I was surprised this morning, when looking for the picture you see here of Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, where he belongs, as in behind bars, that the first time I blogged about the need to bring this criminal to justice was way back on May 15, 2008, in a blogging titled "Corruption in Fort Worth, Texas?"Since then Moncrief has not only not been jailed, he has won re-election with 94% of Fort Worth's eligible voters feeling so marginalized that they didn't bother to vote, giving Moncrief a whopping 70% landslide of the 6% who did vote.
In recent days we have had fresh examples of why there are Conflicts of Interest laws in America. Even in Texas. With Fort Worth's mayor, again, outrageously putting his corruption on display for anyone caring to look, to see.
Well, Fort Worth's #1 Watchdog was watching. Below is what he had to say about Fort Worth's mayor's latest criminal behavior....
Unicorn Discovered on Dark Side of Moon
If you believe that line of BS then you'll most likely swallow the report delivered by John Sadler of the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to the Fort Worth City Council yesterday. If not, read on.
The mayor had requested the TCEQ study after the many recent news reports of toxic emissions coming from Barnett Shale gas facilities. He wanted to know specifically about such facilities in FW proper. Knowing the mayor as we do, he really wanted to end any talk of health and safety concerns or moratoriums in FW. This was a foregone conclusion shared by those who have been paying attention.
The pre-council session where the report was given was well attended by industry reps, notably, Walter Duease, point man for XTO and Ed Ireland of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC), both of whom are involved in the Marcellus and other shale regions and both of whom have cozy relationships with city council and staffers.
The highlight reel-
1) Regarding salt-water injection wells in Fort Worth, city staffer, Susan Alanis made a point of saying that there have been no problems regarding public health and safety with the one injection located well in Fort Worth. This point was intended to prepare the public for new injection wells and a web of "salt-water" pipelines that will soon snake through FW neighborhoods.
2) We were told by another city staffer that a private meeting was held on January 5, 2010 to discuss the growing public discomfort with urban drilling. Invitees included reps from, TCEQ, Texas RRC, City of FW, Texas Pipeline Assoc., BSEEC and four drilling companies. NO neighborhood groups were included. Can you say, marginalized?
3) City Council reps nodded enthusiastically to Sadler's comment that, "ambient conditions" existed before drilling. That's code for: Blame something else. Drilling is not the problem. (May I remind you again that FWCanDo requested ambient air and water studies from the city attorney in 2005. Her answer came with a devilish smile: No thanks.)
4) Testing was done in less than ideal conditions to achieve the result desired by the mayor and drillers. The result: No benzene. No carcinogens. No VOC's coming from Fort Worth gas wells facilities. How else to explain the increasingly smoggy air over FW? see #3 above.
5) Near the end of the meeting, with media cameras rolling and reporters scribbling away, the mayor asked Mr. Sadler two well-rehearsed, drama-filled questions:
a. Are you convinced the industry is using best management practices? Answer: YES.
b. Do you see any need for issuing a moratorium on gas well drilling in FW? Answer: NO.
> > > Remember the Jack Nicholson movie, Chinatown? Recall the last scene of the film when private detective, Jake "JJ" Gittes is confronted with the fact that the police have been bought-off and that a killer and child molester has been allowed to go free. An angry and distraught Jake stares into space as his partner delivers the final line of the film:
Forget it Jake, this is ... Texas.
DY
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