It worked on YOUR kids

So WHY wouldn't it work on you?

The NCTCOG (yes, the COG that held the TDML meeting last week and the Recreational Use Attainability Study meeting this week) is sponsoring a video contest with TREES and WFAA to solicit YOUR ideas to clean up the Trinity River.

Does that mean those responsible for doing so have no idea of their own?

While we support public participation in matters that concern the public, we ain't buying it.

The commercial for the WFAA Project Green is ironic and amusing.  It opens with pictures of trash in the Trinity River in Fort Worth, as they say "You may have heard about the problem."  Problem?  WHAT problem?  The local paper, city staff and elected officials, the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Trinity River Vision Authority say there's no problem.  If they say anything at all, it's jump on in, suckers.

(Isn't the local paper and WFAA owned by the same folks?)

The commercial for the WFAA Trinity River video contest goes on to say, "Now it's time for this generation to stop pointing fingers..."  Really, that is what they said.  "...to save the Trinity.  We can do it".  Where have we heard "save the Trinity" before?  Oh yes, the Trinity River Improvement Partnership.  www.savethetrinityriver.org. Those that recently made the video, Up a Creek. THE PEOPLE who are trying to save the river and YOUR money.  For YOU and YOUR kids.

If you have an idea, sounds like they need it.  YOU could win $1,500.  $1,500 is nothing, printing had to cost more than that.

Somebody help 'em out already, would ya? 


Due to the WFAA site asking us to disable security to view contest information, we didn't link to it in the above references.

PCBs everywhere...and not a drop to drink

Read about the Trinity River contamination in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Oh goody, another "study". 

Some of these items were discussed at the recent NCTCOG TDML meeting (they didn't have an answer either) and the TRIP meeting Saturday.  

WHO says it's safe to swim in?  Just how contaminated will the Town Lake be?

PCBs have been in the Trinity for decades and have led to bans against consuming fish caught in the Clear Fork below the Benbrook Lake dam and the West Fork below the Lake Worth dam to the confluence of the Trinity in downtown Fort Worth. The ban then extends downstream all the way to the Freestone-Anderson county line.

PCBs degrade slowly and, if consumed over a long period, they can cause cancer and developmental problems as well as problems with the immune system, reproductive organs and liver.

Other than dredging, which would likely cause as many problems as it would solve, there have been no options for displacing them.

"It is also not seen as environmentally advantageous to dredge/remove the existing sediments especially in a river system," Grundmann said in written responses to the Star-Telegram's questions. "For these reasons, the state may look at other alternatives to a TMDL for PCBs in the Trinity River."

EPA Region 6 spokesman Dave Bary said finding an answer to PCB contamination in the Trinity "may take many years and will be resource-intensive."

"At the present time different program areas within EPA and TCEQ are working together with multiple stakeholders to address this problem in the Trinity River and other water bodies [creeks and streams] across the state," Bary said.