulf on BP's brief timeline - and we all know how that turned out.
Let's just sit and watch how the gas industry responds to the vote: with continued promises and tangible solutions, and/or with more personal and political pressure?
These corporate individuals play to win, but-surprise-citizens do, too; not to gloat or be mean, but to be strong when health is truly at stake.
May truth, best-practices, improved methodology and tight regulations carry the day-and may we never forget the people who bought $130,000 dream homes by the lake with absolutely no warning that a rig would be their "lake view" out the back door, and the source of foul air sweeping through open windows on a cool autumn day.
Nice lake breeze wafting off Mountain Creek Lake, huh? Care to sit out on the patio and watch trucks haul wastewater until they get stuck in the mud?
Oh, West Dallas, life does not have to be like this. You have suffered too long and hard already.
You are the industrial arm-pit, the centrally located step-child of Dallas; and this is not a positive
reality for the future of a great city.

WHEN YOU VOTE...

2010-10-16T20:43:00.004-05:00

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.

GET THE LEAD OUT! (Didn't happen...)

2010-10-02T16:14:00.007-05:00

Continuing my study of toxic sites in Oak Cliff/Dallas, I read today about the semi-current state of clean up (2005) of the infamous RSR lead smelter at Westmoreland and N Hampton Rd.
Since this smelter fiasco was in the news for years and damages were paid to victims, I assumed a fantastically careful and COMPLETE clean up was done...
But, remember this is TEXAS! Can we assume anything? Can we trust that federal law was followed?
You be the judge.
Soil was dug out at only a depth of 1-2 feet and "capped." Oh, and one cap was even upgraded-to what? - a higher grade plastic or cement?
Capping is not considered thorough, complete clean up-but it does keep contaminants on site and covered up...for a while until contaminants degrade, leak, leech, etc. into water and vapors break free.
Somehow one would think this lead smelter, with its rating of 100% for dirt and danger, would merit something more permanent.
Trying to say something positive is tough. But at least RSR didn't dump lead at the Mexican border like it did in 1993 when the company was fined two million dollars and a waste disposal CEO went to jail. At least we know where all the RSR Dallas lead is-leeching into Dallas groundwater, our aquifers, and the poor Trinity River!
No data is available for groundwater at the RSR site.
In fact, I believe little testing of water was done or reported in spite of the site's location near the Trinity River and in the same floodplain as the local water treatment plant.
We do know monitoring wells were safely plugged to keep contaminants from surfacing up through the wells. A worrisome message.
As for the overall status of clean up, it's approved FOR THE SHORT TERM!
People, what about the long term?
Do you and your kids plan to be around five years from now?
If so, you and I need to question the partial, cheap, "short term" efforts made by TCEQ and pollutors; and call TCEQ and EPA and the city of Dallas to account for the continued condition of groundwater in Dallas and Grand Prairie.
I have it on good authority-excellent authority-that the clean ups acceptable in Texas would not be approved by other states-though citizens are entitled by law to clean up to drinking water and residential standards paid for by polluters!

DALLAS-LIVING ABOVE THE WATER

2010-10-01T16:03:00.007-05:00

Notice the story in today's Dallas Morning News about fishing in Mountain Creek Lake; and the news that dioxins and PCBs are a bit lower in some fish inhabiting the lake, but, of course, not nearly low enough to eat.
I loved the citizen comments - especially the one that asked why the Navy can clean up contaminated groundwater in Puerto Rico but not here!
Two things: We would never to do our friends and allies what we do to our own homeland to save a buck-or two billion-the cost of thorough clean up of MCL/Dallas NWIRP. And...if the military is going to continue using the facility for war-related industry and the city is going to drill the shore for gas, how long would clean up last anyway?
Sometimes a city or country just needs worthless, throw-away land on which to do its dirty deeds and we just better get used to it-and STAY AWAY FROM IT!
DO YOU LIKE MY NEW ATTITUDE? Didn't think so.

This week, I haven't posted until now, but my mind has been active-absorbed with the big picture of pollution in old Oak Cliff and the Trinity River bottom. I am the very last person ever expected to care about the industrial history of Dallas, yet it continues to fascinate and concern me. The paper and plastic plants, the mining at Chalk Hill, steel stored and traded at the damp river bottom, the plating business on W Davis somewhat near my childhood home...Many of us know about the toxic history of these places and that clean up has likely happened - to some extent.
However, it has dawned on me that because we use city water in our homes, we may not think about toxic groundwater-plumes that have possibly formed underneath these places and migrated-lengthening and widening beneath homes.
When a toxic site is remediated, soil can be easily and fairly cheaply dug up and exchanged for new, but groundwater tells the toxic tale. Instead of getting better, chemical plumes get worse with time if the source of contamination is still present, and can only be found with monitoring wells that the average person or neighborhood could never put into place. Certainly an old industrial city like Dallas needs aggressive, competent environmental scientists and regulators. Pro active ones!
I am thinking every industrial site of days gone by where soil was saturated with chemicals or impacted by lead and metals needs to be tested for toxic underground plumes.
Dallas is basically in a river bed-an alluvial region-and groundwater is near the surface; vapor from contaminated groundwater is not something we want as part of our urban lifestyle.
Think about it. I certainly am...

DRILLING WEST DALLAS: 13 WELLS?

2010-09-19T11:59:00.006-05:00

I am glad to see Hensley Field at Mountain Creek Lake in the news, though not happy about the circumstances that necessitate news coverage. Thirteen gas wells going in at MCL? I thought it was ONE...then possibly FOUR. But 13? And then 23 within a year?
I have been researching the status of Mountain Creek Lake for two years, and read at least eighteen months ago, that MCL/Dallas Naval AIr Station was being reserved by the city for gas.. AND OIL DRILLING!
Well, that figures, I thought. Contaminated land with a ruined, TCE-clogged aquifer is not fit for development; so of course it would be the perfect no-man's land drilling haven. Let's get some cash for that ruined site one way or another, I thought, trying hard to think like a savvy Dallas commission member.
The part of the puzzle I could not grasp was: WHY THE HECK IS THERE A SUBDIVISION OF NEW HOMES by the lake? Why are people sinking their savings and casting their net into the future by mortgaging a bungalow on Cape Cod Lane by Cesium-bottomed Mountain Creek Lake? Gonna cast a schooner out, float on military "embalming fluid"- a lovely description not far from true, gazing up at helicopters? Come on!
The city should have never allowed builders into their GASLAND, and should take any present or potential profits from drilling and use them to help these people get out of these homes before TCE comes up through the slabs.
I am incensed-for folks a few blocks..er..miles...away who are about to be affected by drilling cocktail in the air, and for those already living by the lake.
The city of Dallas must not get away with looking cool, confused, and then collecting the profits.
This drilling plan has been in place a long time. Ask EPA, or the city of Dallas -whoever answers messages these days.
You might ask the city if they can get out of this drilling lease situation. Where are the millions they were paid?

The more I think about this, the more indignant I become. All those attempts to talk to the city two years ago! Why was I always routed to the office of business development (or some similar dept)? I wanted to talk about the environment at the Dallas NAS/Mt Creek Lake, not business! Why were my concerns ignored locally - then passed on like a blah hot potato to TCEQ?
It seems clear now that, all that time, the Mt Creek Lake area was slated to become a cash cow-a belching, spewing, gaseous gas cow-with the city getting 25% percent of revenues from drilling plus the mega-millions leasing fee.
Isn't it sad that I naively expected folks with a financial agenda to be caring and
concerned about "doing the right thing" for our community? Really embarrassing-more for them than me.

Property Owners, Count the True Cost

2010-09-05T20:26:00.009-05:00

Today I saw the most beautiful area in Cedar Hill-an escarpment with limestone outcroppings of the most gorgeous chalky beige, green, and brown hues lining the roadway. I thought I had been transported to Austin. The tree-studded hills were ever-so-green and the rocky creeks looked cool and inviting as kids skipped across flat platform rock. Then, in the downhill distance a lake view...I could not believe I was only moments from Oak Cliff.
But, alas, I hear a well and frac pond have moved into one of the exclusive Cedar Hill sub-divisions and several wells-maybe five! are intended for already toxic Mountain Creek Lake.
NO ranting and raving...for what good would that do?
BUT, I am thinking about folks that signed agreements allowing these wells to come on their property. (...Assuming home owners were asked, perhaps some weren't.)
What, we might ask, were these people thinking?
Maybe I know. Profits without significant risk. Free money!
However, if residents signed on the line years ago, before much incriminating info about drilling was publicized; and if these people were told the risk to human health and water were MINISCULE, these citizens were MISLED.
Whether you agree or not, consider this. If drilling companies will not disclose the chemicals they put in the ground during drilling-chemicals which can ruin water supplies-HOW CAN ANY HOMEOWNER MAKE A INTELLIGENT DECISION ABOUT RISK?
If "risk" is evaluated and determined by insufficient or untrue information, is this important assessment valid?
Don't think so! Profits promised to homeowners from natural gas drilling must be considered in light of TRUE RISK-and that risk, we now now from the experience of countless other citizens, can devastate health, property, and financial viability.
Drilling in your residential neighborhood-it's so not worth it to you, property owner; and then please consider the rest of us who breathe your deadly well fumes and don't profit at all.
What does it profit a man to gain a pittance from a wealthy gas company...but lose what matters most?

GO TO dallashistory.org!

2010-08-14T09:13:00.002-05:00

If you enjoy learning about Oak Cliff and asking questions about its history, as I do; you will LOVE discussions with knowledgeable citizens who know Dallas.
Threads concerning the creeks of Oak Cliff, Mountain Creek Lake, Elmwood, Cedar Mountain, wells, etc...are off and running.
I am most grateful to the men who have answered my questions, and I am wondering if this might be a forum for folks to inform others about OC drilling concerns.
Take a look.
While this is not an activist organization, knowledge is the foundation of activism.
Maybe I will "see you" in the forum!

WESTMORELAND AND THE CREEKS OF OAK CLIFF

2010-08-09T08:41:00.015-05:00

I heard from EPA this morning and am happy to report that EPA Region 6 is committed to pre-screening for CERCLIS (CERCLA) at the Dixico site on Polk St in Oak Cliff. Though some may say this is thirty years too late, I am thankful for the attention now-realizing how easily it could have been denied.
Driving around Oak Cliff yesterday, my sister and I spotted a huge plastics plant from the 50s-90s that made "Dal Tex" Melamine dinnerware, large speckled mixing bowls, and plastic tumblers. A quick Google yielded the fact these dishes are highly collectible. Imagine that-we were trying to give ours to Goodwill in the 60s! Plastics were so old school once one discovered pottery....
Anyway, Dallas Plastics in the 2000 block of Westmoreland between Illinois and Kiest discharged FORMALDEHYDE into the Trinity R (via creeks-what else?); and what they didn't discharge, they dumped several places-even returning waste to Dallas water utilities. Ammonia, also, was a substantial gift to the water dept. (Exact amounts for later years can be found at EPA's TRI - toxic release site.) Apparently the facility still operates as a "molding compounds" company, meaning plastics, resins, chemicals.
Interested in chemicals discharged into Dallas creeks? Become a student of Dal-Tex or Dallas Plastics on Westmoreland, Dixico on Polk St (also Delta Industries at same address), and Halliburton-practically on Coombs Creek at Illinois and Westmoreland.
Proceeding south on Westmoreland to the 4000 block, there's another plastics plant. Who realized Oak Cliff is/was such an industrial center-with numerous small homes and creeks alongside smoking, dioxin - emitting factories?

Please remember the citizens' meeting about gas drilling (Oak Cliff) with Raymond Crawford and Tx Sharon at Southwood Methodist Church on Ravinia, Wed, 7 pm. According to Raymond, in-use permits for FOUR SITES at Mountain Creek Lake have been obtained. This is only three more than I knew about!

TX Sharon's Statement to EPA

2010-08-04T14:52:00.002-05:00

This video presentation by Sharon Wilson, Texas Sharon, sums up what we citizens need to know about gas drilling in our North Texas Communities and elsewhere. So I'd like to share it.

CITIZENS UNITE FOR A CLEAN OAK CLIFF

2010-07-31T11:53:00.007-05:00

Wonderful news! A citizens meeting discussing gas drilling in the Oak Cliff area will be convened Aug. 11, 7 pm. at Southwood Methodist Church - 3601 S Ravinia at Southwood Dr..
All Dallas residents are invited and TEXAS SHARON (Wilson) will address the group. Group moderator is Raymond Crawford, leader of Kiestwood Homeowners Assoc, who advertises this event on Facebook. See "Dallas-the Next Gasland?"on FB for more info. News is added almost daily.
I have a feeling this group is just what Oak Cliff needs.

Another effort is underway to unite citizens for the clean up of the old Dixico plant site at 1300 S Polk and the neighboring Cedar Creeks. Testing this site for contaminants will happen soon, I believe; and thorough testing for all known chemicals used at the site is warranted.
If you are interested in being a founding member of the group Citizens for A Clean Oak Cliff, e-mail me at raking26@yahoo.com.
Perhaps one day citizens concerned about Dixico and citizens standing up for a drilling moratorium (or strong drilling regulations) will comprise one strong group
advocating environmental health and clean up for Oak Cliff.
Remember, Oak Cliff is an old area of Dallas. Zoning laws have not always been protective of residents, creeks and waterways have not been protected, and we have been left with much environmental damage from industry and the military.
For Oak Cliff to thrive, the community must not only update and add to local amenities-but demand the land and water be a clean foundation for building the future. Frankly, we have a lot of catching up to do, thanks to lax Texas laws which have allowed business to have a field day with our shared environment.
So, e-mail me now or find Raymond on FB before you forget!
THANKS OC friends.

FOR SALE-COLD WAR HISTORIC SITE

2010-07-28T09:44:00.007-05:00

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16668595/9314-West-Jefferson-Boulevard-Dallas-TX/

See this link for the advertisement of our Dallas Naval Air Station/Naval Weapons site, which is on the auction block. Wasn't this place a historic site in the recent past? Weren't we trying to preserve history of the Cold War?
Check EPA toxic info for this address and for "Vought" Dallas to see the specific contaminants within this property, and see toxic discharge into Mountain Creek Lake and particularly Cottonwood Bay. Quite illuminating for neighbors, particularly.
Personally, I think it is a disgrace that the Navy and city of Dallas allowed this property to attain and maintain ruin such that it is now only fit for industry which will further pollute it.
If I lived in this vicinity of this site, I would be most concerned about this property's industrial future and rally my neighbors.
Remember - natural gas drilling is coming!

CRIPPLED CREEK?... AT DIXICO PAPER

2010-07-19T09:51:00.008-05:00

The Dallas Morning News archives is a gold mine for info about known environmental problems in the Metroplex. Thanks to a wonderful investigative report who told me to include the archives in my quest for info about Oak Cliff.
Dixico, the focus of my search, was on Polk St. very near the present DART station at Clarendon, bordering a creek. The name of the creek when it reaches the Marsalis zoo area is Cedar Creek. This water path looks to me like a combination creek/storm runoff culvert-with extremely steep sides. Perfect for carrying industrial contamination through poor, residential neighborhoods straight to the PCB-laden Trinity River.
In 1988-89, Oak Cliff citizens waged war with Dixico over a hazardous waste incinerator in their Elmwood neighborhood. A lawsuit was threatened by the city and the permit Dixico sought from the Texas Water Development Board was withdrawn.
However, residents continued to question use of benzene, toluene, various alcohols, xylene; and leaking storage tank(s) were discovered. Also, the DMN reported that even as the incinerator plan was trashed, Dixico was free to ask for a SPECIAL PERMIT for burning from city, state, and federal govt.
Now who in their right mind would grant that? Well, you never know...Records cite burning violations, that's for sure.
Chemicals used and burned by Dixico are known today to cause leukemia and lymphoma and probably other forms of cancer. Dioxides produced by plastic manufacturing cause esophageal cancer, as evidenced by research on agent orange which was done after the Gulf Wars. A very serious situation for those who lived in the Dixico area...
Amazing that EPA, TCEQ, and even the city of Dallas seem to know so little about Dixico. Dallas records are disposed of or can't be found. EPA's records, so far, do not present a congruent picture over time with a clear statement of the outcome of government intervention. TCEQ has 800 pages of records on a storage tank, and the water development board has nothing, saying no info was maintained on wells in this old Oak Cliff area.
If you live in this area-or did in the past-wouldn't you like to know what's in your neighborhood soil and in that creek water? I would-especially since I know from personal testimonies that kids will skim the sides of that creek bank and follow it all the way to the zoo. 'Has been going on for years.

TOXIC RELEASES - NOT SO GENTLE ON MY MIND

2010-07-09T09:09:00.015-05:00

A funny thing about my fifties...I starting caring about the environment in a way I never had before. My quest to learn about poisoned water bodies began with poor Mountain Creek Lake, which my parents warned me to stay away from, though I never knew why. When, on the Internet, I searched out the WHY, I was emotionally impacted almost like someone tricked or assaulted. The impact has stayed with me as I've found one place then another toxically plundered, trashed, and often abandoned for our kids and grandkids to breathe... or clean up; while earlier generations deal with cancer this pollution has caused.
So, I have learned much yet still have a host of questions about the way things went down with polluters, records, and remediation-if any.

Today I will share a few questions that come to mind at this stage of seeking.

*Why is reporting of toxic chemicals "voluntary" for companies?

How can EPA tell me an old industrial site in my neighborhood "just didn't report"?

*In a similar vein, how can the status of a site officially needing corrective action
be UNKNOWN? (The site I'm wondering about is only five miles from the downtown EPA office, for heavens sake.)

*Can EPA really get away with saying they don't have manpower to study every site?

*Do all industrial sites have the same threshold of release that necessitates reporting? Not all facilities are the same size. Some manufacture more product than others and have more equipment. Some are in residential areas, some located besides public water like creeks and lakes, others are not.
Seems many factors are involved in polluting communities besides just
"tons released."
For example, releasing a few gallons of benzene into Mt Creek Lake would be horrid, but to release it into a neighborhood creek that has a couple of inches of water and kids playing in the creek seems so much worse! Does EPA make distinctions in these cases?
Surely human exposure is or should be an important factor.

*Are the older facilities with a toxic history in Dallas just "water under the bridge"? These owners from the 50s, 60s, 70s did not have to report dioxins and have likely skipped town before the Superfund system could catch them. What happens to their poisoned land, often now in poor, crowded minority neighborhoods, and the sick people who lived next door to them? Can none of toxic crimes of these polluters now be proved? That's convenient for the wrongdoers.

These are pesky thoughts for today-perhaps future pertinent questions for EPA.
And every thought/question pretty much begins and ends with the citizens who bear or will bear in their bodies the remnant of our shared toxic history.
For me, it's a physical, intellectual, and spiritual battle to first care, then learn, then speak out..
If you know me, you will be quick to realize I have sometimes spoken before learning the right things...Keeps me very humble and heading back to my teachers and my trusty Internet classroom. Next, onward to the EPA record room...

Truth, Freedom-the American Way?

2010-07-04T09:46:00.008-05:00

Thinking about freedom today and wanting to celebrate it...
FREEDOM IS-all the wonderful ideals I embraced as a patriotic child learning about the documents that gave us in human society the rights God gave us upon our birth.
Freedom is...a free education and a chance to find and make my place in the world.
Freedom is....having a military to protect me from hostile enemies while I go about my business.
Very wonderful-yet we do not all have every freedom we need or feel we need.
We feel the pressing hand of government upon our livelihood in increasing taxes; and the crushing cost of immigration, and the imposition of Congress in personal health care matters. Freedom is...not what it used to be!

Today I am asking for real freedom of information about toxic sites in my community.
What's the problem? public environmental agencies seem to make it as difficult as possible to give me as little info as possible on military sites, an industrial site, chemicals in lakes and creeks...Charging for more pages than I could ever read, without providing a reasonable human to answer direct questions.*
These agencies control info that basically reveals whether or not they have adequately done their jobs. Have they cleaned up sites, forced owners to clean up? Have they collected fines for years when companies were out of compliance and polluting the people's environment? Have they given businesses a break by not requiring complete clean up, allowing taxpaying citizens to literally absorb the damage-quietly, secretly, without media coverage. You may say THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN! See for yourself. Try to find out what is in your neighborhood creek. Try to find out if the governmental agencies even know.
I challenge you to track the emissions and toxic releases from drilling sites in your area. It is likely a site does not even report, according to the statistics I've read about Texas. Even if they do report, are all the blanks on the report forms filled in? "UNKNOWN" is not ok on a toxic release form that we pay to have evaluated and acted upon!

Freedom...really, really involves truth-telling or nobody is free.
Speaking generally, persons who withhold the complete truth are a particularly sneaky kind of dictator with a citizenry of captives. Happy birthday, America and Americans!

* I received a helpful bit of info today from TCEQ-not a lot, but it's a beginning.
Very appreciative...I am anxious to give credit when it's deserved.

TRAPPED ON BOTH SIDES IN KIESTWOOD

2010-06-30T20:56:00.009-05:00

Texas OGAP scientific models show that emissions from natural gas wells can travel five miles. FIVE MILES in all directions will impact a lot of people in Oak CLiff and Grand Prairie, where drilling will likely soon commence.
I am most concerned about the Kiestwood area of Oak Cliff, which could receive a double dose of toxic emissions from both Executive Airport and Mountain Creek Lake.
The potential "gun range" drilling site in GP is not so far away either.
When my grandmother built our family home in Kiestwood in 1956, the modern pink brick house was "out in the country." Tall trees were felled to build the hilly lane and acorn-covered lots-literal woods off Kiest Blvd.
Now the area is likely in the midst of the oil and gas industry, if proposed natural gas wells are dug nearby.
This will certainly help southern OC property values increase, and draw more middle income taxpayers who want to rehab large, aging homes, won't it?
But at this point, I am more concerned about the health of my beloved Kiestwood family members.
Really! Call out the environmental justice experts and health advocates in this time of emergency. Label us a minority community, call us the "hood," if it will help. After all, we do have our share of folks from all racial groups and economic levels; we can't hide our badge of poverty, crime, and struggle.
Speaking of poverty and struggle...Cliff dwellers who can barely afford health care (or have none) need to avoid drilling chemicals such as benzene like the plague. Does TXO/Exxon plan to show tangible care for Cliffers breathing their toxic air from a rig gone wrong? A tiny part that slips or cracks? A valve that leaks?
24 hour air monitoring and free clinics with free diagnostic tests, drugs, and hospitalization would be fair-along with long term care and funeral expenses could sweeten the deal.
Maybe then a quick drill before EPA takes the permits away would seem less lucrative.

Dallas City Council, YOU need to protect the public, which is your DUTY, your sacred trust. Protect us now.

BP and National Insecurity...

2010-06-25T14:57:00.008-05:00

About the Gulf oil spill....You know, if I had my way we would find ways of using clean, renewable energy and energy sources. Solar, wind, energy from ocean waves are "the way to go" and the way we will go eventually, I believe, as we improve technology and lower start up costs.
But as long as we choose to depend on oil, we may have to learn to drill safely in deep water.
When the Haiti earthquake happened last spring, I got it in my head that the UN was in Haiti protecting valuable mineral resources that could have been ravaged after the earthquake. And I learned along the way that the Haitian harbors and areas farther out in the sea were rich with oil. Port au Prince could become a wonderful port for the US military, I read, and refueling ship would be cheap and convenient if refined oil was available in mass quantities.
Problem is getting oil from beneath the ocean foor in deep water is just too expensive-and, now we know, complicated and risky (not to mention the refinery problem)
I've said all that to say this: I understand why BP was drilling in deep water, and see that, in a way, they had to learn to do this efficiently; not just for profit but for British and American national security. Other companies were learning to claim the hydrocarbons from the sea floor, and the US and friends needed to be able to access oil from our friendly Gulf and even Caribbean waters.
What none of us understands is why BP was not absolutely prepared for emergency, following religiously every safety rule in the book. Did they think the gods would somehow protect them from themselves?
I think there is a Greek or British myth in here somewhere...Egotists defy the power of nature and trust in own pitful, flawed ability. (...Not trusting in the US Navy, foreign governments who claim to know how to solve the crisis, individuals like Kevin Costner and Red Adair with ingenious equipment and proven experience.)
As BP remains "in control" and our President allows this, trouble gets worse and lasts longer. In the end, BP may not lose as much as the Gulf coast.
Totally unfair.
This is one of the few times in my long life "experts" have not known how serious or devastating a NATIONAL EMERGENCY will be. Comforting?

Drilling At Hensley Field

2010-06-22T22:50:00.004-05:00

The time has come. If the Texas Railroad Commission gives the "go ahead," a natural gas well will be dug at Hensley Field, Dallas Naval Air Station.
Though the Navy has its land at the naval facilities for sale, the city of Dallas owns and has leased city-owned adjoining land-namely Hensley Field.
After all the problems - benzene emissions, polluted wells, the oily, smelly toxic ponds, EXPLOSIONS we've seen to the west and southwest of us, now Dallas will try her luck with natural gas drilling.
It could be now or never...If I were a driller I might think, "Get the gas before EPA further regulates, takes over permits, and won't give me one!"
Undoubtably, the homeowners who bought new or relatively new homes on the Grand Prairie side of Mountain Creek Lake are having second thoughts. What more in terms of pollution can come their way? Oh yeah, a lot! And what benefit, if any, do they receive?
If you live in this area and have any voice in city affairs-whether in Oak Cliff or Grand Prairie-please remember the school children in class and on the playground just two blocks behind the naval weapons/Vought plant area, the students in dorms at DBU, and faithful at the Potter's House. Hensley Field is not as remote as one might first think.
Air needs to be monitored in this area now-very seriously. Water problems will come in time.

"MT CREEK INDUSTRIAL CENTER" AUCTIONED

2010-06-17T08:37:00.006-05:00

I see today that the sale of Vought to Triumph "went through," so I hope the Dallas media will now address the fact that the Dallas NAS/NWIRP now christiened "Mountain Creek Industrial Center" is being sold online at auction! Wasn't this large naval facility recently made a historic site? How can you just sell our toxic military base - with all its revered Cold War history - to an unknown landlord or lord of another toxic industry? Seems there would be some discussion among Dallas leaders or DALLAS CITIZENS or the media-or SOMETHING!
The planes at Vought/Triumph are designed and built under the national security umbrella-are they not? Can just anyone own the "industrial park?" And let me add, I'm sure owners from China or Dubai would just love to guard our Cold War history and nuclear weapons/space program technology!
Oh, people, it is a crazy world! Maybe not so much IF obvious weird events were discussed and explained. But to do so, would raise the dreaded RED FLAG and the Navy might not be able to dump its toxic, unremediated - to - completion site.
Stay tuned. We'll see how much a buyer is willing to pay for the shoreline of yucky Mountain Creek Lake and Cottonwood Bay with its ruined groundwater and aquifer.

EPA MAKES GOOD ON THREAT

2010-06-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

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Radioactive Waste: YES, TEXANS-IT MIGRATES!

2010-06-14T09:29:00.007-05:00

I have continued to study the proposed radioactive waste landfill in Andrews, Tx, and marvel at support from the Andrews community, which seeks jobs, a boost to its economy, and a meaningful service project for Andrews. In other words, these fine folks feel their barren land is a perfect home for radioactive waste, which after all has to go somewhere! Their welcome mat is apparently laid down and out...
After reading a long Nuclear Regulatory Commission report on waste storage, I know one thing: This site is not safe. How do I know? The Commission makes these points:

1. Much-that is MUCH-is yet unknown about how nuclear waste migrates and why it migrates.
2. Waste migrates in moisture, in water, and in nano-particles in soil.
3. Some particles in soil actually attract waste, bind with it, and cause the waste to spread very quickly.
4.Waste disposal areas are, especially in the Andrews case, very large and definitely contain numerous kinds of soil and chemical particles. There is no way to say an area is "all clay," or has "no this -or-that." Earth is a mixture of things that block waste and things that facilitate movement of waste. That's just the way nature is. People who say a site is miraculously safe because of its "geology" are selling a scenario that can't be so. Some factors within a given site may be positive for disposal purposes, but be assured all are not!
5. The life of radioactive waste is thousands of years, for sure-maybe a lot longer. (The second article I read this morning said MILLIONS-so take your pick.)
6. When leakage and damage occurs, clean up is extremely expensive.
This is not news, and I believe we all agree on that point.

SO, here's my take. Eventually something will go wrong at the Andrews disposal site. The state of Texas will have to pay for damages after 20 years, when problems will most likely occur. Meanwhile radioactive waste-low level, high level-the facility is licensed for all three classes-will be trucked on DFW freeways constantly. Will the truck that causes the next wreck on a Dallas freeway spew its radioactive load to blow across your community or mine? A little rain...and our soil might as well be Andrews, Tx.

Texans, we are just not thinking clearly about our future! Dollars for Andrews does not equal safety for Dallas or I 20 across Texas. Speak up now-while you can.

POLK ST Area-Cancer Information Sought

2010-06-06T12:34:00.016-05:00

Lately, I have been researching water wells in and around Oak Cliff to discover reasons for OC's high (double the state) cancer rate. Goodness-we OC kids were encircled by toxic industry: the Dixie Paper Co, Dresser Ind., RSR smelter, Cement City and Lone Star Cement, manufacturing and repair of all types-roof, paint, auto,
oil and gas drilling equipment; then, of course, the aircraft and missile industries and military were at Mt Creek Lake. Even our utilities like Lone Star Gas and TXU are now or were Superfund sites.
As if that isn't enough, I found ASBESTOS SITES: schools, churches, county buildings-even the Sears headquarters my grandfather worked in for 40 years contained asbestos!
What can one say except that, as a people, our ability to build and create exceeded our ability or desire to clean up.

When I look around my house, I think sometimes I have the same problem; but at least I'm not emitting dioxins or radioactive metals.

If you lived in the Dixie paper plant area (Polk St region-Vernon, Tyler Sts...) and know of someone who developed cancer at a young age or any age, or someone whose child was born with birth defects;
please e-mail me at raking26@yahoo.com.
While my research is in the early stages, I see chemicals from a paper/plastics plant having been released into the air over many decades (PVC, dioxins from plastics; also ink and solvents have been mentioned in public reports; and possible dumping in an Oklahoma Superfund site).*
Another factor to consider: I personally know of several people who suffered extremely ill effects. In fact, none of these folks are currently living.
Could be a co-incidence, but I feel there's a strong reason to understand the OC environment back in the 50s-80s particularly. Interesting and worrisome-from both a personal and historical perspective, don't you think? THANKS!

*If you wonder why we're talking about dioxins now, fifty years after the fact...remember recent studies, including ones that followed Viet Nam veterans exposed to "agent orange" have revealed more info on chemicals and respiratory, gastro and liver cancer than we could have ever imagined back in the day. Perhaps now is the time to put these pieces together for Oak Cliff residents and families who have lost loved ones.

HELL...AND OTHER PEOPLE

2010-05-30T00:08:00.003-05:00

The oil spill in the Gulf has done something remarkable-something ranting, protesting, or educating could not do. It has shown the world how dangerous drilling for oil and gas can be, and it has shown how anxious for quick profit oil companies are.
Now the oil companies may protest, but it seems to me we have the facts through the testimony of these companies' own employees. Other employees are dead, the Gulf coast has lost its fishing industry, tourism, and relative environmental cleanliness and safety of beaches; wildlife and ecosystems are dying-choked of air and water-even food. All for a few million.
Lives and life risked and lost for a few, fast bucks.
This is a lesson that isn't quickly over and forgotten-it bleeds before our eyes, captured for all the world on the world wide web.
Terrorists don't have to come for us right now; our own greed is doing the job.
Pres. Obama is correct that this situation is ENRAGING. Or perhaps we should leave that word for young widows who lost husbands on the drilling platform.
What good is rage? Well, for one thing, it is an unparalleled teacher and guide through future murky water where tough decisions about energy must be made.
Rage and even fear take us places we don't want to go; but we need to go there to learn to be better citizens-citizens who can hold greedy corporations accountable for their actions.
The few people who made the decision to ignore complete safety procedures acted out true corporate philosophy, which they knew well. You just can't blame a disaster like this on a few individuals, in my book. We all know what the boss expects us to do.
So, there's a lesson for humanity on the Gulf ocean floor. ...A drama which may prove to be ongoing hell for BP.
Sorry so many others must go there too, through no fault of their own.

TO SEEK A YOUNGER WORLD

2010-05-19T08:06:00.020-05:00

...Reflecting on the state of union: war in Middle East, the BP Gulf of Mexico oil leak and melted chocolate-looking oil on Southern beaches, Texas's weak environmental regulations, contaminated and drained-by-drillers aquifers in Texas, radioactive waste coming to Tx from all over the us, TCE in Grand Prairie underground plumes encroaching on homes....the list is long.
Human beings have lived on earth MILLIONS of years. But, in my lifetime or in say, the past sixty years or the baby boomers' lifespan, we have managed to ruin much our groundwater and underground hydrological system with industrial "progress" and war.
When else in history did the free world have to fight to the death so often for her way of life with advanced technological weapons, aircraft, and missiles? Not to mention the nuclear component...Totally unprecedented.
We have literally had to fight for our way of life and freedom during the past half century-or at least we thought we had to; and I don't disagree that we did what we had to do.
Will nuclear arms ever be laid down or given up? Will the US continue to use weapons of depleted uranium which destroy the homeland of the enemy and cause cancer in our own soldiers? Seems we are using these weapons (which I believe should be outlawed) when our existence may not be at stake, but our oil is or was.
I'm thinking we will only renew our planet and our international relationships when we renew the way we think about war, humanity, ourselves. Oh yes, and our energy needs!
Some say it's too late. Too much is at stake and the rest of the world can't be trusted.
Things are too far gone, too toxic-and that may be true.
Robert Kennedy said - in effect - prior to being murdered: It's never too late to seek a younger, newer world.
His son, RFK, Jr, says we need a cleaner world.
Maybe the two ideas go together-peace and the rebuilding/restoring of the earth.
Perhaps nations will come together one day to save our water, soil and air. Oh, "save the planet" reads like a hippie T-shirt, but where there are hippies, there's usually a good bit of truth!

When we've suffered enough in all the ways people suffer-physically as a planet, spiritually as an isolated people, economically as a nation consuming itself with debt, politically as politicians fund favorite projects with tax money while people and families go without jobs- we'll take a hard look at this.

If Mother Nature Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody...

2010-05-15T15:46:00.008-05:00

BP has hit a snag in plugging the Gulf oil gusher. A SNAG? A snag implies things are going well, then...a tiny problem. BP has had a problem since the rig exploded.
Now robots commanded by joy stick welding BPians are stabbing around on the ocean floor "looking" for leaks. If it wasn't so tragic, this might sound slightly humorous. Okay-very humorous.
I see this situation in simple terms: the leak is a mile or more below the surface. Nobody can see the leak or reach it. No one really knows exactly what happened, how much oil has or will spill, or OBVIOUSLY how to fix it.
Remember the Beatles song "I'm fixing a hole"? I always had the sense that fixing the hole was futile, as nature and rain would overcome the human whose mind was wandering where rain would go (when the hole ceased to exist). In other words, nature holds firm to her power, and woe to one who thinks he can circumvent nature's ways.
In this war between man and nature, who will win? A ROBOT? A creature that is neither but may save both.
Personally, I believe in the end, nature and her forces will prevail. Dispersing chemicals and siphoning-a process we can understand and assume will work-will help, but the sea will swallow man's error in her own way - and ecosystems will be affected. There's no do-over, BP, which is why it's wrong to fool Mother Nature.

*Of interest Sunday, May 16: Treehhuggers.com has photos of the actual oil leak on the sea floor-real oil gushing from the broken pipe. They report that BP has video stream coming from cameras mounted on subs, but the photos are "proprietory"-kind of like their chemical formulas used in drilling. BP does not want these photos to become iconic representations of their disaster. Keeps the problem and the amount of oil leaking a bit more SECRET.
Also, Rush Limbaugh weighed in with the comment: Oil is as natural as seawater! Yes, but not IN seawater!

*I see FOX NEWS has a fuzzy pic of the leak now. ...This info needs to seep/leak/trickle out to the public.

Mt Creek Lake Bridge Dodges Grenade

2010-05-11T20:26:00.012-05:00

A grenade was found under or close to the Mountain Creek Lake bridge this afternoon. What does this mean? Terrorists in Oak Cliff?
I wonder if they were targeting the US military at the old naval base, or poor old eastern Grand Prairie, or practicing for future mischief in NYC. Awful.
But I noticed two amazing things...
1. The grenade was found and who knows how long it had been there. And...
2. The Dallas police actually dive in that toxic MCL water.
I hope their families have Baron and Budd's phone number should they develop cancer in twenty years.
But, I'm glad the police was there diving and, by chance, watching over the MCL bridge.
Update: The police do not believe any plot against the bridge existed. Isn't it funny how they say NO PLOT then offer a crimestopper reward for information about the criminal? _____________________________

***By the way, do remember the ammunition or explosives that were stolen from the Mountain Creek Lake area last year? I think this was police ammo worth thousands of dollars.
Wonder where that is today? In Mexico maybe then carried across the border and used on American citizens in S Texas or Arizona? Fueling drug wars? Perish the thought. My imagination is going to an unhappy place.

WHAT'S IN THE BIG BOX?

2010-05-09T20:29:00.007-05:00

Am I the only one who wondered how the giant oil containment box that BP planned to position over the leak would work? Like-how would it adhere to the ocean floor? Wouldn't water pressure make it rise and float away? Wouldn't it fill with water and not just oil? Natural gas, also? BP=BIG PROBLEM.
And, I read they are building a second one!
If these boxes don't work (and one hasn't so far due to ice crystals), what will become of the boxes?
Could they be used as housing in a third world country? A rope-climbing facility? A warehouse, wedding chapel, or cover for a missile? Imagine crushing and recycling metal worth mega millions.
Wait, I've got an idea. The boxes could be modern monuments-certainly historic now- to BP and Halliburton planted along the Houston Ship Channel or at corporate headquarters-maybe adapted as an aviary.
I remember all the friendly environmental hype spewed out by BP these past 10-20 years. Just words...and words don't stop a fatal spill, do they? BP and their friends were simply not protected against emergency that is never totally unanticipated.
I think BP and maybe Halliburton are over...and I pray they are not nationalized; but stranger things have happened. They are probably necessary to our national energy supply, necessary to the military - and thus national security. Reminds me of the Wall Street scenario-the companies that take us down, also support and build us up.

Civil Rights and the Environment: What BP/Halli B Are Teaching Us

2010-05-03T10:06:00.010-05:00

We may need a present day ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT similar to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960-where leaders and citizens band together to distinguish right from wrong (in this scenario the moral issues would be unsafe drilling and other polluting activities) outlining what Americans and world citizens will and will not accept.
Martin Luther King basically proclaimed that mankind must move from what is unfair to what is fair-and that truth (and love) will ultimately win!
I recognize that air, water, and ecosystems are very different from human beings and racial equality; yet my focus in on peaceful change, fairness, and quality of life for all people-not just wealthy corporate guys in high-rises and hotels. The young, the old, the frail, the poor-all have a right to breathe clean air in the park and drink untainted water. Inalienable right in my book...
To me, a restored environment is much more a matter of justice and survival than politics. It is a most logical benefit from our cumulative knowledge and research which the human family could and should enjoy. In other words: What is science for if not to heal the wounds of a flawed, industrial world?
The Gulf oil spill may be just the reality picture we can understand and embrace.
Let's not let men's lives and all that oil be wasted-given for nothing.
I hear that Congress is ready to lower the boom on drilling-in a truth-seeking, loving way, of course. And it's about time.

THE RUPTURED EARTH

2010-05-02T13:30:00.025-05:00

As bad as this Gulf oil spill is, and it is bad; all our arguments and complaints wind back to the US government and what WE THE PEOPLE, who are the government, will accept. That is to say: as long as we demand fossil fuel energy without demanding tight regulation, safeguards and total penalty for damage life and environment, we are a big part of the problem.

However, BP/TO and Halliburton were playing pretty fast and loose with chemicals and mud, without cement plugs and a functional shut-off system. And many questions remain: exploration? fracking? what was the heat source or flame? what did they have to do to find this huge resevoir of oil using what chemicals????
You know, the whole point of drilling for oil or gas is to CREATE AN UNDERGROUND EXPLOSION then contain what happens! (Wouldn't it really help to have an infallable plug in place, guys?)

Drilling on land and sea is dangerous and seems more so using recent cost-effective, profit-enhancing methods. Drilling in deep water just makes the whole endeavor more explosive if anything goes wrong! Sounds to me like there are a couple of hundred parts that could fail, fifty to a hundred chemicals that could ignite, and a crew of humans liable to make "human error." Are we willing to accept those odds when our homeland coastlines are at stake?

SO, this is my take-
Either a primary explosion caused cement and equipment to fail because they were damaged in the explosion; or the cement and equipment failed allowing gas to travel and ignite. I think we could possibly have the info backwards at present, which would protect the reputation of current drilling methods many people consider unsafe.
Very sad for all living creatures-but at least we're living-many aren't.

(Above photo from the Huffington Post, which has excellent coverage on the oil spill, as does Propublica.)

Chemicals and Rad Materials=Drugs and Explosives

2010-05-01T16:24:00.010-05:00

Heard an interesting report-this time on tv. A journalist was discussing the US/Arizona immigration situation and noted that fewer folks are immigrating to take minimum wage jobs (like working in chicken plants-what a picture!). But, there are still many seeking to benefit from the resources of the United States.
Sadly, the two things most desired by the highest per cent of immigrants to the US are DRUGS and EXPLOSIVES/WEAPONS!
(I find this hard to believe, but do accept the criminal intent of many.)
So, I'm thinking that the sale of these items will be profitable to unscrupulous, "organized" entrepreneurs here in the States; and that organized crime could be focusing on chemicals, chemistry labs , metals, and radioactive materials, as these could be used to produce contraband.
Strict, serious environmental and chemical regulation is needed now more than ever.
Texans and Texas legislators, are you listening?
Our pro-business philosphy and "toothless laws" make us easy prey, not just for states wanting to dump radioactive waste here, but for organized crime and terrorists.
Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but it's better than being naive; or getting rich from graft while fellow citizens are endangered.

Why Does Money Change Hands Over A Dumpsite?

2010-04-29T05:58:00.025-05:00

I've begun a bit of a study of organized crime, as related to the waste disposal industry; and am piecing together info on the Internet attempting to picture what this might look like today. My study was sparked by a quote to this effect: Radioactive waste disposal is taken care of by Mafia-related companies which exist because Republicans (pro-business types) put up the money!
Well, that got me thinking about what I'd read about rich Republicans greasing the palms of Texas legislators in return for a low level rad waste site in West Texas-with weird laws being passed and aquifer bounderies disputed and re-drawn!

Wait a minute! I'm not sure organized crime exists any more, so this is what I've READ and am weighing for truth and reality:
Organized crime does exist, but drains money mostly from the federal government now.
Working with cities is not lucrative enough and is too obvious; bigger bucks and less oversight exist at the higher federal level. Cyber crime is one current activity that channels funds toward the unscrupulous; making false claims for services-like health services - is another.
Drug production (meth, for example) and explosives manufacturing are possible organized crime past times especially if connected to a "front" chemical company. Such companies need a trusty place to dump waste as they
hide activities that could, as one article phrased it, "contribute to the downfall of the United States."

Organized crime does not equal big Sicilian families-anyone making money illegally can qualify!
Organized crime in the waste industry was publicized and addressed in NYC in the 90s by Mayor Giulliani. One big waste company controlling the NYC market changed hands after Giulliani's crack-down, and was bought by a major Texas company; which I cite to make the point that, when companies change hands, past crimes "disappear." The slate is wiped clean. Reborn and renamed companies "lay low"-off the radar screen-until new charges can be proved. Who knows if the new company is fundamentally different than the old one.
In other countries such as Italy, the mob has dumped well over a hundred canisters of radioactive waste into the sea, and is presently being charged with that crime. Fortunately, this travesty was discovered-at least once! Who knows how long the activity had gone on.

More to come on this, but let me leave you with a thought:
One can be so driven to make money, that one wants to make big, expensive problems like toxic waste go away fast and cheaply! There have always been people who'll hire others to do this dirty work and keep a sizable profit-people who don't care about the health risks to workers or the public.
When we see cash from an individual or PAC changing hands over a dumpsite, we need to ask why. Why would you pay legislators for a legitimate business opportunity that would be beneficial to our state? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Note: I would be the last person on earth to have first-hand knowledge of organized criminal activities, but I am a reader and student, someone who is trying to connect general knowledge with what I see in the world. Two plus two may be five, but maybe not. If we think and work together, it won't take fifty years for the truth about rad waste storage to come out!

GOD BLESS NUCLEAR, TEXAS

2010-04-27T17:08:00.010-05:00

Is Texas becoming the nuclear capital of the world? Have we been chosen to forever maintain the radioactive waste of the federal government and the PCBs from the Hudson River? Is it true that in Andrews, Tx/Andrews County the following is commencing or has already begun: nuclear research, a reactor with DOE fuel, a radioactive waste dumpsite, possibly a haven for Barnett Shale NORM drilling waste via a local clean up company? A nuclear research program for UT? And in twenty years the state will bear the liability for whatever damage this research and "storage" produces?*
Our Texas legislators must think this is totally financially cool. Oh, I am ready to follow some big money, friends and fellow Texans.
Did anyone ask you if it is okay for poor, dry, delicate Andrews-home of the largest aquifer in the nation to become NUCLEAR, TEXAS?
Citizens no longer know what is going on with government and have no say!
How does a caring, sane person handle this?
On one hand, we don't want to be looking for nuclear waste behind every drilling rig or military hangar and screaming that the end of the world has come! On the other hand, we have a right to know we're fully protected and that our future won't be sold down the toxic river for a campaign contribution.
WHAT TO DO? And where is Ms. Manners when we need her?
Frankly, I recommend hollering then contacting legislators because my trust factor in regard to Texas government and the environment
is running on E for EMPTY. And you???

*The Andrews County dump site is licensed to receive waste classified (classes) 1, 2, and 3-with one being the least radioactive. So, it's very possible class 3 waste could be buried in the mix without the public's awareness of risk. It's also possible, according to the practices of similar dumps, for the "low level" waste to be re-classified as "below limits of concern" and be sold as playground, parking lot, or landscaping filler dirt. In such a case, the "dump" would be a clearing house for rad waste and facilitate its re-entry into communities. Once this facility is running at full capacity and people have forgotten about it, who'll really know what they do? Oh yeah, state of Texas regulators! Too bad, the ones with the most knowledge and integrity quit over deals like this (so I read...)
God bless Nuclear, Texas, where cash is king.

Vought:Were you there 15 years ago?

2010-04-22T22:00:00.007-05:00

The year was 1994, during the Clinton administration. US Dept of Defense was required to report to citizens the amount of toxic emissions released in the air by military facilities and contractors. The TOP TEN toxin-emitting
military bases/places were found to be doing over 52% of the damage to our nation's air that was done by the military.
Vought - Dallas was number 6 on the top ten list-for the nation.
Lord help us...I sometimes wondered why the air wasn't tested at Mountain Creek Lake and if the Vought facility was really as toxic as the water in the lake indicated.
Now I know.
Of course, emission levels may be improved now, but to what extent? and whose health has already been affected?
By the way a Lockheed-Martin site in another state had a worse record than Vought!

STEEL AND THE STEALING OF OUR HOMELAND

2010-04-20T21:49:00.014-05:00

I never meant to grow up to be anti-military. Patriotism was the mother's milk of Rosemont School, where most daddies were proud WW11 vets with adoring families happy to pledge the flag and honor America in every way. We were, in a sense, all born on the Fourth of July, living the American dream in the fabulous fifties.
When Communism threatened us, there was no doubt but that the evil Russian Empire would feel the burn of every bomb our missile plants could produce-and deserve them! Especially with Premier Nikita K coming on tv every 20 min promising, "WE WILL BURY YOU!" Talk about a shoot yourself from the air and sea move!
But now I'm in my fabulous fifties and the world looks a lot different.
The land that I love bears the Superfund brand from steel plants to mines to army and naval bases to industrial/metals/and God-knows-what-else
dumping grounds to radioactive waste disposal sites to streams, rivers, and oceans. What is the connection between these places? They provided the materials and building sites, storage and waste sites for aircraft, ships, munitions/bombs, and even the space program...the military.
Were these endeavors or inventions necessary to create the world we live in today?
YES-things being what they were back in the day of LBJ and his buds; with JFK having been murdered and the war in Viet Nam escalated to the max.
BUT...it takes a lot of thoughtful research and courage to connect the dots and see that many of our environmental problems essentially intersect the military with all its glory and greed of corporate contractor moguls who made billions from war.
When unraveling toxic mysteries, when connecting the dots, I've found the following advice helpful:
Follow the money...which splinters into following the materials, the uranium deliveries and radioactive waste, the companies that changed hands and names multiple times, the nuclear permits, and personalities who devised one money making scheme after another at the expense of land, water, and human health.
Then when the true picture emerges ask, "Who was supposed to be regulating activities and appropriate environmental safeguards and clean up? Who was supposed to be protecting citizens-present and future?"
If I worked for a regulatory or protective agency funded by tax-payers, I might be a little nervous-secretive right about now - BUT THAT'S JUST ME. Nervous...about the environmental misdeeds of the past that have been denied and covered up with soil caps; and military technology of the present and future that is so secret and complex that thinking people wonder how regulation will be possible.
Has the military and its weaponry grown beyond the people's ability to understand it, oversee it, and approve it?

WONDERVIEW and Mr. Wonderful

2010-04-19T08:05:00.013-05:00

Mark Cuban and East Oak Cliff! Too good to be true? Maybe.
"After environmental clean up," Mark will develop the run-down area, which, according to some-floods and was a dumping ground.
Ok. More info please...What kind of dumping ground?
Superfund docs show a SF site in the 3400 block of E Kiest and we know the Cadillac Heights area is presently in the news for its lead smelters and a major "metals" dumping ground, which may be be moved to the "inland port" industrial area. (By the way, that idea sounds good to me as the metals will be organized in suitable warehouses and not DUMPED on the ground.)
So, I'm waiting for an enterprising DMN reporter to tell us the environmental status of Mark's Wonderview! I wonder what's in the soil, because what he builds on top will never be better than what's down below. The earth and her natural processes will always win and alarm us humans in time-if we bury our toxic misdeeds.
HOWEVER, if Mark C has bought wisely and successfully develops his OC property, displacing drug dealers and criminals, providing jobs and improved self-esteem and athletic opportunities for residents, hallelujah!
Sad to say, many have a jaded view of someone buying lower tier property hoping to make a
killing. Let's test that soil...and pray for a better day in the Cliff with Mark C, a maverick in every way.

Hmmm...several blogs proclaim today that something smells (bad) in Cadillac Heights.
I'm going to find out what!
Apparently, Cuban's new wonderland is cursed with a stench from the local sewer and deceased animal repository; but GOOD NEWS! When the homes and businesses between his
complex and the Trinity River are demolished, he will have .... a good location? Maybe sweaty basketball players and folks in apartments and cafes
won't notice a S-E-W-E-R...
Reservations, anyone???

"TOP SECRET" DEFENSE IN DALLAS

2010-04-15T22:45:00.010-05:00

Do you happen to know about "top secret" aircraft/defense projects at the Dallas Naval Air facilities during WW II and the Cold War-even beyond?
I am interested in the history of this Dallas historical site. Many articles have identified the original mission of NAS/NWIRP as aircraft repair and recruit and pilot training, but declassified documents suggest a much broader mission as time went on and military needs changed.
Several Cliff dwellers my age realize, and were told by their elders, that pressure was intense to develop planes with missiles that exceeded Russian capabilities, and even to design missiles light enough to be transported in aircraft. Then once designed and employed on planes (the Regulus, for example), deadly nuclear missiles were fired from US planes and submarines - according to the history of Vought Aircraft available online.
I am yet unclear on exactly when nuclear missiles were used with Vought planes, but I know the Lance carried nuclear missiles and that pilots were trained at NAS on the most sophisticated planes the US arsenal had to offer.
When we study the sediments now in Mountain Creek Lake and read NRC documents which identify permits for radioactive material, it appears serious research and development of missiles was taking place in Dallas and that, at some point, the mission of the Dallas base/defense plant expanded and became extremely important in US history.

I know this may seem like dirty water under the proverbial bridge now, but if we perform an autopsy on our toxic Oak Cliff/GP lake-Mountain Creek Lake-we may learn a little history in the process, and better understand the environmental problems we can choose to live with or actively address.
To contact me: raking26@yahoo.com. THANKS!

Severe Illness and Mountain Creek Lake

2010-04-10T12:25:00.026-05:00

Re: http://oakcliffblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/07/%20in-search-of-the-facts-about-m.html
***********************************************************
Just read a post by Mara on the Dallas Morning News Oak Cliff blog site in comments on Mountain Creek Lake. Mara and her children live in a new home on the lake and have become very ill since residing there. Breathing difficulty, constant coughing, spitting up blood, nodules in throat and lung, enlarged lung, neurological problems are major complaints. All three in the family are affected-mom and two children.
OK...we're not too surprised...Mara's housing area is close to or atop a TCE plume flowing toward the Naval Weapons Facility (The Navy denies causing the plume). Her lake contains PCBs, metals, and worse. Steam from the neighboring power plant drives chemicals from the lake into the air. Air quality is not measured at the lake, and the lake itself has been given over to "natural attenuation"-no clean up because the problem is quite vast and too expensive to fix. Nature will be able to "cure" all these chemicals in only a hundred years; good news - maybe seventy!
Texas law allowed the building of her subdivision; and I'm confident she was not warned of the lake's contamination by the US Navy.
Is anyone else in this area suffering similar illnesses?
Neighbors need to band together, collect info, and notify the builder, the cities of Dallas and Grand Prairie, EPA, etc.
While the contamination of the Naval facilities area was my first thought, the problem could be indoor air quality from features of the home itself.

Already-soon after posting-I've heard from an expert that Mara's illnesses do not warrant testing for TCE. However, testing may be requested - with maximum politeness, I'm sure!
This should not be taken to mean that regulators would test.
SO, what does it take to warrant a test? More time and more people getting sick?
My bottom line concern is that we just don't know what hazardous waste could have been dumped around the Naval facilities or what building materials were used in the neighboring subdivision.
Taxpayers, this is a time when public money needs to be spent to safeguard citizens and their absolutely helpless children living in worrisome conditions.

Helpful experts have weighed in on Mara's problems. EPA affirms that building materials from other countries must be considered as a possible culprit. Think Chinese drywall and the like....Also, houses causing respiratory ailments should be tested for radon gas-a product of decaying uranium, which can enter homes from the soil, water supply, or even through certain kinds of dangerous drywall. Radon testing is easy to do and is inexpensive - even free. EPA can help and publishes guidelines on its website. Thanks, EPA!

What Frack Caused That Crack?

2010-04-10T09:45:00.005-05:00

Abraham Lustgarten of Propublica informs that drilling industry spokesman Lee Fuller asserts fracking alone does not contaminate groundwater! Why? Because cracks already exist underground and fracking just causes chemicals to seep in; fracking doesn't cause the cracks.
OK. What is the whole purpose of fracking? To crack open the ground so gas can be extracted.
Can't you just hear the protests? I caused this crack with my frack, but not that one!

WOULD YOU-COULD YOU-BE MY NEIGHBOR?

2010-04-06T19:00:00.009-05:00

Which would you rather live next to? A nuclear reactor or a drilling rig?
What a question!
But actually a nuclear reactor is neater, cleaner, and quieter than a rig, and it gives off much less radiation.
Today, I read the following surprising revelation from TxSharon (who is affiliated with Texas OGAP and "Drill Right Texas"): Because the drilling industry is UNREGULATED, rigs emit 5-30 TIMES more radiation* than nuclear reactors! We know fracking chemicals cause explosions and cracks underground, infiltrating water supply by some pathway; and causing NORM (naturally occurring (?) radiation) to come forth, also. Double trouble-mystery chemicals and NORM.
Then, if the whole mess ignites/explodes...Well, we pay a high price for cheap, "clean" energy that isn't even clean.
This is why we need to regulate the industry and DRILL RIGHT, TEXAS-even if those emission
guards cut into magnificently obscene profits.
Remember, the Mountain Creek Lake area will see drilling rigs, I predict and anticipate from conversations with an EPA employee. No secret there-just a prudent use of contaminated land!
Be ready, Oak Cliff, and armed with the truth about drilling - the positives (money) and the negatives-pretty much everything else, unless your case is very unusual and you don't mind toxic air.

Easter, Oak Cliff and the Ogallala Aquifer

2010-04-03T08:25:00.018-05:00

A couple of things on my mind this morning: One-the very real possibility that an area in west Texas will become dumping ground for "low level" (?) radioactive waste that will be TRUCKED or transported across the country and laid to rest atop a Texas aquifer.* A hearing will be held in Austin in a few days to air concerns.
One citizen asked, "Just what is low level radiation." Answer-Everything that is not high level radiation. ...As if we could tell the difference!
This could be a serious problem for not only would radioactive dust surely blow across the dusty plains, a major aquifer would be tainted by eventual contamination. Oh well, if it's "low level," what's the problem?
Second, you may have noticed today's Dallas Morning News carried an editorial on South Dallas-how the Southern sector has not received the aid to development that was expected.
South Dallas, including Oak Cliff-synonymous with Oak Cliff is, of course, south of the Trinity River. What a history Oak Cliff boasts! In my grandparents day, it was -at least in North Oak Cliff-a haven for families with new homes and amenities like Lake Cliff Park and the huge swimming pool lake with amusement park, strong churches and schools, high moral standards, and a convenient street car system to take folks to stores and movie theatres on Jefferson Blvd and to several nearby churches. My mother described an idyllic childhood in Oak Cliff, recalling that her life was Cliff Temple, Rosemont School, elocution and violin lessons, a pony ride down Montclair, and ice cream at the drug store with soda fountain on Davis St. My grandfather crossed the river to work; but home was neighborly, safe Oak Cliff, where children congregated on large, cool cement front porches at night in summer and listened to parents read books aloud-probably classics -then had again ICE CREAM delivered by a guy on a bicycle! Life on the desirable "cliffs" was good; but low river bottom land housed poorly regulated industry, so Oak Cliff and Southwest Dallas also suffered and still suffer today the effects of serious soil and water contamination. Polluted land-in the calculus of cities-means low prices, even worthless land, occupancy of crumbling dwellings by the poor, and
decaying abandoned facilities.

So, when we talk about renewing the southern sector of Dallas, do we address the land quality and the skeleton of past industry that is so unattractive? Or do we ignore that and spend millions on new projects that will exist alongside decay from the past?
It's an interesting question. Personally, I would begin with remediation of land, believing that clean land attracts clean business, which leads to jobs and development of safe neighborhoods.
Historic building such as churches and schools and homes "of the period" should always be preserved and restored; with buildings repurposed as offices or public facilities, possibly and very desirably, housing. Some structures need to be rebuilt or removed.
Yes, this costs money; but we are paying money now without solving our problems.

Today, as we think about Easter, new life for South Dallas and for its people is a concern we can share. That...and demanding Texas NOT become the nation's toxic waste dump site for radioactive waste of any level.
Happy Easter, Christians! Because God raised His Son, He can raise us to work for peace, justice, healing, and opportunity for all people.

* For more info on the waste and aquifer crisis: See http://www.savetheogallalaaquifer.com/ The Olagalla underlies eight states and is vital to humans and business. It is being depleted and not recharged at present, and must be managed carefully to continue to provide water for several central US states. This aquifer has enough problems already with depletion and should not be contaminated!

The Green Party is Not Afraid!

2010-03-31T08:27:00.011-05:00

Today I'm taking a look at the platform of the Green Party. It is likely way too liberal for me in economics and education, BUT I hear its members advocate removing the govt's immunity for prosecution when it - usually in the form of the military-pollutes our land. Can you imagine citizens being able to sue the govt for damages that come from contaminated water, ruined aquifers, vapors in the air from TCE plumes, etc? The line forms to the left....
Though suing our govt is a lot like suing ourselves-the taxpayer-the idea sounds strangely just from the perspective of the person suffering illness or a family having lost a loved one.
What will it take to wake up the powerful and make them take notice that their chemical dumping is not worth your life or mine???
Oh, one might argue that we are not going to die from toxic chemicals in groundwater and air; perhaps not, but the negative effect is cumulative and affects vulnerable people-and everyone, to some degree. Personally, I believe after studying water problems in cities and rural drilling areas that the groundwater in this country is much more contaminated-make that ruined-than we are told. Use of well water is becoming infrequent-why?
When one thinks about the earth as a planet with a water system/cycle-whereby no more water is ever produced and that water from the atmosphere turns into water in the ground, then returns once more to the atmosphere, with all water interacting; this is SOBERING. People who populate this planet will have to treat and remediate water forever, and with what ultimate success?
Who thinks of generations to come? I mean really: who thinks about it?

Postscript: Notice natural gas drilling may take place courtesy of XTO Corp across from Grapevine High School? What was I just saying about ruined water and, of course, benzene -toluene -laden air? It could be coming to the very heart of your community; and the only government that will protect is your local government responding to the outcries of citizens.
Can you imagine kids out running track or marching in the band on the field with drilling chemicals permeating the air? What a lawsuit waiting to happen.

A Post - Constitution Society

2010-03-27T17:40:00.010-05:00

Today I went to Half Price Books looking for something to read, as I often do on the week-end. Like you, I have many interests and never know what I'll end up buying and taking home where I escape from the cruel world with a stack of books and diet Coke.
Anyway, this trip I was gripped by biographies, buying one on Dolly Madison, John Hancock, and a third book about how Lincoln changed the Presidency.
My thinking- are we off course in America? Have we re-created America to the our own detriment and lost what made us great? Or perhaps have we re-interpreted democracy in a way that will prove advantageous and ideologically stand the test of time? I wonder ...
Could I challenge everyone to find and read one substantive biography on one of the founders or Presidents who really lived out and interpreted the meaning of democracy in his day?
I fear we've forgotten what freedom is and what the Constitution says.
We have become so diverse that "anything goes" and bills are being passed to help us survive, without thought of America's most fundamental values.
Yes, America has changed and is always changing, but at the same time our foundation stays the same. You can't discount what is historic, internalized core belief; and many men and women have given their lives for their experience and intellectual understanding of AMERICA. Remember, the new must build upon the old, not tear it down!
So, I'm looking for another book now - a good one on the Constitution - what it plainly says and obviously means; and I'm going to read the document (the Constitution) like I read the Bible: for guidance, as a road map that points the way our nation should go. THEN, I'll take a good look at that health care bill or at least a Cliff Notes version. Meanwhile, please read and take to heart your biography. I wish we could discuss them, and what democracy is - and what our inalienable rights are!
Where I stand now on things: In this country, we have a right to opportunity-education and opportunity to excel at a job we prepare for and obtain. Though the current health care bill may improve opportunity for some to receive care, which is positive, I don't get the constitutionality of the basic concept. Do we now live in a post-Constitution society with a new congress of founders?

BROKEN HEART FOR OAK CLIFF

2010-03-26T21:39:00.004-05:00

If I let myself give into my emotions, I could cry real tears over the assault of a seventy year old woman in Oak Cliff this morning. There are plenty of things to grieve over-one being a woman of her age going to a job at 6:15 am on the bus alone. How can people who cannot retire go to work to support themselves if the streets aren't safe?
Two weeks ago, my husband and I drove in the Marsalis area and he commented about the many young males walking the streets-destination unknown by us. Perhaps they were going "to the store," a decrepit neighborhood Quik-Stop type place. No crime in this, but the streets had an unsafe particularly decaying urban feel to me. We saw no police patrolling, and now I wonder if the seedier parts of OC have adequate police presence. If you live there, you would probably say NO!
Obviously poverty, drugs, mental illness and violence breed more violence, and we are all at risk.
Do not walk alone; and, police, please patrol the main street bus routes especially early in the morning and at night. As for the collapsing properties, some really need to be torn down and the areas redeveloped. Such neighborhoods are unsuitable and unsafe for children and families, and have the welcome mat laid out for criminals and gangs.
Oak Cliff was a childhood home to many Dallasites, and I for one will always want the very best for her good, hard-working people.
Certainly OC is a wonderful, scenic historical resource for Dallas and a source of tax revenue, but it is time for the city to step up efforts to address urban blight and crime.

MAN UP AND CLEAN UP

2010-03-24T07:53:00.004-05:00

A little news on the Dallas Air Station and NWIRP: Vought operating in the Grand Prairie NWIRP facility has been acquired by Triumph Corp, according to the Dallas Morning News. This could be a very good thing for local workers, although their official future is presently uncertain. Triumph could consolidate operations or assign more work to the GP plant, or even buy NWIRP, as the Navy would like to sell it.

A talk with an EPA manager yesterday revealed that he has interest in more vapor testing above TCE plumes at the Naval Air Station/NWIRP and perhaps over other plumes in Grand Prairie. I was under the impression EPA was satisfied with the status quo, and am happy to see EPA try more aggressive responses to contamination. The problem is Texas law, which requires no vapor testing at all-even when plumes are only twenty feet below the surface and vapor can rise and affect homes and offices.
So if you have occasion to advocate clean up for this area, remember VAPOR TESTING over TCE plumes.
To get a better picture of things: The Navy as well as many other Grand Prairie industries dumped chemical waste in multiple GP locations for many years. Proving who dumped what...where...proves impossible, as the polluters knew it would. It's easy to pass the buck and dodge responsibility, as polluters can say it's always "possible" an enterprise no longer in business did the dirty work-even when no records of such a business exist. (Give me a break with this logic.)
Wouldn't it be refreshing if the Navy or Vought manned up and said they'd fully clean up behind their own facility, in their own woods and "bay?"
Liability issues are major tests of character, aren't they?

CLEAN WATER: A TREASURE WE CAN NOT DO WITHOUT

2010-03-23T06:11:00.001-05:00

Dirty, polluted water kills more people than war, says CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/22/united.nations.water.report/index.html?hpt=C1

A TRAIN WRECK A-COMIN'

2010-03-21T17:03:00.017-05:00

The health care bill...from a humanitarian point of view, has appeal. Sixty percent of Americans would (will) get their health care from Uncle Sam. What a deal!
Ideally, I'd want it, for the sake of mankind.* BUT, from an economic point of view, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
Americans would not be forced to live under a law that 49% actively oppose if our economy hadn't collapsed; yet in reality, Wall St tanked, the govt bought into major banks, and our capitalist way of life took a big hit.
Socialism rears its ugly head when capitalism isn't working; and we have just the legislators in power to make it happen. A convergence of events and persons...

As I think about health care, I have to wonder: Is pollution (i.e. the state of the environment) really and truly heavily contributing to serious illness?
If part of the money spent on the mismanagement of health care had been spent remediating groundwater and cleaning up the toxic leftovers of war, would we be better off? I believe so.
If part of the money spent on war had been spent on education, would we have less obesity which leads to a third to a half of our cancer cases and most of our heart-related problems? Certainly-and education about how to avoid war would help, too.
But, some may argue, war and related industry leads to so many scientific discoveries and technological advances. (Or is that the space program? I forget.) Either way, what if they each create more problems than they solve?
What if the best cost effective answers to illness aren't advances like scans, drugs, and robotic surgery? What if technology is trying to cure problems we should have avoided with a cleaner earth, leaner/cleaner diet and lifestyle?
Then to continue in this questioning vein: What if the fix we're in presently is most fundamentally about the economy? ...The economy which hasn't been helped by military spending. ...The economy that 79% of us think can collapse.
And where is the FREEDOM we are always fighting for and about? How many have given their lives for our country and WE AREN'T EVEN FREE to tell the federal govt to get out of our medical care! My gosh, we want freedom for Iraq but can't have it ourselves??? Oh, one thing leads to another.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda...
What can we do now but LEARN FROM THE PAST and make changes today-re-ordering priorities, becoming less toxic in industry and international relationships.

America as a whole qualifies for ICU with its border issues, aging population, lack of jobs, and polluted land and water. Funny how health care is impacted by all the things just named.
If only all - or at least several - of the pieces of the USA puzzle could be put together and solved/improved at once! Are we not intelligent enough to understand how our problems impact one another especially over time, with some having created others?
However the health care vote goes, I see a train wreck for the America I knew and loved-unless we fix a train of complex issues.

*Would have loved to have seen a reasonable bill covering insurance portability, pre-existing conditions, good mental health care, preventive testing, more money for research, limitations to premium costs and doctor's liability insurance at a cost range Congress deemed fair; with lowering of overall health costs!!! The major problem is that costs are so high that no one, not even the government, can pay them all. Seems all Americans are revolting over the cost of health care, and this needed to be re-worked according to sound economic principles with incentives for participants.
We needed to accomplish all this in stages, BUT NO!
As for abortion...If a woman or couple get an abortion, I believe they need to take responsibility before God and society, and at least pay for it themselves. Personally, I think abortion is wrong,* and I also think it's not morally or economically appropriate for government to be in any way a part of.
People, let's have some pride and live according to what we profess to believe! I know from experience this takes guts.

*Until I can honestly say it would have been perfectly fine for a mother to abort me or the people I love, I will oppose abortion. How can I enjoy the blessing of life and deny it to others?

Drilling and A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT????

2010-03-18T14:22:00.007-05:00

Though my general outlook about the future is hopeful-I believe God holds the future even though bad things happen-I can't help notice how dangerous the world has become. That is, how dangerous North Texas is or might be!
Have you noted that the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant (TXU) is in Glen Rose, neighboring Cleburne, and is, of course, churning out nuclear power atop the gas rich Barnett Shale? There are well over 200 natural gas drilling sites in Cleburne and YES! This is where mild earthquakes have been occuring recently.
Sure, everything is perfectly safe, but let's get up to speed on this deal.*
I can't believe I didn't make the drilling/nuclear/earthquake connection before now.
Too much harping on HAARP-and look what's in my own backyard!

*SMU is investigating the earthquakes. They are presently believed to be caused by an injection well; and they are definitely a concern. As far as I know, the company responsible for the problem has closed one offending well, but is continuing its drilling efforts and has an office in the area. Remember that fracking involves highly toxic chemicals injected miles into the ground with horizontal drilling also extending for miles. Surely Comanche Peak can withstand some thunder and cracking underneath...and maybe it won't happen. Agree???

2010-03-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

HAARPING TO KINGDOM COME

2010-03-16T20:43:00.016-05:00

Oh, the intriguing things you read on the Internet! This one may have some teeth:
HAARP and earthquakes, as I wrote about in my last post.
You might be interested to know a few highlights, as it will save you hours of reading time and might make you want to read for yourself. Here goes...

1. HAARP leaves a trace of its activity on magnometers around the world. The University of Tokyo's screens for HAARP activity prior to, during, and after the Haiti earthquake are posted on YOU TUBE. I don't know how we can be absolutely sure this is true info, but it is colorful and shows definite activity over three days.
2. Apparently, HAARP can stimulate an earthquake that is likely to eventually occur, especially at the edges of tectonic plates; and it can cause volcanoes to erupt. (Note: We could accidentally wipe ourselves out if we activated a huge volcano in Yellowstone Natl Park.)
3. HAARP produces weather change and can paralyze a country with rain or drought.
4. This next one is too shocking to be believed: Two leaders/ministers of foreign governments have said our govt has THREATENED their countries with HAARP! Wow, if I'd been these guys, I'd have talked to the New York Times, not some European free press that hates the US...but they have allowed their names and countries to be published and the articles appear on the Internet.
5. Many eyewitnesses saw strange lights or lighting effects in the sky immediately preceeding the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, like energy had been trasmitted or the earth's magnetic field /ionosphere had been manipulated. A "plasma ball" has been mentioned, which I admit, could be either serious or humorous. At any rate, the dramatic light effects (at night) seem well-documented; one episode was seen by a reporter who was able to thoroughly describe the occurence.

Many more "truths" could be enumerated; but I found the following MOST interesting:
A nationally - known, award-winning journalist was kind enough to give me his opinion. I wanted his opinion because I was perplexed as to why the mainstream media
was not covering HAARP, providing average citizens with answers, etc.
He basically said that the US is too powerful to deal with something like HAARP to obtain resources or topple governments. We, he continued, have other more effective ways of getting what we want without having to cope with devastation of earthquakes. Basically, we just have to pay to rebuild the countries that sustain damage. So, these earthquakes are not something we'd instigate.
This makes sense to me.
I'm buying it...except for those weird lights in the sky and that magnometer screen;
and as I see the US and Russia agreeing to mututally reduce nuclear arsenals, I know the US must have additional plans for protecting the republic.
So, I'm still studying with a "time will tell" outlook.

You know, IF-just if-we were going to HAARP N Korea to kingdom come, we'd have to practice first. Think about it. With their (NK's) capabilities, we'd probably just have one chance to get the strike exactly right.
If any N Koreans are reading, I have no inside info and come in peace. That goes for Israel, Turkey, Iran, Chile, the Caribbean, all my brothers and sisters in Africa...
"People all over the world, join in. Ride the love train..." Seriously.

Negotiation is so much smarter than risking a hole blown in the ionosphere that will devastate us all; and we citizens should let the govt know our feelings. Risking the planet, if that's what's happening, is not a necessary, defensive "top secret" modelled after sci-fi thrillers. It's more like an offensive Armaggedon and an international crime. If there are other relevant facts, maybe our esteemed officials need to transmit them.

I'm Quaking at the Thought of Haitian Uranium, Iridium

2010-03-12T06:44:00.010-06:00

This morning I am sending out a humble post from Dallas to people all over the world who have a concern for politics and the environment: LOOK AT HAITI.
Fascinating - even frightening - things are on the Internet pertaining to the earthquake there.
We all mourn the loss of life and infrastructure, but let us not totally forget the natural resources in Haiti and the US/UN military occupation of the island. What are the natural resources? oil, natural gas, uranium, diamonds, iridium (used in spacecraft, drilling, GPS devices, satellite systems, cell phones, quantum physics-supercolliders); and guess what? The methods used to detect minerals, then mine and drill for them can cause earthquakes!
Look at the HAARP videos on YOUTUBE. Though one or two are a tad bizarre, several are very informative and eye-opening about technology that can blow open the earth to find oil or even destroy an enemy country without nuclear weapons/radiation. Seems this technology came from the Star Wars science of the Reagan era and ARCO's oil explorations in Alaska, then changed hands several times as companies bought and sold it.
But back to natural resources and politics...
Who is guarding the uranium of split apart Haiti? A Canadian/US mining company, the UN/US military? Heck, I'd be interested in knowing!* Especially since terrorists with uranium would be a global/national problem.
Who will get the mineral revenues while Haitian people are starving and unemployed? I see oil and gas are now evident after the earthquake! A nice surprise for hydrocarbon seekers.
This is an investigative piece for the mainstream media-if they can even get into Haiti and learn the story. Somehow I don't believe armed UN guards and US soldiers with rifles (10,000 persons) protecting what's behind their fence will have a lot of informative tidbits to share.
Question to ponder: How important is Hait to the US's energy and national security future...and why. Oil? Uranium? Deep water ports? A future refinery? All of the above and other?

Reflecting on this post a day later: I'm wondering if mineral rights in Haiti are already sold or leased, and the people don't know govt has been selling their resources and not giving them the benefits! Poverty and government corruption linked together again...

CLASS ACTION in more ways than one....

2010-03-07T13:59:00.011-06:00

Best comment I read today on the the plight of citizens affected by natural gas drilling on top of the Barnett Shale: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT!*
I am not announcing a suit. I don't know if one will occur, but, yes-something drastic needs to be done about drilling by cities, TCEQ, and EPA. This is my belief based on what I've read and the videos and photos I've seen; lab reports in particular. And you know what else? I can EMPATHIZE with the people suffering.
That's part of the equation when we support any cause.

For the real news: Citizens now join forces with an environmental company, and test air as a group drives around drill sites in a van. All equipment and testers aboard! These folks have graphed the discovered methane level spikes for us to see at Texas Sharon's BlueDaze website, making the problem dramatically clear to everyone.
Science rules..and this van rocks... But, in my opinion, this gaseous, nauseous mess needs to rock a courthouse before more damage is done. It's tragic that some folks don't wake up to their moral responsibility until the law gets involved.

* for endangering citizens when technology exists to prevent emission problems!
See TxSharon.@blogspot.com

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TEXTBOOK WRITERS

2010-03-07T08:34:00.007-06:00

Well, it's a good thing I got up early this morning, and - as usual - tuned in to Fox News. Let me say, I never meant to become a Fox junkie, and fell into the addiction of 6 am coffee and news before going to work. But, enough about me...

I hear the state of Texas has hearings this week on what goes in textbooks-the somewhat holy books that will be taught in schools across the nation.
Questions about mentioning Christmas and Easter have been raised, so I can only imagine what the ultra-liberals want to write about evolution, capitalism, globalism, fundamental American values and rights and responsibilities, even terrorism.
I work in education.
I believe we have to be totally honest with students about differing world views and lead them to make their own philosophical choices.
After all, who hasn't had to do this? Who has not been exposed to other cultures and religions-though some of us have had more exposure than others-that is, more personal experience.
However, we must remain honest and forthcoming about American history and our Judeo-Christian roots and values. Socialism did not build the great cities of America or fund museums, hospitals, universities, historical sites and federal buildings.
As for evolution, it is one way of looking at things-but does not answer every question about human existence. Smart people know this, and kids should know it, too.
Kids should also know that adults with Ph.Ds can word process and even b s about very little for a thousand pages, but still don't know everything.
Ask the President - with his advanced East Coast education and many advisors.
Present day America is pretty much an experiment in problem solving-much like 1776. I don't think America has ever been the perfect present with a fancy, fluffy ribbon on top given as a gift to irresponsible people.
America is a land of free speech and thought and a land of opportunity.
You take it and do with it what you can and will. Most of us who have tried to create the American dream from the dust of the earth with the sweat of our brow (or the stressful working of our minds) are plenty happy to have God's precious assistance-and a meaningful Christmas and Easter holiday, as well!
Here's a question (or three) for you today: Do America and God just mean what we want them to mean? Do they mean what a textbook writer or teacher says they mean? OR-do they mean what they mean-and everyone has to figure that out?

WAR! AND WHAT WAS THE WAR FOR?

2010-03-06T20:15:00.006-06:00

I read the news today...oh, boy! The oil companies now have their long-awaited opportunity to get Iraqi oil under "favorable terms" though the government may be weak. I'll bet it is. No surprise there.
Yes, even the weak Iraqi government can make a deal that will stick, assuring the companies of their precious commodity (sigh of relief...)
Our war in Iraq was and is about oil. Oh, it may have been somewhat about suspected WMDs and it was, of course, about a dictator we finally decided to get rid of. But what brought long-simmering issues to confrontation? The O-word, and I don't mean Obama.
So, what does that mean for future US energy use - just when we've crushed our clunkers and drilled to hell and back for natural gas? Will we decrease oil use for environmental reasons and not because of cost?
Back to the news courtesy of Bloomberg: Exxon and Shell are making the scene in Iraq
in line for a contract. That's all we know. Neither comments on any POLITCAL matter.
And, it's all political...
Forgive me if I don't discuss what actually happened to soldiers and civilians on both sides during the Iraq conflict. I can't go there...but somebody should.

SOLD...TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

2010-03-04T16:46:00.008-06:00

This afternoon I've been thinking and talking with co-workers about allowable expanded corporate gifts to political candidates.
WHAT IS THE SUPREME COURT THINKING?
For most of my life, I've been taught just the opposite: the wealthy should not be able to influence elections with their money! It's not democratic or Christian or Tex/American or the way we do things in Oak Cliff!
Now, no problemo...
The more I see of corporations, the more I believe their loyalty lies with themselves, not necessarily the US. After all, they buy and sell worldwide, and many will not clean up the environmental damage they've done to our country. Heck, they can build a new plant or office complex in a developing nation far cheaper than they can remediate their own US soil and groundwater...
Cost more to do business somewhere else? Just pass the cost on to the consumer if one is brokering something REALLY VITAL like gold, beer, Coke, or oil and gas!
Listen friends, if companies are not loyal to the US, its land, and citizens-they do not deserve to own a Senator! Does anyone?
Just when we think an environmentally-minded Democratic administration - and the blinded-minded Supreme Court- are going to do a grand, egalitarian thing-look what happens! Sold down the river for a sliver of silver! As President Obama said, "A victory for big oil and Wall Street banking..."
Corporations are not the same as individuals when it comes to free speech-or personal resonsibility, for that matter.

WASTE? NOT!

2010-03-04T06:34:00.008-06:00

We know drilling for natural gas disturbs geological formations and creates pathways whereby chemicals can migrate into underground water supply. Once chemicals are underground, they will go with the flow to higher and lower formations due to gravity and a rising water table. That's just the way it is - and has been for a long time; though drilling into the North Texas Barnett Shale is causing a major overall increase of wells drilled by companies old and new.
Why has this chemical influx been allowed, then allowed to affect water? Supposedly diluted chemicals, that is toxic chemicals DILUTED in our entire water supply, are said to be okay in Texas! Levels of toxic chemicals like benzene and xylene are kept "low" and undetected (wink, nod-I fear)- and low is whatever a lab defines as such.
Personally, I don't trust labs unless they are absolutely independent of polluters and regulators who have special economic interests in an industry.
Then, above - ground wells leave us with muddy, chemical-laden "sludge"
that must be removed (siphoned, dug and hauled) from drilling sites and put "somewhere."
Where? Who would want its chemical, poisonous, smelly, oily self?
As far as I know, the destination of this gunk is undetermined by law.
It could be dumped in creeks or spread over farmland or pasture where cattle will eventually graze, chemicals seeping back underground.
Pollution-we try to dilute it, bury it, dump it, layer it, mix it with other solids, bag it for FERTILIZER (this has happened even with radioactive waste!) But, it never goes away-just resurrects in another hazardous incarnation.
Today is a perfect day for letting leaders, and those aspiring for office in Texas,
HEAR FROM US about regulation of drilling waste. If we don't demand a smart, effective plan utilizing the best existing technology, we will eat and drink this industrial garbage for the rest of our days.
Who in his right mind would be agree to be slowly poisoned? I don't want to find out, do you?

Do you believe in MAGIC?

2010-02-27T11:47:00.021-06:00

When you get past fifty, something kicks in. You have a need to share the things learned in life with the younger generation-at least I do, and I like to believe I'm normal.
So, let me share, if you have a moment-and especially if you are youngish...or curious.

The two greatest lessons I've learned about the world are laughably simple: Everything you need or get has to come from somewhere; and everything you throw away has to go somewhere.
There's no elfin magic in life, no free lunch, and no getting away with misappropriation-at least not long term.
Take health care, for example, or even clean up of toxic sites. Money spent on these costly necessities will mean other costly things are NA-"off the table." We will not be able to fight wars all over the planet and take care of our own people and land. We may focus on major aspects of national security-so totally necessary-but not put out every global fire.
We will have to become more isolationist and self-reliant, which includes both positives and negatives (more jobs, less pay, higher quality work, better scientific output, increased productivity and exports, unity among Americans and tight borders.) For a time, we may have to rebuild our own house, limit immigration, and address our own economy and energy needs.
If this is "not possible"-why not? Let's start there in our discussion!
Again - resources are, in all probability, finite; and from what I've read, dwindling.

Now for the next truth: All we throw or wash away...goes somewhere. When I clean my house, I see this principle in motion.
A familiar Saturday morning routine: Clean your bathroom. ..Bacteria gets on your cleaning cloth, the cloth goes in the washing machine and dirt goes down a drain. Wash out a paintbrush in your backyard....The paint goes into the soil where you grow your vegetables or drains into the sewer, which may eventually deposit compounds in soil a mile away where your son wades in a creek. Throw away enough soda bottles and disposable diapers, and live atop a smelly landfill-or smell the breeze from the community mound. When toxic chemicals are involved, cancer will overtake a percentage of us.
You know. What goes around, comes around. It doesn't go away!
No vanishing act, darn it.

(Oh, I wish I had an inflated quarter for each item I mindlessly trashed in my youth; and each time I saw waste within my company and thought money grew on trees then reproduced into my budget. Yes, I was really that young and stupid once, and blog with total humility. But, alas, no elfin magic dollars for me or anyone else!)

Life is meant to be lived carefully if one desires a long, productive existence. When I read the Bible, I see and grasp this message; all of God's revealed plan begins with the creation of the earth, and pretty much ends with a new earth. THE EARTH IS VERY IMPORTANT as it's home plate for the human race.
So when you prepare to vote in the upcoming elections, please think about candidates' plans for the use of citizens' shared resources. Do not be taken in by poems, prayers, and promises about more jobs and inventions that may or may not happen. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst; make sure all resources go toward what is most important! (And I must add, since it's my thesis here..It took me a LONG TIME to realize how critically important the environment is. Be wiser sooner than I was.)

Within my church, we affirm that in God's economy nothing is ever wasted-all is used for the highest purpose.
We aren't God and can't see the future, but we would do well to follow His example in these tough economic and toxic times.

Thoughts On Land and Liberty

2010-02-26T20:05:00.019-06:00

There are times when you just can't make something happen.
Information has been dispersed, forces are in play; decisions are being made by whomever makes a particular decision; and you wait and keep the faith. You wonder:
Who will be elected governor of Texas? What will Congress conclude in its investigation of gas drilling? (Thank God they're investigating.) Will EPA step to the forefront in Texas and overrule TCEQ for failing to protect our environment and people? Will Halliburton totally come clean about fracking with diesel and bribing Nigerians?
And let's not forget: Will Dallas and TCEQ allow the Navy to walk away from Dallas NWIRP without promised groundwater clean up? Appalling but likely.
These are simmering questions I'm pondering this week.
And, on a positive note, I'm elated about EPA's promise to oversee drilling in Texas with citizens and the environment in mind. Hopefully, what's in the mind will translate over to ACTION.

I also note SO MANY of our states (NY,OK, NM, Penn, CO, LA) having the same problems with drilling and water contamination. What does this mean to the energy future of the US as we all agree we must free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil? When Congress investigates, they will have plenty of sad, slimy, scenarios across the republic to evaluate.

Lastly, I'm attempting to put our environmental problems in some kind of historical and political-even global-perspective (in my own admittedly simple way).
Today, driving home from work, I passed the familiar rock/cement business along the Trinity River in Coppell with its tall smokestack/burner projection onto which someone had affixed an American flag.
The flag looked quite bright and beautiful waving in the breeze...BUT!
Do these people know flag etiquette? I wondered. The flag will be BLACKENED by smoke - and I'll be watching to see if it's illumined at night on it high-rise pedestal. Highly unlikely.
When one ties a flag onto a tower of industrial equipment, WHAT IS ONE TRYING TO SAY?
I'll do whatever I please with my emissions? America shall be forever made out of cement? God bless the USA?

This country was built with raw materials and man made materials undergoing chemical changes that bled out into the air. Our ancestors probably had a reduced lifespan because of it. Our water and aquifers hold traumatic memories, too-of construction, cleaning, drilling, fueling, bombing...Is that something to be proud of?

I am proud of my country-very proud. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that the bright, shiny-clean side of our national goodness, has a dark, smokey side, too. Everything comes with a cost. Few things are purely righteous. Yes, we have made mistakes with dire consequences, but we have learned lessons, and have opportunity to change our ways and repair some damage to the earth.
We are making progress in solving our energy needs in safer, healthier way.
But, we must not turn to other poorer lands and ruin their water, soil, and air for our own needs.
A few articles on the Internet indicate this "exploration" and leasing has already happened-but that is another Congressional investigation. May corporations resist the temptation to plant their logo-flag all over Africa or Russia to ravage resources (then having their hands slapped in US courts, begging to be bailed out by the government when they crash and burn). Oh, that could never happen, could it?

Long may Old Glory wave over a land free of poison and the poison of greed...
Some say the glory of our land is freedom, and that's true. But never forget, free people, that we need a sustaining land to call home.

DUDE, CARP IS SERIOUS!

2010-02-21T09:10:00.005-06:00

The Obama administration has 2.2 billion to spend on cleaning up the Great Lakes, says a news story today from Michigan. The problem with the lakes: over a half century of pollution, then more recently algae, affecting fishing, recreation, and generally future water needs. The clean up plan will enable fish from the lakes to actually be eaten! Wildlife will thrive again in lakeside habitats and tourists will
enjoy activites on the lake. Imagine-a veritable Garden of Eden compared to Dallas's Mountain Creek Lake.
So, lake clean up is possible. The cost, while great, sounds almost reasonable to me given the size of the Great Lakes and extent of damage. (I am not yet 100% clear on whether each "great lake" will be cleaned, but that's what the article said...)
Apparently government has known or agreed for twenty years that clean up needed to happen, and now money is finally appropriated. Why now? The reasons cited do not include public pressure or health concerns, but rather economic problems. The fishing and tourism industries might be lost! Carp and algae will take over the lakes.
So much for those of us who fear getting cancer...our imaginings are not opening the government treasury. But, carp! Dude, this is serious.

If you have just bought a new house on the Grand Prairie side of Mt Creek Lake and have figured out your groundwater is ruined and the lake is enjoying seventy years of "natural attenuation" while you sunbathe in the backyard...Don't let anyone tell you a large lake can't be cleaned up. People in Michigan who are out shopping for boats and water skis know better.

HURT PEOPLE..HURT EVERYBODY

2010-02-18T15:47:00.018-06:00

Trying to write about the Austin plane crash is probably not the best or most original idea; but when my heart is full of something I want to say...well, I start typing and hope no one's reading. At least I get my feelings out into the world where they can irritate and thus challenge others to come up with better answers, as we live lives in paragraphs, and file our wounds on machines, and grieve together in cyberspace with those we do not know. Here goes...

Although Joe Stack looked like someone I could have gone to high school with, and he even looked pretty cool playing in his band, he was mentally and behaviorally ill.
He was over the edge with financial and relationship problems and, like other suicide victims or perpetrators, he saw no other way out. Totally tragic. We're sad for him, his loved ones and especially for the innocent people he hurt and killed.
Needless to say, but let's say it...
He caused a terrible thing to happen and may have made his "final word" even more destructive with premediatation; that is, packing his plane with more fuel. Terrible-and thank God more people were not killed or injured.
Yet he has caused me to think about a thing or two.
Society has become very complex and it is getting more difficult for people to make a living, pay taxes, generally have legitimate needs met, and have their voices heard by government. Sadly, people who have worked hard and paid taxes all their lives sometimes can't do it any more. They get old. The world changes and they haven't or couldn't change with it. Maybe they get physically and/or mentally sick and can't or won't get health care.
When we're mentally sick, obviously we can't make good decisions or choices and may abuse friends and family who try to help.
Also, we are complicating our relationship history with divorce, remarriage, children and step-children. Not to say this is bad...but it can create pressure and doomed expectations as emotional and financial troubles escalate for other reasons.
Life, for some of us, is long with several chapters, with business and relationship failures that follow us through the decades as people come in and go out of our lives. Eventually, we have have all kinds of baggage. (Somehow Mr. Stack even got a PLANE!)
Our lives can take on complexity-sometimes a LEGAL complexity- that controls our being, when we were intending to take ourselves and family in a better direction.
Can you identify with the notion that's there's no absolute do-over in life?
Just responsibility for what we've DONE!

So, tonight I'm thinking not only about relationships and responsibility, but about taxation and government. I'm thinking how government takes from us then won't give us what we need, especially when needs are overwhelming.
We need to figure out: What do we pay into the "system" in taxes - and what do we get in return? A job? Medical benefits for the family? Clean air and water? A war fought on our behalf? An IRS man at our door pressuring us though we're unemployed? What do we most need? What does the government have a right to demand?
One of my co-workers commented today that the basic problem here is unemployment. If one has employment, paying taxes is do-able, part of the deal of being an American, and some of us would even say it's a privilege to work and contribute to society.

But tonight I'm mostly thinking about homeland terrorist Joe Stack who was probably a very angry/terrified person, and I'm afraid there are a lot of folks like him - hopefully non-violent, but pushed to their limits by a world that not only didn't meet expectations, but did not offer an easy payment plan.
I'm deeply sorry for those grieving tonight; and praying for peace in the human heart and direction in difficult circumstances...Young and old, weak and strong, leader or misfit-we have to find a way to survive together or we may not survive at all.
AND...we have to control our angry, desparate feelings and stay responsible for self and sanity. As I said, life is neither simple nor fair-yet life and love are the greatest blessings I can point to. Two things the IRS shouldn't be able to touch, and can't, if one is thinking clearly.
Going crazy certainly kills both.

Some Take the Money...And Run!

2010-02-18T05:48:00.012-06:00

Blogging has been one small thing I can do to raise awareness of environmental problems in my city and state. I've learned about toxic military bases in other US states and have watched experts in the environmental science field sort out problems they didn't create; and I've watched politicians try to both help and thwart solutions.
All in all - working to better the environment is one TOUGH BUSINESS!
I have a background in education. When we find a special student need, we spend money on materials and staff, and do a thorough job helping the student find the highest level of success possible. When things fall into place as they should, we generally enjoy support from the community.
Educational standards backed by the law and a solid district are tight. That's a good thing, I believe, providing educators with society's resources with which to follow sound procedure.
But with the environment...what a different story! The government and even many citizens in Texas have the attitude: don't test air and water, don't spend money, don't rock the boat or mess with my job or the wonderful economy-though professionals KNOW citizens are in danger of lung and neurological diseases, cancer, and many have ruined property from lucrative and, yes, necessary processes like gas and oil drilling.
If an environmental scientist/crusader persists-saying basically: Wake up. Our capitalistic/business-oriented society is-rather than cleaning up toxic chemical waste - TRYING TO PROFIT FROM unethical or at least questionable business practices that continue to cause disease risk and a chaotic chemical mess...Well, a mud-slinging contest results as people call one another obsessed crazies and criminals! Does the law intervene to calm the waters and point to mandatory action in the public interest?
There has got to be a better way than present conflict!
Personally, I think we need to support EPA and even encourage the federal office to set and force compliance with tougher safety standards. If this hurts the economy short-term, at least we will be forced to solve long-term energy and land use problems, which must be addressed (the sooner the better).
Please, no insulting of people who are trying to do a complete job that reaches down to fix the core of a problem; and let's be part of the authentic change-our-world-solution-with strong laws, adequate funding, and a mind-set that faces reality rather than slings mud and runs away with what profit our mutual land can yield.
When we as a society run from the question of morality in remediation/restitution, we run from the very things that will in the end overcome us. It's a Bible thing-to know what is wrong, yet do it...or to know what is right and NOT do it, is sin.
Just a thought for the day that has guided my struggling life for a long time.
At the heart of most human troubles is the right/wrong test and it isn't only answered in "parts per billion." PPB doesn't mean a lot when no one knows how many ppbs are safe.

Ruined, Rested, and Ready for Re-Development

2010-02-16T17:25:00.021-06:00

Do you protectors of the environment wonder, as I do, what will become of contaminated land - especially former military base, facilities where bombs were made, tested, and stored, federal facilities with nuclear reactors, etc?
The land of the 1960s era weaponry of my youth is now abandoned, maybe partially cleaned up, and in the market for "re-purposing." (Don't you love that word? It's so hopeful, like something dead could live again.)
The problem is...land is often marginally remediated by the military or government owner, and a great debate exists about what is "clean enough" to use and specifically build housing upon.
Does a little radioactivity in the ground really hurt anybody? If left-over plutonium is "dust in the wind," do you care?
Of course, if soil is deeply affected, so is groundwater - another complication that, to me, is the greater problem. Soil seems easier to clean than far-reaching underground hydrology involving wells and aquifers.
This week I've been reading about a company-perhaps there is more than one- that assumes risk for huge, grossly contaminated properties and does some clean up, then sells the developed land at great profit. The monetary figures involved in development seem mind-boggling (as does and is the sale price to a new owner); but interestingly...the properties sell to the remediation company for practically NOTHING! Kind of gift from the city or owner! (Why?)
Anyway, a private development company such as this can buy all over the world making huge profits and returning once and perhaps always toxic land to public use.
I urge you to learn about this turn-over of ruined land and help ask the hard question: When do we know these sites are safe? Who decides? and is a seriously careful and prudent standard applied as a TRUE PUBLIC SAFEGUARD?
Then, ask why our government is putting our environmental safety in the hands of a private company rather than personally seeing that clean is completely done?
To re-state what's really bothering me...It's as if the government has given up, quit, and now the land is a GIVE-AWAY!
One of my sacred watchwords in life is: Be careful when huge sums of money, politics, the law, and mucho science are involved. The average citizen will not notice or understand what the profiteers do and how they cover their actions from a legal standpoint. A bomb could sail through the legal loopholes (and has) while citizens sleep a peaceful sleep filled with patriots' dreams!
We have a naval air base here in Dallas with a seemingly uncertain future. The time to continue talking about thorough remediation of soil and water - the job is not finished yet - is NOW. Not after we read in the DMN that an international company owns city land and is building a war-themed Six Flags or my dream retirement village by a lake spiked with fuels and metals.

FOXNews.com - EyePoppers: The Best Science Photos of the Week - Slide 3 of 76

2010-02-14T06:54:00.014-06:00

If I had my life to live over again, I would be a scientist. Technology has opened up the field - the world - into a palette of beauty and fascination we never knew existed back in the day of Sunset High School-circa 1969! O, maybe some brain - trust people knew, but I was far too immature to envision what might lie beyond the never-ending, sleep-inducing textbook and black and white movie reels on insects. (Really-I spent one hour of my precious life watching "Flies Are Interesting" in the "projection room.")
Time traveling to the present, science is the answer to economic and environmental problems-and probably political ones, too. As JFK said when advocating peace and unity among citizens of the world, "We are all mortal..." and to continue his message in paraphrase, we all want the same things in life for ourselves and our children. I would add: we want affordable energy for a comfortable home and necessary travel, affordable medical care, clean water and air without the loss of jobs or "crippling of a sector." The key is "affordable" and science is key in making that miracle a reality. Many can find energy, but who can produce it safely and at a desirable price?
Isn't it funny how our society allows athletes, movie stars, politicians, and even tv preachers to be paid millions per season/gig/board assignment, when we need to be paying scientists the big bucks to solve our problems.
Happy viewing of beauty in the natural world... and hopefully thinking about what you can do change the world and make it a safe haven for the fragile human family. Oh, and happy Valentines Day!

FOXNews.com - EyePoppers: The Best Science Photos of the Week - Slide 3 of 76

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9-11 and the Campaign For Texas Governor?

2010-02-12T17:26:00.010-06:00

I have been intensely interested in Texas's environmental situation for only the past two years. Questions about Mountain Creek Lake drew me to online research, but I was most helped by people working for EPA, universities, and citizens' groups who taught me about current issues in a way I could really picture in my mind and understand.
Education-from one person to another-there's no substitute for it.
One lesson led to another and now after two years and much frustration over military bases, CO2 emmissions, and natural gas drilling; I want a new governor of Texas and a new TCEQ to go along with the renewed and improved EPA from which I expect great things.
Which is how I began to follow Debra Medina's campaign...
Now I see she is "derailed" due to comments about 9-11. She may still actually be back on track with appropriate explanation, but the media seized on her remarks and, I think, made more out of them than what was there. Yet she said what she said...
Funny how people react differently to the same ideas. My husband thinks anyone who would entertain the idea that the US govt had any part in 9-11 is INSANE.
I pretty much agree-but, I would qualify my answer a bit. Having lived through the Kennedy assassination and read much reliable and even factual information for years that doesn't fit into the Warren Commission's scenario, am I apt to believe ANYTHING the government says? Having seen the extreme and shocking destruction of the environment on military bases that the govt refuses to clean up, do I hang on every word from Washington? NO. If 800 engineers say the World Trade Center buildings could not have been brought down by planes hitting the top floors, would I at least think about this? And look for an explanation of their opinion? YES.
Which leads me to Ms Medina. I think she's likewise a thoughtful person who weighs evidence and is open to the facts and truth.
I don't think she believes-and neither do I-in US involvement in a terrorist horror. But, she isn't naive either, and is open to facts.
Apparently being open to facts and truth doesn't make a good story, but being a supposed lunatic conspiracy - theorist does.
I - for one - am continuing to look at Debra Medina as someone who MIGHT be good for Texas. As I've written before, I want to elect a moral person who cares about the needs of individuals of every class and will protect the water and air for present and future generations.
Other objectives for Texas matter greatly, as well; but without basic "Golden Rule" morality and fairness, they'll soon be distorted and ineffectual. I think this is what has happened with well-intentioned Gov Perry - derailment by special interests. Could that be a conspiracy we should investigate?

THE ONE SECOND FOREVER BOOM

2010-02-07T16:03:00.012-06:00

Remember when gas was $4.25 a gallon and politicians were constantly preaching that we had to quit using foreign oil? It wasn't that long ago.
In just a couple of years, gas prices are down by half, shales in New York and Texas are being drilled to heck and back with chemicals and mud everywhere, and tons of clunkers were cashed in and crushed up...
Do you see what's happened?
Our land, homes, and people are being destroyed and injured in order to get energy from the ground of our homeland-not from somebody else's.
Today a new natural gas power plant in Connecticut blew up, killing and injuring numerous people.
Recently, several homes in Dallas have blown apart-and a whole block was evacuated-due to natural gas leaks.
Natural gas is dangerous in every stage-drilling, storage, testing, usage.
I'm not saying we're wrong in becoming more natural gas dependent, just that there's no free lunch or almost free gas, like we hoped and were led to believe. There are costs, trade-offs, and continuing problems like ongoing war in the Middle East.
Natural gas is no quick/easy/painless fix like the ones Americans tend to crave.
Surely energy and the environment need intense, immediate scrutiny and regulation today before we blow ourselves up and do irrevocable damage to our beloved country and planet.
You know, it only takes a second to die, kill, explode, to accidentally poison and pollute. No do-overs-unfortunately-in the life-death arena for President Obama, Congress, EPA, soldiers, or you and I with our fragile lungs, organs, lives.

*************************************************************************************

In honor of the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS and the proud, strong, courageous people of NEW ORLEANS:

PIPELINE TO A POLLUTED LAKE

2010-02-06T14:21:00.010-06:00

A new infrastructure pipeline for water transport will bring water from Lake Palestine to Dallas and connect all reservoirs including Mountain Creek Lake and Joe Pool Lake-to be completed by 2018.
What a surprise!
I figured water from Mountain Creek Lake would be used for natural gas drilling then (forever fracked and radioactive) stored underground before it would be tied in to Dallas resevoir water. Have we become desparate enough for water to look in Oak Cliff/Grand Prairie? From what I read, we may be getting to that point.
I'd feel better about the pipeline if Dallas hired an environmental clean up company to vacuum up the silt and chemicals embedded in sediment at the MCL bottom, wouldn't you? This is how it works, according to pictures of filthy lakes being cleaned in China (of all places!) A company floats and anchors a platform on the water with vacuuming equipment and the suctioned sediment travels through hoses to trucks, or to a disposal area where it could be treated or buried and capped.
Wouldn't it be fair and proper for the Navy, TXU-Exelon-Luminant, and Vought - Superfund club members surrounding the polluted lake to pay for such clean up? That would be a little stimulus package for Dallas, though our groundwater and aquifer in the area have been RUINED FOREVER by the trio.
Think about it, Dallasites. The Navy - particularly - has gotten off pretty easy after doing a billion + dollars of damage to our city's Naval bases and lake; but of course it's not too late to leave a more honorable legacy. You'd think the power company, which still owns part of the lake, would be all for this idea...But, for some reason, things stay quiet on the toxic west Dallas lake front where no one makes waves-literally; and all guilty parties continue industrial pursuits and profits with no comment on the environment except maybe "we're going green" now...
NOW - Yesterday is in the rearview mirror, and it always helps if the property changes hands, meets a new boss who appeals for a more favorable classification and everyone MOVES ON. The only problem is that the toxic land and water stay the same, and thus, so does our community and our health problems.

Who'll Be Moving On?

2010-02-04T08:22:00.008-06:00

Notice the intimidation of opponents of natural gas drilling/toxic emissions on view in news/blog comments. Wonder where that perspective is coming from-the industry, lobbyists, state agencies?
The more intimidation shown....the more impact opponents* are having and the more threatening we/they seem to those with financial interest in drilling.
Thought for the day: If you have a sincere question about your safety, do not yield to intimidation! One does not have to have a science degree to protect self and family from benzene!
The drilling conflict is about safety, from the public's viewpoint, but is in reality as much about money. Tax money delivered to schools-a good thing-but a greater amount enriching individuals like lobbyists and even a STATE REPRESENTATIVE.
Reread that: a state representative of the people
of Texas. We pay his salary to speak and vote on our behalf.
It doesn't take a government degree to know what a representative is and should and SHOULDN'T do...
If you have lingering concerns about drilling in our communities, do not accept the label "fear monger" or person refusing to "move on..." now that the TCEQ "facts" obtained in freezing weather are on record.
We'll see who'll be moving on.
By the way, Ft Worth's mayor is most competent to order further independent testing of the air in his city. Prudent, fair, smart...I like this person!

Note: I'm not opposed to natural gas drilling if it can be done safely. But frankly, I wonder how we can avoid underground environmental damage affecting water supply. The current process with chemical erosion or explosion places humans in danger from both air and water supply. In my opinion, undeniable long-term danger lies ahead if present methods prevail.
Surely all Americans seeking relief from dependence on foreign oil want a cheap, safe natural gas supply; but as is often the case-we lack across-the-board technical ability. You know, reality is just that - and we must face it.

THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

2010-01-24T13:56:00.030-06:00

Amazing how long it takes government-local or state-to finally accept what everybody already knows or assumes to be logical.
For instance...
Today, I read in the Denton Record Chronicle (a fine paper with excellent coverage) that folks testing air at drilling sites might stand near the actual active drilling equipment with a hand-held detection device, and not rely on canisters at the edge of the drilling site. Fantastic progress-and common sense?
Also revealed is this gem: the source of emissions is not just one specific part of the rig, but comes from various parts-a valve left open by a worker, a tank, etc. Remember from 6th grade science: A machine has parts and does work! Any part can malfunction or be used improperly.
And we now know that chemicals move through the air - even one mile from their source. That one hits "close to home" since it warns that vapor may reach your subdivision and mine!
Of course, there are naysayers who can't trust these shocking results and think a vast "left wing" of citizens is conspiring to destroy the drilling industry just to save their homes, property, health, and general economic survival.

Likely an unpopular sentiment, but I'm afraid that while state experts skate around the truth, the level of education among Texans is low as feared, and the ability to draw reasonable conclusions, and even access imagination/creativity among many citizens might be subterranean. Strangely appropriate for a drilling discussion...but enough of my negativity. I work in the education field, after all, and give my energy in hope that we can all be better and more knowledgeable citizens.

Prove me wrong, fellow citizens. Prove me wrong with your acute awareness of reality, quick response, and effective action to protect yourselves.
I am personally discouraged reflecting on comments made on websites where people-perhaps drunk people! called "posters" who agreed with them (me) insulting names! The N Texas drilling conflict is apparently no place for sanity and sensitivity.
Lastly, I hope you'll read The Denton Record Chronicle story at
>http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_maps_0124.

Update: YES! People in Argyle, Dish, and Flower Mound seem to be taking back their communities from polluters. They are just saying NO to tanks of toxic water and pipelines within their lovely towns.
TCEQ results show one-fourth of tested Barnett Shale wells have over the top benzene levels; and-of all things-natural gas drilling money is being used to buy the Texas Rangers baseball team!
Hope fans can stand to breathe the air at charming Ranger Stadium. Aren't those UTA wells fairly close by?
Hot dogs, beer, and masks, anyone?

May you never feel the earth move in your backyard!

IS THERE A KID FROM A HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR WHO'LL TEST OUR AIR?

2010-01-23T07:08:00.011-06:00

See this link and news story about the natural gas drilling situation in Flower Mound. I love WFAA!
http://www.wfaa.com/news/Questions-Over-825111307.htlm

TCEQ lied about the air testing results in Flower Mound - and didn't even test and let us think they did?
The state is playing "cat and mouse" with our health and property?
WELL-It is so time for a housecleaning starting with the governor's office/mansion and extending to his agency directors and beyond.
I AM DISGUSTED.
And these guys couldn't care less. They test only when a chemical is 140x the allowable level, and are without proper equipment (which they admittedly lack expertise in using.)
Bring in Lisa Jackson and EPA or a kid from my school's science fair. They're better than what we've gotten so far.

Note: If you're an Oak Cliff reader, remember natural gas drilling could be coming to the Naval Air Station near your your borders-any time TXO/Exxon Mobil gets ready.

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!

2010-01-19T12:40:00.027-06:00

I received an e-mail from Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson in response to a request that she
promote enforcement of the clean air and water acts. Her response was that Congress must look at the big picture and not cause job loss by "crippling a sector." They, Congresspersons, need to find incentives so businesses will follow the law.
I appreciated the polite, measured response, but have a few questions: Does anyone give you or me an incentive to cause no harm to others? Are we given tax breaks for caring for our land, disposing of our trash properly, recycling? I've never gotten a penny.
Does providing jobs or even energy mean you can break or ignore a fair, purposeful law? Is it right that the law doesn't apply to the most extreme offenders?

I think Congress needs to look at THE REALLY BIG PICTURE-and that includes business threatening lawmakers with what will happen if they (drillers, captains of industry) are compelled to obey the law. Allowing industry to pollute has gotten us where we are now - still in the ongoing energy crisis but now facing a possible water crisis in Texas and other states, as well. I don't mean to be insensitive to job loss, but loss of safe water in itself is a pretty big threat to many people-like half of Texas! (Just as troubling is loss of water because of the millions of gallons constantly in use in fracking.)

The big picture might also include taking a look at the myriad of ways industries circumvent laws now. In fact, this task might prove extremely valuable.
The more I think about this, the more I see a moral issue-especially in the oil/gas
environmental destruction issue. Who is the clear victim? Who is due protection? Senator H seems to want to protect "the sector" most of all. Good luck, Senator - as it seems to me the sector is contributing to its own downfall and must clean up its act to survive - even as politicians try valiantly to protect all the money, energy and jobs drilling provides.

Life is filled with hard choices and we humans tend to stay in the middle, riding the fence, pleasing everyone as long as we can.
But if our water and air are really and truly in danger, someone in a position of leadership needs to hop off the fence.
And we will call that person "governor," I'll just bet.
Once she knows what's true, a true leader must act.

By the way, I hear from my friends and family that the candidate from Wharton, Debra Medina, is really impressive.
I'm Googling her views on the environment today!
Which candidate, liberal or conservative, understands simple right and wrong, and will stand up for safety and fairness to landowners against a drilling industry that says it can bring 300,000 jobs to Texas? Is there one?

Those who study Texas history soon realize that our ancestors fought and won wars against wealthy folks who wanted to take over, get rich off the resources of our land, and impact the rights and freedoms of the farmer and rancher.
So - just some free advice: Don't mess with Texas, don't mess it up, then fail to clean it up. And don't mess with blogging rural women protecting their homes.

TALKING POINTS: DON'T LEAVE OUT THE BS ! (Barnett Shale)

2010-01-17T12:54:00.011-06:00

I'm hearing smart people say that we need to oust Gov Perry in order to have hope of improving the environment-particularly in reference to natural gas drilling. Are these folks for Kay Bailey? No, two others are running and one is preferred by those fighting drilling.
Gov Perry is an appealing personality, and I am fine with many of his views. I know he cares about Texas, jobs, and progress. In fact, if it wasn't for the environment issue, I'd likely be a Perry supporter... (My husband is!) The trouble is I'm not willing to cough and wheeze my life away, only to die of cancer along with thousands of others to get his low state tax rate.
It's just so NOT WORTH IT!
I also hear that concerned citizens hope and expect EPA will intervene on behalf of Texans soon. If EPA does this, I wonder if the candidates will begin to appeal to our higher nature about clean air and water. A Damascus road conversion of sorts by candidates? And hey-maybe even the citizenry!
This should be an interesting campaign. I call it YOUR POCKETBOOK OR YOUR PREMATURE, TORTUROUS DEATH VOTE-sure to bring out the peeps from all over our muddy or drought-ridden, smoggy state.
All in all, I think it is true that Gov Perry has sustained the long history and tradition of Texas businesses' looting of the people's resources; and even added to the legacy with his unique vision and arrogance. (So sad because his wife is a caring nurse and knowledgeable about current health issues, children's needs, etc.) Poor Gov. Perry and Kay H, also. They need so many millions to run for office; and then must find backers for their "causes," and donors to rebuild the charred mansion in Austin. Can needy citizens with drilling rigs in their backyards foot these bills? No, but oil and gas companies surely can...and do. Follow the money and the path to power is brightly illuminated!
Be ready when our governor's campaign calls you...Ask his plans for the Barnett Shale and future laws to protect Texas residents. Heck, ask about present laws and exemptions for oil and gas company compliance. See if his people can gab about something not on their talking points outline that the campaign would really rather not discuss.

TEXAS LAW - LAX TO THE MAX

2010-01-15T09:57:00.026-06:00

My latest info on Mountain Creek Lake and Cottonwood Bay at Dallas NWIRP from EPA:

Texas law allows for the toxic groundwater at the Dallas Naval Air Station/Naval Weapons Installation (which was supposed to be CLEANED UP) to be monitored, and no movement is being made toward clean up. There's no comment on screening off the toxic bay with a fence; and Texas law permits water to flow from the bay into a creek (accessible to children) if chemical concentrations are of a "low enough level." All the environmental lack of action is state-sanctioned.
How could that happen at a Superfund site? The damage is reclassified and allowable levels of dangerous chemicals are raised! People, this means if you can't or don't want to do an expensive water clean-up, you adjust the numbers and ratings in the system.

It's all about Texas law; and Texas law is asleep, inert, has no teeth, lax to the max when it comes to water and air.
I'd not consider "acceptable levels" of volatile organic compounds - solvents and fuel - acceptable for my kids, if I had anything to say about it. Oh, yeah, I don't! This is infuriating, parents. We should at least be given clear info and recent testing results. (Yes, I know, testing wasn't done recently but rather in 2001. When asked about more recent results, EPA has none,
but believes things are better than in 2001 - at least in Mountain Creek Lake.)
So why am I upset? My feared after school or week-end scenario: A child plays in the Cottonwood creek and has VOC contact. Then he plays in the creek a block away, getting into the TCE plume down 20 ft below the road. What a great Saturday in Grand Prairie! Chemical exposure may not be perilously dangerous, but do we really know?
My concern is that kids - no matter their parents' level of education or involvement - are safe outdoors and that laws protect citizens, and not just the Navy.

Let me conclude by sharing today's sad lesson. Comments about Texas's weak, powerless environmental law appear true. Generally speaking, Texans'
hope of authentic protection has evaporated into the smoky, stinking air and sunk to the bottom of the pond along with radioactive sediments.*
Where is our new Region 6 EPA director? I hope to hear his viewpoints soon.

*Driving home down Beltline and Luna in Coppell and Carrollton, I saw three industrial sites bellowing thick black smoke into the air. One seemed to be a small cement facility; another was a rock foundry; then a cedar company. Two were along the narrow, semi-dry Trinity River running along Beltline and one was practically beside I 35 on Luna Rd. An overcast day+road exhaust+these burners expelling = dark, smelly misery. This looked so nasty that I couldn't believe I was in the US! What was in that smoke, EPA? Do you know?

IN A HEAP OF SLIMY TROUBLE

2010-01-14T20:44:00.016-06:00

Note to readers: In my blog decription above, there was not enough space to tell you the following: Many of my recent posts are about the natural gas drilling fiasco in neighboring counties. When I learned drilling was proposed for Dallas NAS, I quickly became aware of news stories describing Barnett Shale methods, dangers, and messy situations! So while awaiting news of Mountain Creek Lake, I have studied and concluded that the problems in Dallas and in the Barnett Shale stem from the same weak, pro-business environmental laws of Texas.
If you are mostly interested in Mt Creek Lake and Cottonwood Bay, the Dallas Naval Air Station and NWIRP, don't miss earlier posts. As more info becomes available, I will post on those topics-MCL/NAS/NWIRP-my original Oak Cliff-home community concerns.

IN A HEAP OF SLIMY TROUBLE

I was just saying to my husband who probably wasn't even listening: Either those of us who are worried about drilling are totally delusional OR there is a huge cover-up in our state about drilling dangers. It has to be one way or the other. There's not a lot of middle ground between "safe" and "unsafe"-and if there were, no would want to live there. LIMBO-that's where things stand now until the truth comes out. A very uncomfortable place.
But, being a peacemaker in my soul, I struggle with fairness to all involved-even in the realm of ideas and opinions.
So, I mind travel back in time to when the newspapers were reporting on drilling opportunity-probably back in 2007. Do you remember reading stuff like this?
-Drilling will not be a problem in the city, not even in parks or public land.
-It will not hurt our water! - We'll hardly know the towers are there, then in a few weeks of months, they'll be gone! - The process is totally advanced and safe with NEW METHODS! - No pain, but plenty of gain! Easy money for the city to use in our many development projects, reducing the burden on all taxpayers...On and on.
Was this is a p r spiel designed to get citizens on board with drilling proposals?(Affirmative, wouldn't you say?)
And wasn't the posse/parade being led by our Dallas city leaders?
Friends, the wonderful claims did not prove true. See photos and read testimonials online (Bluedaze Drilling site) from Denton, Wise, and Parker County residents.
Do you remember the Dallas City Council woman who tried to warn us; and, as I recall, was not treated politely? Oh, yes, Dallas was surely warned.
I can't help but recall the fairy tale about the emperor having no clothes, and the townspeople emoting about the beauty of his garments and not wanting to speak the truth about the leader's appalling nakedness. And, I learned about this phenomona in social psychology. People want to be enthusiastic and part of the crowd and the fun, happening event until they can no longer abide being duped, used, and abused.
Those who speak contrary to the in crowd often get ridiculed, that is until enough folks are seeing and saying the same thing. Then the group and its shared truth again become extremely powerful.
It may sound boring and even weak to point out that truth is not a product of social psychology. Further study and science will have to provide final answers about drilling safety. Citizens cannot speak with authority as a group until we have all the facts, though I agree we have compelling info now.
Further evidence is on its way, and we need more than one source of lab tests and data on the days of reckoning. We need scientists who can understand and communicate the big picture-chemical levels from water samples, but also earthquake and groundwater/drinking water risk over the next couple of hundred years. We need geologists, hydrologists, highly trained environmentalists and technicians. (Like the guys who work for EPA and DOD and can't be objective?)
As for politicians? They'd be wise to keep a low profile and keep their emperor shirts on! I'm thinking the politicians who sold us our bill of drilling goods are in a heap of slimy trouble. What were they thinking? And why weren't they researching so that they could have presented citizens with truth and reality instead of a stupid commerial for getting rich the easy, painless way?

I Feel The Earth Move...

2010-01-09T13:05:00.017-06:00

Bloggers and their readers are watching the Trinity River-watching to see whether natural gas drilling companies indeed pump water out of it for use in their drilling process. If you happen to drive along the river, keep an eye out for trucks on the levee and pumps and hoses. Apparently legitimate equipment has permit stickers on it, though I don't personally know of any legit equipment or why it would be there.
Funny how this came out. A re-assuring worker told a homeowner not to worry that her Denton water supply was being affected, "cause we pump the water out of the Trinity!"
Great news for Dallas...
I've read Dallas does use some water (for our city water supply) from a fork of the river, but the Dallas water utility website says treated wastewater from Dallas flows into the Trinity and is used by other cities. At any rate, our new town lake won't look too gorgeous with its water sucked out and pumped underground under poor, gaseous, waterless Tarrant County. This is not a pretty picture or smell.
But...you know, this Barnett Shale business must be booming if investors from Paris, France, are buying in with 2 billion+! (French company Total investing 25% stake in Chesapeake, which is an Oklahoma company. I read a citizen comment-perhaps by an "insider"-you never know-that Total just wants experience with drilling here so they can do the same deed in Europe. Will they ever learn how to mess up here in our home state! Oh, God bless Texas-the 7th most polluted "nation"/area in the world!
Keep reading TXSharon with me and her linked testimonials with photos. You can almost feel the earth move under your feet... (buzzing sound effects...)
Really - people are figuring out this drilling problem with good sense and five senses: the slimy residue, the smell, the earthquakes, the mud and hoses, the radioactive readings, the dead creatures including at least one poor man in Louisiana.... Now, as for the state environmental commission, can they see clearly with the wealthy and powerful oil/gas lobbyists working their strange magic? One word come to my mind-HYPNOTIZED!

What To Do About Govt and What Should Govt Do?

2010-01-08T19:10:00.025-06:00

Thanks for reading my post. I wrote this because of two news articles published over the past two years which suggested that our fifty states are pressured by federal govt level polluters (the military) to avoid clean up costs on local military bases. On one hand, the federal govt in its EPA incarnation looks like a "good cop" policing the environment, but what about the Dept of Defense - also the federal govt? Is DOD the "bad cop," and then what about state agencies? This reminds me of the intelligence community where what appears to be true, may not be...I think I may be getting a tad too paranoid for my own good, but read on and see what you think.

If you care about contaminated military bases as I do and want to see them cleaned up; you, of course, wonder who should pay for clean up.
You begin to reason...who damaged the land and water? Who is responsible? Then, you ask: Is this offending group still around? Will they do the "right" thing-pay to fix their mess? If not, what will society have to do to this group to extract payment?
These are not easy questions to answers.
So, you turn to the law..The law says responsible parties must pay. But, they don't-not fully. Not even "nearly fully."
So, you examine the questions: Who or what is the law? The US government, EPA, the courts, even the Supreme Court-maybe.
Okay - who actually damaged the military base? The Navy, the Dept of Defense...Why, THE GOVERNMENT!
So, can we logically conclude the government should make ITSELF pay-and then proceed to realize that "the government" is pretty much the same thing as the citizen, the voter, the taxpayer. US! (Oh, and by the way, we're also the victims as we live around these bases, breathe the air, and look for a substitute for the groundwater the Navy ruined!)
Do you think this system is fair, or even realistic as a solution to massive environmental problems in our country and, yes, around the world? The US military has been everywhere and its global, environmental boot print will be vocally and visually identified through the media, if it hasn't been already.
WE MUST RETHINK THIS SYSTEM OF HAVING THE GOVERNMENT POLICE ITSELF AND HOLD ON TO ITS OWN CHECKBOOK, so to speak. A responsive-to-the needs-of-people Congress must prevail as representatives of an active citizenry demanding the basics of life-clean air, water, soil.
Or does the clean up confrontation need to rise through the courts? The Supreme Court should understand the US government if anyone does, but their verdict could be surprising in this modern age of chemical warfare that we need to fight terrorism. It's a new age and our long-held beliefs about liberty and justice are up for grabs, I fear.
Recently, Americans have demanded change in Washington. Change - or change I can believe in - comes not just from putting out fires like failing banks, however serious; but from philosophy that grows out of American foundational ideas like justice, inalienable rights, opportunity, and personal responsibility.
For example, as much as I want to see everyone have health care, I don't see the legal imperative to provide it as a matter of justice. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the idea of making restitution like I do in these military base clean up issues. The continued contamination of these bases says to me that the government is protecting itself and arrogantly deciding for citizens what it-the government-can get away with. This is a hide from responsibility game.
Health care is different. To me, finding a way to care for the sick is a matter of compassion, grace, responsibility of the healthy to help fellow men, and even business opportunity on some levels; but I don't think it can be entirely forced in terms of law. Some aspects like the pre-existing condition disqualification should be eliminated with legislation and perhaps opportunity for insurance, affordable screenings, and research facilities should be provided through legislation, but individual responsibility for health throughout one's lifetime must be part of the deal. You can't force someone to stay safe and take care of his or her health, and you really can't do it for him.
Apparently, my desired military base clean ups can't be forced either...
In the end, unless we speak up, government will try to decide everything for us , leaving us more the victim than we are already - and that is not a change that will do us good.
The core strength of America is that her free people can figure out the right thing to do and can courageously do it or see that it gets done. We have trusted each other and worked together for over 200 years. Let's not stop now-whether our mission be the environment, health care, the economy.
Come let us reason together...what do people need to live? What can they do for themselves? And what are the things only government can and should do-like using our money for defense and clean up thereafter and giving us opportunity to keep ourselves healthy.

RESERVOIRS FOR DALLAS: TWO NEW?

2010-01-05T07:59:00.008-06:00

Be sure to read the Dallas Morning News story today on Dallas obtaining a new reservoir (or two) for drinking water and the billions of cost involved, the loss of forest land/nature preserves, the miles of pipe that will be laid from East Texas to here. Quite a vast distance, I'd say.
No mention of poor Mountain Creek Lake already conveniently in the heart of Dallas needing its silty bottom vacuumed out and its toxic water treated.
Everyone loves progress - especially if it's truly necessary, efficient and well-executed. But progress is also solving big military mess-ups that waste land, water, and opportunity for recreation, fishing, and overall quality of life.
Mountain Creek Lake, Dallas NAS and NWIRP are, to my way of thinking, national cemeteries with no bodies. Does anyone else feel that patriots and proud, capable Texans would or should passionately want this area restored to a far greater extent than has been done?
We've seen a minimal, "cost effective" effort-so what's next, city fathers?
We know reservoirs are high on your to do list!

TWO MORE YEARS TO ENACT DRILLING LAWS

2010-01-01T19:46:00.008-06:00

It's true. According to WFAA.com and TX Sharon (see her Bluedaze Drilling website for the best, most complete info), it will be TWO MORE YEARS until laws protecting citizens and our air and water will be enforced. Thus, many insist a moratorium on drilling is necessary. Seems that would enable water/air/soil testing to be done and new drilling methods studied and implemented. To continue as things are now, means more poison-to an extent we don't presently fully comprehend.
If you are concerned about natural gas drilling risk, contact TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Austin. Tx) and the Texas Railroad Commsission now. Though it sounds odd, the RR Commisssion has dominion over drilling. I'm sure you know how to Google the organization name, click on its website, and find the "contact" button on the website to e-mail. Well, we all have to learn the first time!)
Public pressure is the one thing that can halt damage to people and property.
We must think of rural folks with drilling rigs next door to their homes;* considering chemical leaks and spills, waste water dumping, and massive amounts of water-millions of gallons per well-injected and left underground. And we must remember that all water ultimately interacts. No matter where we live, we will not remain permanently untouched by pollution.
Texas has thousand of wells, more than any other state in the Union, and shockingly few regulators. I don't believe we have adequate personnel to study the dangers of our drilling situation!
So until we understand true present damage and future risk, we must protect our present and future citizens, our land, and resources. Better to be too careful than not.
After all, even the TCEQ physician/spokesperson agrees we are in danger. That's good enough for me, fellow Texans.

*As several weeks has passed, we have learned of families completely losing the value of their homes because wells were ruined and their property has no water. To connect to "city water" costs hundreds of thousand of dollars, according to residents. If damage from drilling cannot be proven, these folks have no recourse.
Where is the leak in the undersgound setup that ruined wells, and threatens the aquifer - how would a property owner know?

Cape Cod Lifestyle for Sale in Grand Prairie?

2009-12-31T08:36:00.015-06:00

Want to live on scenic Mountain Creek Lake? Smallish, but new brick homes with neat yards are being built long the water's edge on the Grand Prairie side of the lake.
What does that locale have going for it? A view of the Dallas NAS run-way with Blackhawk helicopters landing-maybe? The feeling of patriotism with the Texas National Guard and DFW national cemetery nearby? A lake ringed with TXU/Luminant transformers-kind of a rugged, electric sculptural garden effect visible from the cool over-the-lake bridge from Oak Cliff to GP. Oh, and let's not forget a really beautiful view of the new DBU chapel! Even for a residential/military/industrial/academic environment-there's a lot of action nearby.
Why, this new subdivision sounds a bit like old Cape Cod with street names of the "Sea Breeze" and "Harbor Lights" variety-reminiscent of Dallas as a land-locked port.
I truly appreciate quality development in the Dallas area-whatever the zip code, whatever the price range.
And, I've come to realize that environmental destruction does not exist unto itself forever. Rebirth and development have to be the the eventual result of true remediation, which hasn't taken place at Dallas NAS/NWIRP, by the way.
My questions about the new development (and other similar ones in the area) are these:
What was the city's and EPA's involvement in oversight of the area? What were the residents told about groundwater and TCE plumes? What will it take to get air quality measured due to several industrial concerns in the area? What about fishing and kids playing in the lake?
You know, I am just wondering about everyday, common sense concerns for an area the military-according to a 2001 Dallas lawsuit-made unusable. To what extent is the land and water unusable? To what extent is it useable-and to what extent is it fair for builder/developers to profit from perhaps compromised land in this area?
My inquiring mind wonders about a few details that should not be difficult to ascertain. But, from experience, I predict this land was not tagged as having any environmental problem at all, since the military base itself seems to present little concern to "the powers that be..." here in Big D.
Oh, and one last thought. Will Exxon be drilling for natural gas at the Naval Air Station this year? Is drilling for oil in the future? I would think new home owners have a right to know; and if I were they, I'd be checking my mineral rights clause.

In New Gas Wells, More Drilling Chemicals Remain Underground - ProPublica

2009-12-27T17:57:00.002-06:00

In New Gas Wells, More Drilling Chemicals Remain Underground - ProPublica

Note: Injecting large amounts of water underground is believed to be the the cause of eathquakes in N Texas. (This info from a companion story by Abrahm Lustgarten of Propublica. Just FYI as you read the piece linked here...)

A Holiday Drive...to Our Local Superfund Site

2009-12-27T09:56:00.020-06:00

Yesterday my husband and I took a drive along the back of Vought and the Dallas Naval Air Station down 14th St in Grand Prairie where the TCE plume is located, and then down Skyline toward Cottonwood Bay. This is what we found:
-a chain link fence as a boundary to Vought property, but no fence sealing off Cottonwood Bay, no warning signs of any kind. Just a wooded area screening off part of the view of Cottonwood Bay.
-a creek extending under a roadway where kids could slide down the creekbed and actually get into the Cottonwood Bay run-off/water and no warning signs.
-cleared land/grass beside a TXU transformer where kids could step over a chain and walk down to the bay/Mt Creek Lake, no warning signs about the lake.
-new apartments and two new housing developments, new schools in the TCE plume area; new homes are being built right on Mt Creek Lake with "seaside"/"harbor breeze"-type names; no evidence of any concern about contaminated water, soil, air.
-culverts and creeks dipping twenty feet below the usual ground elevation where TCE is supposedly underground. (Area is generally hilly, but low areas warrant investigation, I think.)
Overall, we saw much new construction and development in an area where groundwater is ruined and we believed digging and development would not be allowed.
In months past, when I asked an EPA manager about a fence protecting kids from Cottonwood Bay, he said, "I'm not saying a kid couldn't get over or under the fence." And, "It's hard to see fences on Google Earth!"
Is it ever-especially when they're not there-at least, not where my husband I could see one.
If I had not believed a fence was there, believe me, I would have tried to see that area long ago. And frankly, I was greatly surprised the whole area was not sealed off and guarded by Vought. I did not think I could get close to it!
At this point, all I can say is I'm not a scientist, surveyor, or EPA expert-obviously. But I am a shocked-even alarmed-citizen and will be calling EPA asking WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?
We read this Dallas NAS/NWIRP military base area is a SUPERFUND site, yet kids can ride their bikes right up to it and walk through some trees or hop a chain to possibly get in? (If a kid could climb a chain link fence, they could enter Vought!)
Something isn't right-and, friends, this has been going on at least twelve years-actually much longer factoring in the seventy years the bases have been in operating in some aircraft-military capacity.

Update: Waiting for complete info from EPA, I'm wondering if I'm missing something...Is this not a Superfund site? Has so much time passed that the problems don't matter any more? did they ever matter?
I studied a military Superfund site in Colorado today, and EPA's agreement with the state of Colorado clearly stated that public access was to be strictly cut off, which was the rationale for considering the site reasonably "safe." Of course, it's not safe-it's an arsenal with nerve gas in soil and stream beds, groundwater, etc.; but at least only wildlife and certain workers can land there. In contrast, here in Texas we find our toxic site with an open back door. The more I learn about this, the more unbelievable it seems. UPDATE: Apparently the Navy has owned this land by the bay for UNDER A YEAR-having just bought it from TXU! But, the Navy has polluted the bay for the last 50 years and is trying to auction off the "Cottonwood Bay area." UPDATE: Navy contractors contaminated the land alongside the bay (where I think a sturdy fence should be...) so the Navy bought the land from TXU and will try to sell it. I'm thinking "hot potato" - wonder who would buy this! Someone interested in a nice, already ruined lakeside place, to do industrial work? Please, no fishing, swimming, or summertime family picnics!

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, TOO BAD

2009-12-26T11:15:00.013-06:00

Today's the day after Christmas, and I've taken all the Santas off my tree; gone is everything made of plastic or a similar fake product; banished all made in China from the tree limbs. However, I've left "on" my natural ornaments and old Christmas glass balls my beloved grandmother bought at Oak Cliff's Cannon's Drugstore back in the 40s-50s. I did also add a few ornaments celebrating the great natural state of Texas.
The tree looks better than ever, and after everyone else in the family has forgotten it now that presents have been opened and put away, I enjoy it-bubble lights and all. My vintage Oak Cliff, Texas, tree from the 60s with pine cones, berries, and a personal collection of meaningful life symbols. (Sounding a little hippie, earth mother, I know. Can't help it.)
But, I can see why some people ponder and celebrate nature, the land, the good earth..its origin from God, its endurance through the ages, its promise for the future.
In winter, the outdoors sleeps under ice and snow hiding from the howling wind; and we humans stay inside by our fires to plan for the endeavors of spring-travel, outdoor exercise like paddling the lakes and sea, prosperity with food, fiber, forests, flowers... This humankind kind of ritual is deeply bred within our bodies and collective psyche - a key to our survival and joy in living.
New Years' winter break is a perfect time to think great thoughts about our nation's future and plan laws for the protection of the earth. If you love the open, undeveloped land of Texas-heck, if you care about the green space in your urban paradise, wake up to the fact we are living on top of the Barnett Shale. The USA needs our natural gas to solve an energy crisis, and while we North Texans are patriotic, giving, and desirous of prosperity-our homeland is at stake-not to mention our lungs and bodies which depend on clean air and pure drinking water.
Now is a classroom moment-time to grasp simple science or Boy Scout first aid: POISONOUS CHEMICALS SHOULD NOT GO IN THE GROUND BECAUSE THEY GET IN OUR DRINKING WATER. Though I learned that back in Rosemont Elementary in 1963, corporations tell us we don't understand. They say, "Trust us. We know what we're doing." (Though facts prove otherwise.)
Better to trust our common sense and trust the natural order at this point, don't you think? A stack of evidence proves drilling corporations have wrought damage neither we nor they can undo.
Oh, remember President Reagan...TRUST THEN VERIFY! Trouble is now I'm worried that the verification process will be too little, too late, too bad because the practice being "verified" is very ill-conceived for the great state of Texas-or any inhabited
place on God's green earth.

Postscript: I learned from TX Sharon that one half of Texas depends on groundwater/well water for drinking!

Extracting An Exact Conclusion On the Barnett Shale?

2009-12-20T17:14:00.024-06:00

Below find a list of articles I've been reading. I'll share more as I find them or as friends send them. My instincts - not to mention the facts - tell me that a drilling problem definitely exists in the North Texas area, but because of the powerful gas industry, a precise conclusion will not be easy to draw and publicize. Notice the time that has already passed since these stories broke. News is trickling out, steps in the right direction are being taken here and there-but we aren't hearing the kind of headline-worthy response from the drilling industry that I thought would have to take place. (Like "we're sorry...we'll fix this immediately...")
Too much to hope for.
One good thing about this, though...There is much citizen interest in drilling in our region and the entire US, and e-mails about natural gas drilling are flying - between citizens, scientists, and reporters in various states. Everyone is Googling "fracking" and radioactive water, including myself. Hico and Aledo are new places of interest - and not because of football!
When a pollster calling tonight about the Texas governor's race wanted my pick - Perry or Hutchinson, I asked, "Which candidate will clean up the environment?" As I live and breathe, the environment was not even included in the list of emphases we might wish the new governor to EMPHASIZE! One could pick jobs and economy, however! Of course, we need jobs, but life has other considerations, also; one has to be alive and healthy enough to work, for heaven's sake! I was clearly irritated but went on with the survey questions ("Are you a member of the religious right?" etc.)

This is Texas, our Texas, alright! Long may she produce pure well water and maintain breathable, clean air...I think we'd all prefer "will" to "may" when it comes to those two necessities of life.

The Links: (with thanks to those who passed these on.)
hykos.com/story/2009/6/17/743272/-Drilling-Induced-Earthquakes-and-Some-Crazy-Fracked-UP-Historyttp://www.dail

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/oil-extraction.

htmlhttp://www.prophttp://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Chico-Hot-Water-78444897

.htmlpropublica.org/feature/is-the-marcellus-shale-too-hot-to-handle-1109

http://www.wfaa.com/internal?st=print&id=72135482

&path=/news/healthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing (Wikipedia on hydraulic fracturing mentions radioactive sand)

http://www.shaleshock.org/on-the-education-of-a-‘fracking-neophyte-by-peter-davies/

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/0000000000000511(See link to Abrahm Lustgarten piece,also.)

http://www.earthworksaction.org/PR_DISH_HealthSurveyRelease_TCEQ.cfm

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_RayzorRanch-Air.33f55a20b.html ) *This is inspiring. Denton residents collect 2k dollars to buy an air monitor and have a lab test the air at a drilling site near their homes! Dec 09

Dallas Demanded Clean Up in Past-What About Now?

2009-12-14T18:57:00.028-06:00

Here's a piece of Dallas history from the Dallas Business Journal (2001) which tells exactly why the city of Dallas sued the US Navy for destruction of the soil, groundwater, and buildings at the Dallas Naval Air Station: http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2001/09/03/daily8.
html. Or, if this link doesn't work - story is from 2001 - Google "US Navy+Dallas clean up." This is worth a search.
My take on the article:
Dallas's attorney represented the city well; and I was impressed with the strength of his arguments. He carefully enumerated the Navy's environmental crimes.
Notice the reference to hiding/mislabeling hazardous waste. Very important.
I noticed there was nothing in the lawsuit that said clean up "if possible," or if the cost does not exceed x amount, or if citizens must use groundwater for drinking water. It says, I believe, "clean up to residential standard."
Clear language to me.
The elder Pres. Bush in Parade magazine yesterday said in politics one should not question the motivations of the opposition; and one should not take a disagreement personally. I liked that idea, but when I read the Navy had hidden facts (not to mention waste), I did take it perhaps too personally.
And yes, my continued meager work for the clean up of the Naval Station is personal in the sense that right and wrong, fair and unfair are-if nothing else-personal according my value system. Would I oppose someone by name about it? No, and how could I or anyone? The Navy is named in articles and in the lawsuit as an organization, but "unnamed" in terms of responsible individuals. Being a member of a powerful government entity offers protection and anonymity. Certainly citizens opposing the Navy have no protection except what's given by the Constitution. We have the right to have grievances addressed, but no opportunity to hide within a large organization; and we have no lawyers standing ready to represent us. Interesting contrast...and it points to the importance of large-scale, organized, financed citizen involvement. Citizens balance government, and we must do so with fairness and self-control.
When government disappoints and even violates our idea of what a just authority should do, passionate feelings may result; but, in the end, each person has to deal with that in a responsible way.
So, would you say the Navy has fully and responsibly lived up to its end of the deal in the area of clean up? At both facilities? At Mountain Creek Lake?
Big D drove a hard, fair bargain back in 2001 and it's time to get what we went to the courthouse for...a far better clean up of TCE, PCE, VOC groundwater than we have now.

A Spew of Hell From the Barnett Shale

2009-12-09T18:28:00.020-06:00

Are you reading about radioactive water found in four places near the metroplex as natural gas drilling into the Barnett Shale progresses? We do not know for sure what is causing this.
Hasn't natural gas drilling been going on for years without such occurrences?
What is the new component? Different methods, chemicals - lethal chemicals?, depth and direction? the shale itself?
Friends and fellow citizens, this is scary. In my opinion, drilling needs to be halted until investigation produces answers. Stay attuned to WFAA.com,"Propublica" in NY for national environmental news, and especially the Ft Worth Star Telegram and TXsharon's Bluedaze blog for a local perspective on drilling.
Ft. Worth folks are realizing they have problems beyond water. Benzene is in their air. It's leukemia-producing and at 5 times the allowable rate! And isn't benzene a fracking chemical?

(Note: I understand that a news entity could have a water sample analyzed to determine the kind of radioactive particles - alpha, beta - perhaps a mixture; and that info could point to the source of radioactivity. Surely TCEQ and EPA are testing, also; but, alas, TCEQ is short-staffed. A recent request to the Tx Dept of Health provided no info, and TCEQ/Tx RR Comm web-sites seem to say "No problem." It may be time for the people of North Texas to become empowered and time for journalists to realize their destiny as public servants! Since when does the government need to control everything we know? And to get really radical, we could test-not only our wells and drilling waste water- but our air while we're at it!)

Banding together, there's no good thing we the people can't do.

Thinking closer to home my home, Dallas....plans call for for a happy new year of drilling at the Dallas Naval Air Station-on property owned by the city of Dallas? by Exxon the new owner of TXO? I hope the city of Dallas will keep us out of hot/radioactive water with our "reservoir H2O," delay any planned drilling until safety issues are sorted out - learning from affected communities.
Seems like just when you think nature is on your side, and the easy money is about to roll in from that drilling lease - here it comes! RADIOACTIVITY AND BENZENE, of all things! It's the story of my life.

THE VAST BROWN FIELDS OF HOME

2009-12-05T08:50:00.031-06:00

The Dallas NAS is called, by some city planners/architects, a "drosscape" (term created by Alan Berger) - urban contaminated land which must be renewed over time by known scientific methods and decades or centuries of natural restoration.
Already I'm wondering if such a positive outcome can happen, but..
Drosscapes have few stakeholders and spokespersons and may have low population density. Whether on the edge of huge city or downtown, these scarred sites are what's left of past industrial or military enterprises. City leaders-planners are concerned with their appearance, public perception, and eventual reuse.
At the Dallas naval facilities, completed remediation tasks do improve appearance and the perception of improvement. The problem is the true contamination underground and in Mountain Creek Lake/Cottonwood Bay, in aquifers and underground plumes. These are constants that a remediation crew can't run over and fix in a hurry-or ever. Invisible, but nevertheless present and potentially threatening.
Yes, our former military base is being reused to some degree, but far below its capacity for usefulness based on its size and proximity to downtown. This land, while on the edge of Oak Cliff, appears on a map in the heart of the city.
A drosscape in the heart of Dallas? Sad but true, thanks to the military, which protected us for the past seventy years. Little did we know that its activities would yield the dead fields and abandoned cement slabs of West Dallas.
A drosscape can be a "brownfield" - that is, part of a govt program focusing on productivity of land during the period nature is supposedly healing it. In fact, I just read that surprisingly Dallas NAS is a Brownfield "success story"! No offense to the govt, but what are the failures like? You could read about Dallas NAS as a Brownfield online except that the file is damaged and cannot be replaced-just like the land! As my husband who has a doctorate would jokingly say, "This is ironical."
Nevertheless, I keep can't get past the question: What about the contamination that remains in the ground and water? Do these new labels minimize risk?
Citizens have to understand the level of danger that really exists, and we have to know that the polluter has not ceased responsiblity for long-term clean up. AND...we have to know that all that really could be done was; and what will be possible in the future, will be done. (*Note the repeated use of the word really. No smoke and mirrors, which I fear these designations might be.)
Most of us have no way of evaluating risk with certainty. So whom do we trust to tell us the truth? The Navy and its boss the federal government?
The people have to demand answers from scientists, pay them, and trust them to give us the truest truth they can produce, which we should be able to understand.
Gosh, I am sounding like a stakeholder or, God forbid, a spokesperson. Maybe that's why no one from EPA answers my e-mails any more.
Would you like to work every day at a drosscape or brownfield?
Wearing a mask with a case of bottled water in your car-like an ultra modern urban pioneer? ...Reminiscent of weird movies about the "future" - like "2010" viewed back in 1969 when the military was going strong here.
Working in an office atop a "DROSS-scape" is not my thing, but reality forces us to at least acknowledge and try to understand this aspect of life in a not-so-gracefully-aging city that the military forgot.

DALLAS NAS/NWIRP-DNR

2009-12-01T11:05:00.031-06:00

Recent study on Dallas NWIRP (Naval Weapons facility) back in the 1990s has yielded fascinating info about the Navy's attempts to remediate the contaminated plume under 80% of the facility. Did you get that? 80%! That is one huge plume.
A unique clean up technique used was air stripping, which pumped poisonous gasses from the ground "into the atmosphere," according to one official report.
After studying a photo of an air stripper online and learning toxic chemicals are usually filtered and screened from the air people breathe, I remembered a past conversation with a helpful EPA manager. He told me a million gallons of water were poured into the clogged NWIRP aquifer; and that was generally confirmed by these same 1997-1999 Navy reports, which added that trenches had to be built to catch the overfow from Cottonwood Bay and Mountain Creek Lake.(I later read that 200 million gallons were poured in, but who's counting at this late date?)
Clearly, I saw that the Navy was very active in major remediation activities and knew back in the 90s -if not the 80s - that our Dallas facilities could never be fully restored. Further, the Navy recommended raising allowable levels of chemicals and reducing expectations for clean up even back then, according to their own reports. Yet, at the same time, the Navy tried hard - some might say desparately - to make the high chemical levels in groundwater and surface water more palatable to citizens with the air stripper, the massive dilution, etc. (The navy base had its own wells in the past, but converted to "city water" due to groundwater contamination. There was a bit of a scandal concerning this as communication about water condition was poor, pipes were poor, and some employees drank the toxic stuff for a while. The story is online to be Googled if you're interested.)
But back briefly to feared backlash from the local citizenry... I loved and must include the line from one report: "Since public relations seems to be a concern..." Oh, some things never change! People hate to be poisoned!
Yes, the 90s was an an exciting decade on Jefferson Blvd in Grand Prairie. Did anyone-any news operation-know what was going on back then? As an ordinary citizen, I surely didn't; but then my mom was very ill, and I may not have noticed televised reports. I somehow suspect there weren't any.
Looking at the military base and surrounding area today, more problematic sites have been and probably will be identified.
Though the goal of remediation was to stop migration of the plume, migration has occurred. Seems to be a fact... But I'm asking: Have new toxic "source" sites been discovered? Which sites result from migration and which are "new" long-overlooked toxic chemical sites? Can one be sure? And who is responsible for the damage, especially if homes are atop the contamination? We may be in a post-treatment period of discussing that.
After twelve years, it's difficult to tell what effects were caused by original Navy pollution and what effects or changes were caused by extreme remediation activities. It's kind of like diagnosing a patient who is staying sick in the hospital as treatment progresses. Is the cure dangerous like the disease? Did clean-up measures damage structures or pathways or force contamination into new cracks and crevices? What if a migration pathway was dug up when a trench was created? The whole story of how contamination occurred could be rewritten. Hopefully not, but when a lot of money is at stake, it's smart to be careful.
Then continuing the matter of trenches, could the dilution of pollution skew important test results-hiding what's really wrong? And lastly, I'm wondering if clean up efforts make liability harder to prove when future damage is found.
We may debate and disagree about what the Navy did and didn't do and why - but one thing seems clear. Dallas NAS/NWIRP is DNR - do not, cannot, will not rescusitate. That's why the Navy is trying to exit the scene of the crime - quietly? reverently? Will they pay Dallas any more than their respect?

RUN, RUN, RUN - AROUND

2009-11-27T17:18:00.028-06:00

This is a post for letting off steam-letting loose my frustration with toxic environmental sites and the people who have power over what happens (or doesn't happen) with clean up. I'm imagining a scenario where a concerned citizen asks a govt expert for information about a toxic site then seeks remediation.

I think the deal goes down from the viewpoint of the govt "expert" - kind of like this...

1. Site recognition/Citizen approaches the expert who asks himself: Is this really part of my job? Is this site actually in my area? Who else might be potentially liable for handling this time-consuming, upset person?
2. Concern but with with perspective: Your situation has already been addressed and most likely resolved. Don't worry. We've got everything under control. Note: Search for old or any records begins (and never ends)...leading to...
3. Go fetch: Here are a few agencies you could call for more information.
4. Harsh reality: The person responsible for this project has left and no director is currently available.
5. Hope!: A study by UT is in progress and results may be given to the public in twelve months. (Surely citizen won't persevere this long!)
6. Progress: Your polluter has really been working hard at partial, cost-effective clean up, but has done all he can. He's just all out of scientific answers and is out of here!
7. No progress: Yes, he has left most of these initial jobs undone, but they will be completed in the very near future.
8. Heartfelt assurance: Though the worst contamination remains, the site is essentially safe. It's been (wonderful news) re-classified!
9. Heartfelt promise: We will monitor the site-regularly.
10. Formal good-bye (typed on an Internet document): No further action will be taken.

And the polluter is thinking...
"Maybe I didn't really do what they say I did. It could have been a wood-working or dry-cleaners that dropped all this TCE back in 1938 and the land records are lost! The real polluter just disappeared! Facts, records - they don't really matter. It's all how facts are interpreted...and what they can prove I'm rich, I can buy my way out of this. Who owes me a favor? Who makes money off of me? Oh, if I have to clean up some of this mess, I'll make an effort-but spend as little as possible! Digging and dirt are pretty cheap, after all. Can I auction off this place? Could it become a luxury-lifestyle community or a DART station? A wildlife preserve or cemetery? I need a marketer-fast! Oh, no worries. All my cohorts agree my site is safe after all!"

Lastly, the resident on contaminated property asks: What is going on? I barely speak English and have no money to move. Are my children safe? Can they play outside? Can we plant flowers in the dirt? What happens if heavy rains and flood come? What will my neighborhood be like in a few years? Will I get cancer? No one ever gave me a chance to vote on chemicals and clean up and it's a very big deal. Do I have any rights in this situation?

And the observer who lives in a better neighborhood thinks: "This is how it's always been. The little guy finishes last-if he can even make it to the end. The powerful guy always wins-UNLESS all of us other guys really get sick of the situation and
change the way things always go down..."

Of course, there are always exceptions. You may know a polluter who performed clean up responsibly. Someone else may have lived in Highland Park and had TCE thoroughly
obliterated from under her mansion - at taxpayer expense. An outrageous thought! And that's just my point. Doing nothing about a TCE plume in a wealthy neighborhood just would not "fly"-clay or no clay. Soil gas level/home vapor level would really not be the determining factor in decision-making. Educated people would look at the the big picture and evaluate it using common sense guided by information that shows how dangerous even a low level of TCE really is. That "big picture" would also include future effects-long term safety and property value.
Why does a lower class neighborhood get "no further action"?