Saturday, January 9, 2010

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

Yesterday I said that I was experiencing 2010 Fort Worth, Texas as a 1984 Orwellian World of Double-Speak and Big Brother overbearingness.

Later in the day, yesterday, the Orwellian Double-Speak got louder, after I was pointed to the Tarrant Regional Water District website and read its propaganda, with an ever growing sense of amazement at the bald-facedness of the Double-Speak.

Here is a gem...

"Why Should You Save Water?

The water supplies we depend on are not endless resources. For one, drought conditions are a part of life in North Texas. And the number of people living here is expected to double in the next 50 years. That means the demand for water will certainly rise – and meeting that demand will be a challenge. That’s where you come in. By saving small amounts of water everyday, you can make a big difference."

The Tarrant Regional Water District is currently allowing the sucking of millions of gallons of water from the Trinity River by gas drillers. Water that will not, can not, be recycled. Instead the water is polluted with dangerous, cow-killing, chemicals, used, then discarded underground, where we are assured, by the foxes guarding the henhouse, that the polluted water can not penetrate the aquifers. Or kill any more cows.

So, the entity, Tarrant Regional Water District, in charge of protecting the valuable water resource, acknowledges North Texas has a drought problem, and then, apparently, allows what appears to be the totally unregulated stealing of millions of gallons of water by the gas drillers.

Check out the Tarrant Regional Water District website, yourself, and have fun spotting the Orwellian Double-Speak and outrageous ironies and out and out hypocrisies. I looked all over the website and found not a single mention of the gas driller's Trinity River water sucking activities or the Tarrant Regional Water District's policies regarding the water sucking.

I took the above from the Tarrant Regional Water District website. Can we all say Double-Speak together?

And then there is the "Conflict of Interest Questionaire." This supposedly has to be filled out by the gas drillers wanting to suck water out of the Trinity. If you read through the questionnaire it is obvious the gas driller would have to acknowledge that the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, has a vested interest in the gas driller wanting a water permit.

Here's a good one. The following paragraph is on the Tarrant Regional Water District website. I wanted to send senior land agent Rick Carroll an email with some questions. Click on the email link in the excerpt below (or just click here to go directly to that page) and you will see the email link does not work. I have sent in my questions via other means. I'll let you know if I hear back and what I get told. Below the below paragraph, taken from the Tarrant Regional Water District website, is my email I was unable to send directly to the senior land agent.

A Special Operating Permit is required for any commercial activity or event on Water District property. This includes, but is not limited to, the Fort Worth Floodway, Marine Creek Lake and Cement Creek Lake. In addition to permit fees, TRWD will require Permitee to name TRWD as "additional insured" on the insurance policy for the event. Any person interested in obtaining a Special Operating Permit may contact Rick Carroll, senior land agent at (817) 335-2491 ext.224 or by email.

Dear Senior Land Agent Rick Carroll,

I am interested in 6 pipelines preparing to take water from the Trinity River east of Beach Street, near the entry to Gateway Park, in Fort Worth.

According to your TRWD website such uses of water are allowed only after obtaining a Special Operating Permit. The amount of water desired must be disclosed. The water taken must be metered.

I have looked closely at and photographed the Beach Street pipeline site. There are no permits posted. There are no water meters. The plastic oil spill containing mat, upon which the 6 pumps sit, has tears and voids.

I would like to know where I can view the permits that are allowing this removal of Trinity River water, how it is being metered, how much is being paid for the water and the records of oversight of the pumping site.

You can view more details of what I've experienced and seen at the Beach Street pipeline site here.

Thank you in advance for answering my questions,

Durango Jones
durangotexas.blogspot.com

UPDATE: Permits have now been duct taped to the 6 pumps in question at the Beach Street site.

3 comments:

Cheap Tricks and Costly Truths said...

I recognize their hypocrisy no matter how ingeniously they try to obscure it. I am revolted and disgusted with their lies.

Business ethics is a joke in the Great State of Texas.

I wonder since Express Energy is in Chapter 11, if Mayor Mikey didn't want to just be nice and let them have that water for free, ya know...since they have such a HARD time paying the bills.

Durango said...

CT2---
Maybe Mayor Mike owns Express Energy, hiding behind who knows what cover? Once corruption takes over, where does it stop?

Cheap Tricks and Costly Truths said...

I read through that blasted bankruptcy case, all 138 pages to try to see who the new owners were, but I came away a bit confused. It mentioned several banks, a couple of investment firms and a Cayman Bank Account...I honestly can't make heads or tails of who actually owns Express Energy...at this time, but I will.