Questions

I haven't blogged in a bit because I've been watching the mess in the Gulf. I've had the live feed of the underwater spill up on my second monitor for days now.

One thing that is driving me crazy is the comparison of the spill to Katrina. We're talking two different situations, here. I'm not quite sure what people are expecting the government to be able to do in this situation. I doubt they have the people or equipment on staff to stop the leak. Maybe more people on the ground to clean up the oil? But how many ships are there out there to skim the oil? So I did some research:

22,000: Personnel working to protect shoreline and wildlife (Department of the Interior)
1,200: Skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels being used in cleanup (Interior)
3.1 million: Feet of boom deployed to contain the spill (Interior)
840,000: Gallons of chemical dispersants used (Interior)
11.1 million: Gallons of oily water recovered (Interior)
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/27/gulf-oil-spill-by-the-numbers/

I just don't know. There probably should be more people on the ground to try to clean up. But frankly, I just don't see how they could have kept the oil out of the marshes. The weather didn't cooperate in the beginning (remember the storms, wind, waves that pushed oil over the booms?) There's just a lot of territory to cover and try to protect.

Icon or Eyesore, It's the End of an Era

This morning at 7:40 am the three large smokestacks at the A plant in EH came down. I stopped on main street, just a block from Smith's Bar (the only other business remaining from A's hey-dey), to watch.

I'm glad the weather was overcast and damp. Definitely kept the dust from blowing across the street into EH. But just to be on the safe side, I shut the windows on that side of the house before leaving for work.

It will be nice not to have them in plain sight from my backyard. I won't miss them. But for many of the valley's residents whose families made a living there for several generations, it was a sad moment. A lot of people are disappointed they couldn't stay. But it was part of the EPA cleanup of the site. But whether they're an icon or an eyesore, it's definitely a marker of the end of an era. EH isn't a company town any more. And the outward signs of that time are disappearing.

Water Thoughts

For some reason, I’ve had water on my brain for awhile now. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been having a fairly wet summer, or the Flood classes I’m arranging for work, or going to the water park in June. It startles me sometimes how much we take water for granted here in the US. I suppose we do so in most of the “first” or “developed” countries. On the History channel the other day there was a show on bottled water and how that phenomenon evolved. A few weeks ago there was one on the power of water and it’s uses through the ages – including such things as the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, etc. Last night there was a show on Discovery about extreme water parks. I only watched a bit, but apparently in Wisconsin Dells, WI there are over 20 water parks on 19.5 square miles. Between them, those water parks hold 15.7 million gallons of water. Think of it. Fifteen point seven million gallons of water. For entertainment. Then I remember the lack of water in Paraguay. People just minutes walk from the town I lived in struggling to capture and store water. I read articles about the lack of potable water around the world, and how people (mostly women and children) walk hours, many times taking most of the day, to get water for household use. And what about right here at home? There are so many articles about towns having water shortages or running out (some town in GA had to bring water in by truck this summer; or was it last?). Especially out in the West. Watching American Experience: We Shall Remain this past spring on PBS, they had a short film after one of the episodes about the Navajo Reservation in Arizona (I think that was where it was). Half the reservation, about 80,000 (?) are without potable water. They have to haul water. It seems unreal to me. Water issues are intense in the West. I guess I’d thought that was really a thing of the past in the US. It’s just one other way to highlight the large discrepancies in our culture/society. Water parks that feature one ride using 35,000 gallons of water a day. Hotels in the desert with fountains that use so much fresh well water? I’m sure they attempt to recycle and reuse as much as possible, as do the water parks. It just seems so extravagant when people in the same country are hauling water to drink, wash and cook with. Absolutely bizarre. It’s not like I’m naïve enough to think closing down the Bellagio fountains or the water parks will help people across the world or in the US that don’t have water. More likely it would just hurt the people in those areas economically. But it does make me uncomfortable, and squirm in my seat at my own waste of water and how even with my experience in the Peace Corps I take it for granted.

calm, rational thought returns

Sitrep: 10 mins Boot Camp, Lawn

Now that I'm ~somewhat~ more calm, I'm able to blog. I was extremely upset yesterday and simply couldn't find the words. Astonishing, I know! It looks like the open cut mine, the gravel pit complete with batch plant, asphalt plant, etc, is going to be built in E.H. Just blocks from my house, next to two elementary schools, next to several parks, and surrounded on 3 sides by existing residential neighborhoods. Oh, and did I mention it's already a Superfund site due to freakin' Asa.rco and a century of their mining? We've almost got that cleaned up and now this...

HS&G was able to use their money to sue DEQ and get a court date within days of filing their suit. Nice, huh? They got their permit to mine the 111 acres the day before final approval was to go through on the zoning of EH, which would have prevented the mine. The issue was DEQ has been consistenly underfunded and understaffed and unable to complete environmental assessments within 90 days. They had to extend the comment period to the public on this one because there were only 2 notices, as required by law, in the paper, but they were right at the holidays... pretty convenient timing, huh? Not. It was deliberate, as the permitting process was started last June. Why wait until December to notify the public? Because many would be out of town or so busy they'd miss the notices, that's why. Anyway. The courts said that DEQ had to issue the permit at the end of 90 days even if the EA was not finished, and that the Opencut Mining Law trumps the Environmental laws in the state.

Miracle of miracles, the EA was finished that very day. Guess who paid for an independent firm to do the EA? Yep. HSG. And the DEQ has the nerve to say even though HSG paid the contractor, DEQ is the one who hired them? Huh. I don't mean to accuse the firm of anything shady...but it smacks of conflict of interest and impropriety to me. And reading the final EA, that addressed concerns submitted by residents, the responses were pretty much "it won't affect you badly because we say so". Right.

And it's not like this is simply a case of NIMBY (Not In My Backyard). There are some serious concerns about health, water, & safety. The H. Valley has been struggling with water quality issues for years. EH has additional water quality issues with Asar.co and it's lovely contamination of the area. The land they are seeking to dig up and disperse all over the property is contaminated with lead, arsenic, selenium. Testing has shown areas with more than 2x the EPA limit that requires cleanup. Yet they're simply to "move" it? Their plan is to mine within 5-6 feet of the groundwater level. Yet they have no study showing where it is. In addition, they are going to be filling a lot of their water needs from the existing irrigation canals in the area...one that many farms rely on. And these aren't your big commercial ones, either. Considering we've been in drought for years...

Then there's the safety of the trucks on the two-lane road that is barely adequate to handle existing traffic. A road already known for bad accidents. Theses trucks will have to pass the schools, go through EH...yet no traffic study, no improvements to the road are required. Our activism did manage to get some restrictions placed on their hours of operation...they were planning on 20 hours per day! Get real...They're now restricted to 5a-7p weekdays, shorter on Saturdays, none on Sunday...UNLESS they're under contract deadlines. Since they are the monopoly here, and are the only supplier for the state/county road improvements - which take place at night - the asphalt plant, etc, will be running, you guessed it, all night. They are also not allowed to drive their trucks during the school "arrival" and "departure" hours. Trucks aren't allowed to idle more than 15 minutes either. But who's gonna enforce that????

All the "precautions" HSG is required to take to diminish aesthetic impacts are ones they are supposed to be doing on their current property that I drive past daily. It's an ugly scar on the landscape, and the trees planted to block the view??? Dead, all but one. Nothing was done, and where's the enforcement? Dust, noise, lights from the current operation - nothing mitigated. Complaints have been steadily rising since the local owners were bought out 3+ years ago by an international firm. It's all words on paper... the fines are minimal and have no effect on this company as the past years have shown. Why would it, they're a monopoly and growth is strong in the valley. Demand is high. Although if people knew they were getting stuff from land contaminated by Asar.co that hasn't been cleaned up...

The final commissioner meeting was yesterday for zoning, and it was supposed to be finalized. But all of a sudden, they've extended the deadline until next week for "comments", and are considering giving HSG a variance allowing the remaining 389 acres of the property to be mined. Dammit. The citizens have done everything required of us by law...it's CITIZEN INITIATED zoning, out of legitimate concerns over air quality, noise, roads, water, lead/arsenic contamination...We have a right to direct how our town develops and grows. So yet again I've written the commissioners, as hopefully the rest of EH residents have. But I'd bet everything HSG gets their variance anyway. Regardless of what more than 80% of the citizens want or not.

It sucks. It really does. We don't have the money to appeal the courts decision (which I'm betting in future gets overturned by a higher court - there are other cases in other counties pending on this very issue) because the law requires us to put up a bond if we want to appeal.

Anyway. It just makes me want to cry. A giant pit in the center of my beautiful town. Air quality is going to be bad - the smell from the asphalt plant alone will cause headaches for me, the dust is going to kill my allergies. Not sure what it will do to my dog's asthma. I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to get AC installed in my house before that goes on line...Too bad, because one of my favorite things about living out here is the fresh air.

Keep your fingers crossed, say your prayers, send your positive energy this way...whatever you have, we need it to keep them restricted to at least the 111 acres.