We may finally get some relief, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper has an EPA article you don't want to miss!
The air-pollution permitting process in the nation's largest greenhouse-gas producing state does not adhere to the Clean Air Act and portions of it should be thrown out, federal regulators said Tuesday in an announcement applauded by Texas environmentalists.
We too, applaud!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Where will YOU be?
Some of us here are Republicans. Some, Democrats.
Some wouldn't claim either party...
All of us will be downtown Saturday.
Will you?
Some wouldn't claim either party...
All of us will be downtown Saturday.
Will you?
Buffer Zone
Another concerned citizen looking out for his neighbors in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper. Timing is everything, as the Trinity River Vision Authority says the Trinity Trails at University will be under construction starting today.
People of Fort Worth - start looking for an "alternate" route.
Enforce gas ordinance
The city of Fort Worth has a gas drilling ordinance. Unfortunately, the council seems to disregard it, especially when it comes to our city parks and the Trinity Trails.
An unfortunate precedent was set when the council voted unanimously to allow drilling in Greenwood Memorial Park and the use of a park road by drillers. Now pad sites are within a few feet of the trails at Old University Drive, and as of Sept. 1, council is allowing up to eight wells as close as 225 feet from Trinity Park. The ordinance, put in place to protect and enhance our city, designated a 600-foot buffer.
Gateway Park, one of the supposed jewels in the crown of the Trinity River Vision, is ringed by pad sites, including two at or near its main entrance.
Some mitigation is occasionally proposed, as it was on Sept. 1. We all understand, though, that mitigation is a euphemism for damage control.
I call upon the council to adhere to the gas drilling ordinance and not make a mockery of it by granting variances as a matter of course. Most cities consider their parks to be treasures to be protected. I expect elected representatives to do likewise and protect us and our parks by upholding the ordinance.
— Paul John Roach, senior minister, Unity Church of Fort Worth
Amen.
People of Fort Worth - start looking for an "alternate" route.
Enforce gas ordinance
The city of Fort Worth has a gas drilling ordinance. Unfortunately, the council seems to disregard it, especially when it comes to our city parks and the Trinity Trails.
An unfortunate precedent was set when the council voted unanimously to allow drilling in Greenwood Memorial Park and the use of a park road by drillers. Now pad sites are within a few feet of the trails at Old University Drive, and as of Sept. 1, council is allowing up to eight wells as close as 225 feet from Trinity Park. The ordinance, put in place to protect and enhance our city, designated a 600-foot buffer.
Gateway Park, one of the supposed jewels in the crown of the Trinity River Vision, is ringed by pad sites, including two at or near its main entrance.
Some mitigation is occasionally proposed, as it was on Sept. 1. We all understand, though, that mitigation is a euphemism for damage control.
I call upon the council to adhere to the gas drilling ordinance and not make a mockery of it by granting variances as a matter of course. Most cities consider their parks to be treasures to be protected. I expect elected representatives to do likewise and protect us and our parks by upholding the ordinance.
— Paul John Roach, senior minister, Unity Church of Fort Worth
Amen.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Free Water
Durango has some great info (and pictures) today about the gas drillers taking more water out of the Trinity River. He also asks some tough questions such as:How does a private business get the permission to do something like this on public land? What would happen if a private citizen, for some random reason, built a road on public land, to put a diesel pump near the river, to run a pipeline so he could get water for free?
This is the third instance we have seen photo documentation of recently.
WHO else is watching?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
You are invited
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
If a small group can change the world, imagine what a large group can do for a country...
The 9-12 Project
This is a non-partisan movement. The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created. That same feeling - that commitment to country is what we are hoping to foster with this idea. We want to get everyone thinking like it is September 12th, 2001 again.
So next Saturday 9-12, you are invited to the march and rally in downtown Fort Worth. Bring your signs, bring your friends - make a difference.
Visit 912ftw.org for more info.
If a small group can change the world, imagine what a large group can do for a country...
The 9-12 Project
This is a non-partisan movement. The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created. That same feeling - that commitment to country is what we are hoping to foster with this idea. We want to get everyone thinking like it is September 12th, 2001 again.
So next Saturday 9-12, you are invited to the march and rally in downtown Fort Worth. Bring your signs, bring your friends - make a difference.
Visit 912ftw.org for more info.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
"Boundaries don't protect rivers, people do"
on our link list, you should.
We don't know WHO they are, but we like them.
We don't know WHO they are, but we like them.
BOOM TOWN 2
Earlier we mentioned you might want to check out TXSharon to learn about the gas well pad fire that caused $8 million dollars in damage and burned eight tractor trailers to the ground. She later posted video. So far, it's the only video we've seen.
Over on FW Weekly, Peter Gorman talks about the night of the fire, and how the armed guard posted at the site now won't let anyone, anywhere near it.
Read it all here, read Peter's warning below.
This is the fourth fairly major near-catastrophe here in our neck of the woods in the last couple of years. There was the head blown off a separator tank in Lillian; a couple of lightning proof water separator tanks that were blown to kingdom come by lightning in Godley, and now this.
Fortunately, we live out in the country, where wells are not generally dug right next to homes. Fort Worth is a different story. You’re not always going to be able to get aid from 11 different fire companies on some of those narrow streets. And that’s when near-catastrophe becomes catastrophe.
I’ll cross my fingers; I’ll think good thoughts, but I’m watching the incidents pile up.
Over on FW Weekly, Peter Gorman talks about the night of the fire, and how the armed guard posted at the site now won't let anyone, anywhere near it.
Read it all here, read Peter's warning below.
This is the fourth fairly major near-catastrophe here in our neck of the woods in the last couple of years. There was the head blown off a separator tank in Lillian; a couple of lightning proof water separator tanks that were blown to kingdom come by lightning in Godley, and now this.
Fortunately, we live out in the country, where wells are not generally dug right next to homes. Fort Worth is a different story. You’re not always going to be able to get aid from 11 different fire companies on some of those narrow streets. And that’s when near-catastrophe becomes catastrophe.
I’ll cross my fingers; I’ll think good thoughts, but I’m watching the incidents pile up.
If it ain't one thing, it's another.
Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water.
Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.
— (Dr. Carl Sagan)
Thanks to Don Young for sending us the latest Texas Observer article, Boom Town. It is a must read for anyone living on the Barnett Shale.
And check out TXSharon today. Lots of info you need to know, including Don's Letter to the Editor and the information on the eight tractor trailer rigs that burned in a fracing accident.
Trinity Gang
The Water Board's responsibilities are to provide clean, adequate water and reduce flooding.
What are they up to these days?
They are seizing land from business owners that are "in the way" of Trinity Uptown.
Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper has an article that you can't afford to miss.
"As far as I know, the offer they gave us really was not open for negotiation," said Mike Page, 53, whose family built the building at 1035 N.Henderson St. in 1967. "It was take it or leave it," he said.
"What we’ll be left with is a piece of property that is not worth anything," Page said.
At Wednesday’s meeting the Trinity River Authority also adopted a resolution saying it favors lengthening its tax increment finance district to 40 years to cover $320 million of the project’s $909 million cost. The board heard two consultants’ reports stating that a 40-year TIF could generate $448 million to $840 million.
The project’s official cost has climbed from $880 million in July since board members indicated they wanted $29 million in so-called "betterments" added that will pay for trees, pedestrian walkways and other amenities designed to lure foot traffic to the bypass channel. For now, the Trinity River Vision board is holding off on adding more projects to the tab.
What Mark Twain said about the Mississippi River holds true for the Trinity as well,
The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise...
What are they up to these days?
They are seizing land from business owners that are "in the way" of Trinity Uptown.
Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper has an article that you can't afford to miss.
"As far as I know, the offer they gave us really was not open for negotiation," said Mike Page, 53, whose family built the building at 1035 N.Henderson St. in 1967. "It was take it or leave it," he said.
"What we’ll be left with is a piece of property that is not worth anything," Page said.
At Wednesday’s meeting the Trinity River Authority also adopted a resolution saying it favors lengthening its tax increment finance district to 40 years to cover $320 million of the project’s $909 million cost. The board heard two consultants’ reports stating that a 40-year TIF could generate $448 million to $840 million.
The project’s official cost has climbed from $880 million in July since board members indicated they wanted $29 million in so-called "betterments" added that will pay for trees, pedestrian walkways and other amenities designed to lure foot traffic to the bypass channel. For now, the Trinity River Vision board is holding off on adding more projects to the tab.
What Mark Twain said about the Mississippi River holds true for the Trinity as well,
The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tell it like it is
And as usual, he does it with style.
Thanks to Don for another gem of a letter in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper.
Cut, cut, no cut
The Fort Worth city budget is $59 million in the red. Council members are probing into every nook and cranny in an effort to stanch the hemorrhaging.
Sister Cities? Stay home. See you later!
City employees? No pay raises, but your health premiums will be raised.
City jobs? Cut 200. Your income tax will be lower.
Swimming pools? Water is money. Cool off in 100-degree summer breezes.
Nonmowing of street medians? Green is in.
Parks and the Botanic Garden? We never promised you a rose garden.
Graffiti abatement? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Closing the city day labor center? Get a job.
Raise taxes? No way. Heaven forbid! I want to be re-elected!
But all is not lost. There seems to be one area that no council member is willing to touch — no, not one: the billion-dollar Trinity Uptown boondoggle to which they cling like a drunk to a lamp post.
I am reminded of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem about the brook:
For men may come and men may go
But I go on forever.
— Don Woodard Sr., Fort Worth
Thanks to Don for another gem of a letter in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper.
Cut, cut, no cut
The Fort Worth city budget is $59 million in the red. Council members are probing into every nook and cranny in an effort to stanch the hemorrhaging.
Sister Cities? Stay home. See you later!
City employees? No pay raises, but your health premiums will be raised.
City jobs? Cut 200. Your income tax will be lower.
Swimming pools? Water is money. Cool off in 100-degree summer breezes.
Nonmowing of street medians? Green is in.
Parks and the Botanic Garden? We never promised you a rose garden.
Graffiti abatement? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Closing the city day labor center? Get a job.
Raise taxes? No way. Heaven forbid! I want to be re-elected!
But all is not lost. There seems to be one area that no council member is willing to touch — no, not one: the billion-dollar Trinity Uptown boondoggle to which they cling like a drunk to a lamp post.
I am reminded of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem about the brook:
For men may come and men may go
But I go on forever.
— Don Woodard Sr., Fort Worth
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