If you want see how tough things are getting for the children, parents, teachers and administrators who are all trying to make Texas schools work, I'd like to point you to one thing:
Last Thursday.
Or, more specifically, the schoolnews that bubbled up on Thursday. It was a harrowing day.
The bad news didn’t start last week, of course. It dates back in part to last year’s legislative session, when those in control of the state’s budget decided to slash about $4 billion – I say again, FOUR BILLION DOLLARS – from what local school districts were promised and needed to pay for increasing costs and numbers of students.
Now, $4,000,000,000 is a big number. It’s tough to get your arms around all of those zeros – particularly when legislating is all mixed up with politicking, and when ostensible leaders are running around the state and the country ignoring or denying the damage they’ve caused to our kids and Texas’ future.
The problems are huge, too. Hundreds of Texas school districts have sued the state in an effort to create a better and more fairly funded system. That in itself is extraordinary – those in control of the Capitol have so bungled their responsibilities to our kids that local school boards have been forced to bypass their representatives, senators, Governor and Lieutenant Governor and startasking judges to clean up the mess (more on this later).
Inevitably, the human costs of misplaced priorities were going to surface. A lot of them came up late last week.
Dallas: School closures
Let’s start off in Dallas, where Dallas ISD trustees voted Thursday to shutter 11 schools.
The decision was teed up by the legislature’s budget cut – Dallas ISD had already cut $76 million from the current budget, according to the Dallas Morning News, “largely by offering employees incentives to resign and increasing class sizes.”
But despite that fairly extreme action, the board still had to cut another $38 million for next year. And, as one trustee put it, either the 11 schools had to be closed, or 171 teachers would have had to be fired.
Heck of a choice for anyone who cares about helping kids learn.
You can read more about it in this article (subscription required) or get a blow-by-blow from this blog.
South Texas: No sports
Also on Thursday, the Texas Tribune brought word of the tiny Premont ISD in South Texas, a district of 570 students that was already struggling. Then those in control of the state’s purse strings yanked more than $400,000 out from under the district – which, as the article points out, was already among the most poorly funded districts in Texas.
So, again, faced with a handful of very painful options, the district went for a clearly radical approach that, it hopes, will nevertheless cause the least amount of damage – it put all sports programs on hold for a year.
In the article, some students raise the prospect of fleeing Premont for a district that continues to field teams. Others clearly worry about losing the activity that helped keep them out of trouble.
But most students and parents, it seems, are resigned to the decision. After all, given the circumstances, what else can the district do?
The Houston Chronicle followed up over the weekend with a great column looking at funding inequities among Texas school districts. It showed that districts rated "exemplary" by the state receive over $1,000 more, per student, than those rated "academically unacceptable."
If you're looking at the students thatdistricts are working the hardest to teach – and the costs of meeting those kids' needs – the numbers are even more sobering. Just 17 percent of the kids in exemplary districts qualify for free-and-reduced lunch programs (based on federal poverty guidelines), the column said. In academically unacceptable districts, that figure's around 85 percent.
Keep those numbers in mind if someone – particularly someone who's part of the power structure at the Capitol – tries to lay the blame for these problems on Premont or other victims of the state's school finance system.
Texas: A broken system
That equity issue was the focus of an editorial by James "Kal" Kallison, the president of the Eanes ISD school board, that the Austin American-Statesman published on its website Thursday.
The editorial goes into some detail about the lawsuits I mentioned earlier that school districts are pursuing against the state. You should read the whole thing, which you can find here. This, to me, is the key passage:
“School districts represented in two of the lawsuits believe that ... the finance system still does not produce complete equity among districts. Regardless of the equity issue, most districts do agree that the current amount of revenue ... afforded to all districts in the state is simply not enough to provide for an adequate education of our children, as required by the Texas Constitution and defined in statute.”
Those questions – whether the school finance system is equitable, and whether it’s adequate to educate the children of Texas – are going to be litigated over many months, and it’ll probably be more than a year before the courts finally settle the issue.
But after a day like Thursday – after seeing so many of the issues that our schools have been left to deal with – does anyone believe that the state’s doing right by our schools and our kids?
Austin: The achievement gap
Finally, in Austin, business and civic leaders sat down at a summit on Thursday to talk over the state of early childhood education, particularly pre-kindergarten programs.
Of course, Pre-K has become one of the most important factors that educators look at in gauging how successful students will be. The numbers show that kids who show up to kindergarten with basic language, problem-solving and other skills are far more likely to pass achievement tests in later years – and far less likely to drop out of high school.
So what did those in control of the Capitol do with this inside knowledge about what works in education?
They ignored it. They eliminated a critical grant program and the $200 million it would have contributed tomake Pre-K programs stronger and more accessible across the state.
It was a devastating decision – and that devastation was front-and-center atthe business and civic leader summit Thursday. There, the United Way Capital Area discussed results of a report it produced as part of its "Success by 6"initiative.
The report found that for children as young as 3 – barely older than babies – an achievement gap already can be seen between kids from low-income families and students as a whole.
As the Statesman summarized, “Fifty-two percent of Central Texas children entering kindergarten are ready for school, according to the results. But in Dove Springs, Manor and Quail Creek [three generally low-income neighborhoods that were studied for the project], the proportion considered well-prepared for school ranged from 12 to 15 percent.”
It's a giant problem. All of these stories demonstrate giant problems. And the problems will only grow as this cruel budget and broken finance system settle over the parents, teachers and administrators who are trying to cope with it all.
So the worst thing about Thursday might not even be Thursday. It might be that there'll be more days like it.
A fire at the Magnablend Chemical Company is burning out of control today near Dallas in Joe Barton’s Congressional District. Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 4, Congressman Barton of Ennis is holding an Energy and Environment Subcommittee Hearing: Quality Science for Quality Air.
“A major chemical plant fire near Dallas at the Magnablend Chemical Company demonstrates the critical need for a strong Clean Air Act to protect public health from extraordinarily large volumes of toxic air pollution when accidents like this occur,” stated Dr. Neil Carman, clean air program director for the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter. “Most industrial accidents such as this one are preventable according to investigations of other chemical plant accidents. Congressman Joe ‘McCarthy’ Barton of Ennis should not hold hearings to attack the US EPA at a time when the agency provides a critical life-supporting role in the nation and when his own district is on fire with toxic air pollution spewing into the air,” Carman emphasized.
The Magnablend Chemical Co. operates specialty chemical blending services.
For more information, contact Dr. Neil Carman, 512-288-5772
Well, this is sad. I've been hoping that Pete Sessions would leave Congress "to spend more time with my family," but, apparently, I'm out of luck. Pete Sessions and his wife of 27 years are separating.
The 56-year-old Texas Republican issued a statement Friday:
"After a great deal of thought and discussion, a decision has been made that my wife and I are separating. I am grateful for many years of marriage, and the blessing of two wonderful sons. I ask for respect for my privacy and for that of my family, and I do not intend to comment any further."
Of course, he can't be reached for comment, and he dumped this news on Friday night. So there's no news on what's behind this--maybe she got tired of him running off to fundraisers at strip clubs or just got tired of him being so damned stupid.
Whatever the reason, he's got some splainin' to do--like it or not--to his right-wing followers who've been lapping up his "family values" message all these years.
On Monday, February 14, future candidates will be able to officially file for a place on the May 14 Municipal Election ballot. This filing period will be open for 30 days until Monday March 14 at 5:00pm.
Hello Kunkle, Goodbye Moore and Hunt
While many progressives across Dallas have pined for City Councilor Angela Hunt (District 14) to run for mayor, Angela has decided that the time is not right for her and will be running for a fourth term as the City Councilor for District 14. Angela also had her first child barely 10 months ago. The story regarding Angela's announcement can be read in full at Council member Angela Hunt won't run for mayor.
Jim Moore was the first candidate to announce his run for mayor. On January 31, Mr. Moore announced in a letter to supporters that he was withdrawing his candidacy. Jim did not feel he would be able to raise the $1 million plus dollars required to run competitively across Dallas in 90 days before the election. Mr. Moore's lack of time serving on a local boards and negligible name ID would have made his candidacy even more difficult given the other potential contenders of city councilors and sitting board members. Jim's announcement is posted on the front page of his campaign website.
On the same day that Jim Moore withdrew, former Dallas Chief of Police, David Kunkle, jumped in. David Kunkle served as Chief of Police between 2004 to 2010, and has consistently voted in Democratic primaries during this period. David is married to Sarah Dodd, a former journalist and owner of Dodd Communications. David and Sarah live in north Dallas, and are represented by Angela Hunt on the Dallas City Council. The article discussing Kunkle's announcement can be read in full at Former Dallas police Chief Kunkle makes it official: he wants to be your next mayor.
Round Two for Billy MacLeod?
In 2009, William "Billy" MacLeod ran against Pauline Medrano for Dallas City Council District 2. Pauline received 74% of the vote, and spent a little over $8,000 during the race. Pauline is running for her fourth and final term as Dallas City Council. On January 15, Billy filed a campaign finance report indicating he was seeking election in District 2 on May 14, 2011. The report had only a single expense to GoDaddy.com for $80 and no campaign contributions. While Billy has not made any formal announcement, his Facebook postings have also indicated potential preparations to do something political in the very near future. Also, congratulations on your marital engagement, Billy.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
When Angela Hunt was considering a mayoral run, two candidates, James Nowlin and Jim Rogers, announced their intention to run for her open seat. Jim Rogers was explicit in his announcement that he would not run if Angela chose to run for a fourth term on city council rather than run for mayor. James Nowlin simply stated "We'll cross that bridge when we get there." James responded on Facebook to Angela's announcement to run for a fourth term in District 14 by stating he is "In it to win it" and will continue his campaign. Angela Hunt enjoys large amounts of popularity in District 14, and has already served 6 years as city councilor. Any opponent in District 14 will face an uphill battle in fighting that kind of name recognition and popularity.
Unrest brewing in District 10?
Stultz is a heavily African-American area near Hamilton Park in North Dallas, and contained in Dallas City Council District 10. Residents have been fighting a zoning change that would change their area to a "Planned Development District," and open it up for future commercial development. Earlier today, Councilman Jerry Allen pushed to delay the vote for a second-time when a large group in opposition to the change appeared at City Hall. Speaking with residents from Stultz who attended the Council meeting revealed anger and frustration that their councilman was listening to developers over residents, and discussed looking for a candidate from their area who would represent them better than the incumbent.
January 15 Campaign Finance Reports
The table below outlines the data from recent campaign finance reports filed by City Council incumbents on January 15, 2011. To help provide context, I have also included each incumbent's election expenses that they incurred in their previous elections. The election expenses are calculated by reviewing their 30-day and 8-day election reports only for the relevant years.
It should be noted that Carolyn Davis submitted a campaign finance report with $0 cash on hand. This is most likely a clerical error since Dwaine Caraway and Angela Hunt initially had the same problem when using the City of Dallas' electronic filing system. Unfortunately, Councilwoman Davis has not corrected the error, unlike Dwaine and Angela. Subtracting the current report's expenses from contributions shows a minimum of $2300 possible cash. Her previous report also showed no cash on hand, but had an income of nearly $13,000 in contributions with barely $100 in expenses. So Carolyn has somewhere between $2,300 to $15,000 (or more) cash on hand.
District 6 is will be an open seat since incumbent Steve Salazar has reached his term limit. This is why the Cash OnHand value is blank for this district. Similarly, 2007 election expenses are blank for both Delia Jasso and Ann Margolin since they were first elected in 2009.
The campaign finance reports are coming in for incumbents and candidates who started their campaigns before January 1, 2011. The City of Dallas began publishing these filed reports on their website earlier this afternoon. I am looking forward to doing an analysis of this finance data once all the reports have been published online. In the meantime, we have more news on the Dallas mayoral and city council races.
Mayor Leppert and Ron Natinsky make it official
Tom Leppert made it official by publicly declaring that he will not run for re-election as Mayor of the City of Dallas. The Dallas Morning News covered the announcement in their article, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says he won't run again, but hints at Senate. As many suspected, Mayor Leppert also hinted in a possible run for higher office when discussing finding ways to help his community other than being Mayor of Dallas. This does not mean helping out at the local soup kitchen, but is more likely the beginnings of his run for Senate or a statewide office, such as Lt. Gov if Dewhurst ran for Senate. Since Mayor Leppert's announcement Ron Natinsky has been making it as clear as possible that he is running for mayor. Ron is very likely to run his campaign as a "Stay the course" style race in support of continuing policies that Leppert favored. Beyond Jim Moore, no other candidate has made any formal announcements that they are running for Mayor yet. However, the filing period does not begin until February 14 and will run until March 14.
More City Council challengers
Now that the holidays and campaign finance reporting deadlines are past us, City Council candidates have begun announcing their runs for office. Here is a quick rundown of recently announced candidates:
Scott Griggs (District 3) - Scott Griggs announced in December. Scott is running against David Neumann, and has a history of voting in Democratic primaries. Scott is a patent lawyer by trade, and works for his family's firm Griggs Bergen LLP.
Monica Alonzo (District 6) - Monica Alonzo is the sister of current City Council incumbent, Steve Salazar, who just completed his fourth and final term in office. Monica is also State Representative Roberto Alonzo's sister-in-law. Monica announced her campaign through a letter sent to key individuals within District 6. Unfortunately, her campaign appears to have neither a website nor Facebook page at this time.
James Nowlin (District 14) - James Nowlin was appointed to the Police Review Board by Angela Hunt. The day after Angela indicated she was considering a run for mayor, James announced his own candidacy to replace Angela when she vacates the District 14 seat. James is a Democratic activist with a history of working with the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas club.
Jim Rogers (District 14) - Earlier today, Jim Rogers announced his candidacy for District 14. Jim is one of the founders of Bryan Place in District 14. Unfortunately, due to Jim's announcement earlier this afternoon, I still have sparse information on his full background and partisan leanings. I look forward to posting more about that in the near future.
The following table outlines the winners of Dallas City Council elections over the past 10 years. Winners who also had a runoff election during a particular year are shaded in yellow; winners who ran unopposed during an election cycle are highlighted in blue. An interesting tidbit is that Elba Garcia and Mitch Rasansky are the only city councilmembers in the past 10 years to be completely unopposed after winning their first elections. It is not uncommon for open seat races to have nearly a half dozen candidates running, which invariably results in a subsequent runoff election. Most city council districts only require 25 to 45 signatures for someone to appear on the ballot.
On January 11, Gromer Jeffers of the Dallas Morning News posted the story, Leppert's likely departure sets off scramble to field Dallas mayor candidates, indicating that incumbent Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is "all but certain" to not run for re-election. Based on previous rumors about Mayor Leppert's future plans, this could be likely to begin building a statewide campaign to take on Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2012 Republican Primary. Time will tell what Leppert intends.
I mentioned in my previous post, Gearing up for 2011 in Dallas, that there were at least two Dallas City Councilors waiting to see if Mayor Leppert would run for re-election. Since that article, we already have one candidate who has announced their campaign and potentially four additional contenders. So without further ado, let's take a look into each of these candidates. I am including in parentheses what region of Dallas each candidate resides within.
Jim Moore (Preston Hollow) - Announced
Jim Moore gets listed first because he is the only candidate that has formally announced his campaign. Jim is a criminal defense attorney that resides in Preston Hollow (North Dallas) in City Councilwoman Linda Koop's district 11. While Jim may have voted in the 2010 Democratic Primary, his track record of voting in the 2006, 2002, 1998, 1996, 1994, and 1992 Republican Primaries give an indication of his political leanings. Unfortunately, Mr. Moore did not vote in any primary in 2008 or 2004.
Gromer Jeffers stated in his article that Jim is virtually an unknown compared to other potential candidates, and will have his work cut out for him. Since Jim announced his candidacy before 12/31/2010, it will be interesting to see what his upcoming finance report has to say about his campaign. Mr. Moore's campaign could be a potential dark horse, but that remains to be seen.
Angela Hunt has represented District 14 on the Dallas City Council since 2005. She was voted "Best Council Person" by the Dallas Voice in 2008 and 2009, and also "Most Effective Councilmember" by the Dallas Morning News in 2008. Councilwoman Hunt has also been a strong Democratic supporter, and many see her as a possible rising star for higher office.
Polling of Dallas City Councilmembers has suggested that Angela is one of the most well-known and popular members of the Dallas City Council on a citywide basis. However, her opposition to many of Mayor Leppert's policies and initiatives has put Angela at odds with many local leaders of the business community.
If Angela decides to run, she will need to raise several million dollars in order to win. Tom Leppert spent over $2.1 million dollars in 2007 in his election campaign. However, as former Dallas City Councilman and current School Board President Larry Duncan has proven multiple times, money is not everything when it comes to local municipal races. As a three term councilwoman, Mrs. Hunt is no stranger to campaigning, and can build a grassroots support network throughout the city.
Ron was first elected to the Dallas City Council in 2005 along with Angela Hunt. Councilman Natinsky is a former businessman who has a strong track record of voting in Republican primaries. While Angela Hunt has a strong history of opposing Mayor Leppert, Ron Natinsky has been the opposite on the matter and been an ardent supporter of the Mayor's policies. A key indicator that Natinsky is in and Leppert out is the fact that Natinsky has hired local consultant Carol Reed, who worked on Leppert's 2007 campaign as well as other Leppert initiatives such as the Trinity vote.
Ron Natinsky's campaign finance report posted on July 15, 2010 shows that Ron had $51k cash on hand. A strong start for any candidate running for city council, and Ron has had an additional 6 months to raise more money. Councilman Natinsky's strong support of Tom Leppert will likely allow him to step in with the business community that has backed the Mayor. This should allow him to lockup strong support and funds.
One local political consultant bluntly said "Natinsky is so far up Leppert's #%$#@ that you don't know where one ends and the other begins."
Mike Rawlings currently sits on the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Board, which is considered a springboard for potential mayoral or city council candidates. Mr. Rawlings is also the former CEO of Pizza Hut, and has contributed thousands of dollars to both national and local Democratic candidates, including 2010 gubernatorial candidate Bill White.
If Mike Rawlings steps into the race, it is highly likely that he will lock up much of the Democratic fundraising community behind his banner. He is already independently wealthy and lives in Preston Hollow so he can also self-fund his own campaign. This will easily make Rawlings one of the heavies in the race should he decide to run.
Since Mike Rawlings has not actually announced, he has no campaign website. I am including an article below discussing his appointment to the Parks and Recreation Board by Mayor Leppert for your reading enjoyment, instead.
Brint Ryan's name came up in a recent poll asking about potential mayoral candidates. Neither Brint nor the polling firm is saying who was behind the poll. However, Brint has been included due to his past willingness to run for elected office, and proven he is not shy about spending his wealth in an election campaign.
Brint Ryan is the CEO of Ryan, Inc, which is a large tax services firm based in Dallas and founded by Brint. Ryan, Inc is also where potential 2012 Senate candidate John Sharp works as a Principal out of their Austin office. In 2009, Brint Ryan made an unsuccessful run to take the open seat in District 13 that was vacated by Mitch Rasansky. While Brint lost to Ann Margolin, he did spend over $1 million dollars in his election campaign.
Brint has shown in 2009 that he is not above spending large amounts of money to build name recognition, and can easily self-fund his campaign. Brint also has the benefit of hindsight from 2009 to understand the potential pitfalls in his background that his opponents will try to exploit.
Unfortunately, Brint's voting history is sparse at best, which also dogged him during his own council campaign. During this campaign, he labeled himself as a conservative businessman. Since then he has gone on to vote in the 2010 Republican primary. All of these factors should give an indication of Brint's political leanings.
Dallas County is a solid Democratic county in North Texas. This was proven for a third time in a row when every countywide Democratic candidate won their election, despite the terrible losses in the State Legislature. As Dallas County is blue so is the City of Dallas. Presently, 8 Democrats sit on a 14 member City Council, which is led by a Republican mayor. In the 2009 Municipal Election, over 22,000 people who voted have also voted in two of the last three Democratic Primaries. Compare this to the roughly 14,000 people who voted in two of the last three Republican primaries and also voted in the 2009 Municipal Election.
I stated in my previous post that first-time partisan candidates who have campaigned and served in non-partisan offices typically make stronger candidates. They have a better idea of how to campaign, report finances, and also serve as an elected official. It is time that Democrats help elect their future leaders to municipal offices, such as Dallas Mayor and City Council.
While the 2010 Elections are over and most partisan politicos are waiting for 2012 redistricting, I wanted to take some time to write and talk about the non-partisan elections in the City of Dallas. Non-partisan elections are often the starting place for people to get involved in politics and run for office. The turnout is small and money needed to win tiny compared to some State House or even State Senate races, not to mention a federal race. Rafael Anchia (House 103), Carol Kent (House 102), and Wendy Davis (Senate 10) are examples of great Democrats in the State Legislature who got their start in non-partisan offices.
A quick primer on Dallas City Council
Dallas City Council is made up of 14 districted seats that run every 2 odd-numbered years. They are term-limited to 4 consecutive terms (8 years) and earn $37,500 per year. Dallas Mayor, also known as Place 15, serves a 4 year term for a maximum 2 consecutive terms, and earns $60k per year. You can see a map of Dallas City Council Districts at Dallas County Elections website.
Who's on First (Incumbents)
This year only a single City Council seat held by Steve Salazar in District 6 will be an open seat due to term limits. To my knowledge, no other incumbent has signaled that they do not plan to run for re-election. Below in a list of each incumbent currently up for re-election. The numbers to the right of these names indicate the terms each incumbent has completed so far.
District 1 - Delia Jasso (1)
District 2 - Pauline Medrano (3)
District 3 - David Neumann (3)
District 4 - Dwaine Caraway (2)
District 5 - Vonciel Hill (2)
District 6 - (Open Seat)
District 7 - Carolyn Davis (2)
District 8 - Tennell Atkins (2)
District 9 - Sheffie Kadane (2)
District 10 - Jerry Allen (2)
District 11 - Linda Koop (3)
District 12 - Ron Natinsky (3)
District 13 - Ann Margolin (1)
District 14 - Angela Hunt (3)
As the numbers indicate, a 2011 win will begin the fourth term for Angela Hunt, Ron Natinsky, Linda Koop, and Pauline Medrano.
Who's on Second (Challengers)
So far, the list of challengers is few. It is not uncommon for City Council seats to run unopposed. Dr. Elba Garcia (now County Commissioner Garcia) was virtually unopposed after winning her first term against now outgoing city council member Steve Salazar. Jerry Allen was actually elected to his first term unopposed on the ballot.
At the end of 2010, only Scott Griggs has come out as a declared candidate for District 3 against incumbent David Neumann. Scott Griggs is a patent lawyer. His campaign website is GriggsForDallas.com and link to his Facebook Page. I plan on discussing more of the District 3 race once campaign finance reports have been filed by both David Neumann and Scott Griggs after January 15.
Who's on Third (Mayoral Race)
The gorilla in the room for 2011 is "What will Mayor Leppert do?" Mayor Tom Leppert is up for re-election in 2011. However, Mayor Leppert has indicated an interest in doing a primary challenge against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The Mayor could decide to follow in the steps of Ron Kirk by running for re-election, and then leaving office 6 months later in order to run against Senator Hutchison. Alternatively, Mayor Leppert could decide to not run for re-election, and spent the next year raising money and building support among Texas Republicans.
If Tom Leppert does not run for re-election, that will cause a shift in City Council elections. Both city councilors Angela Hunt and Ron Natinsky have indicated an interest in running for Mayor. In Dallas City politics, Angela Hunt has been a solid voice of opposition to many of Mayor Leppert's initiatives, while Ron Natinsky has been on the opposite side. Naturally, other individuals outside of Dallas City Council would also seek the mayoral seat, but none have announced as of this writing.
Finding Home Base
As mentioned earlier, many local politicos are waiting to see what Mayor Leppert will do and for more challengers to announce their candidacies. It can easily be assumed that most challengers are waiting till after January 1 to avoid having to file a campaign finance report on January 15.
The official 2011 election calendar has not yet been released on the City of Dallas website. However, using the 2009 calendar, we can assume the following dates for 2011.
Jan 15 - Semi-Annual Campaign Finance Reports
Feb 14 - First day to file for office
Mar 14 - Last day to file for office
Apr 14 - 30 Day Campaign Finance Reports
May 02 - Early Voting Begins
May 06 - 8 Day Campaign Finance Reports
May 10 - Early Voting Ends
May 14 - Election Day
I hope to write further on Dallas City elections once campaign finance reports have been filed after January 15. I will go into how much cash on hand each incumbent reported, along with an analysis of past election costs in their district.
"The people of Freestone county have every reason to oppose the ash that is and has been buried there for over 40 years. You should see the mountains created out of that coal ash there and Luminant always has paid ads in the local papers claiming how they have restored the lands back to it original state after mining the coal." Vicky Prater, Navarro County Texas.
The EPA has proposed two competing rules to regulate the use of coal ash, a strong rule (C) and a soft rule (D), yet there is a glaring problem. Jeff Stant, of the Environmental Integrity Project: "The proposed C rule will not regulate the placement of coal ash in mines. We need thousands of letters demanding this loophole be closed."
In a report by EarthJustice, "Waste Deep: Filling Mines With Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, but Poison for People.", they note that "in the absence of federal regulations, many states allow dumping of coal ash into unlined mine pits, where the waste's toxic constituents can migrate unimpeded into groundwater. Dumping coal combustion waste into mines is especially dangerous because mining often creates conditions that allow for more rapid contamination of adjacent groundwater"
"Minefilling coal ash is a slow-motion and invisible counterpart to the TVA catastrophe," says Earthjustice attorney and report co-author Lisa Evans. "There, the destruction was unleashed in a matter of minutes. For communities with water poisoned by the country's hundreds of coal ash mine dumps, the damage has been gradual and largely unseen, but it also presents a grave threat."
Earthjustice estimates that about 25 million tons of coal combustion waste -- 20 percent of all such waste generated -- is dumped into mines each year. The practice is occurring throughout the U.S. coalfields, including West Virginia and Texas, and presents a serious threat to public health.
So why wasn't minefilling covered by the EPA's coal ash rule? The problem lies in part because the EPA shares jurisdiction over mine filling with the Office of Surface Mining.
But there's hope. If we can win a strong C rule (which we'll get only if we can overwhelm the EPA with comments and hearing attendance at the 7 hearings across the country) we will have set a strong precedent for regulating minefilling. By requiring that coal ash be placed above the water table (so it doesn't leak into groundwater) and in sites with composite liners and leachate collection, we'll be laying the groundwork for requiring those same safeguards in regulating minefilling.
So step by step, we're getting there.
1) Tell the EPA you're disappointed minefilling isn't covered by the coal ash rule, and urge them to adopt the strong coal ash rule (C). Send a message to the EPA here.
2) Go to the Dallas coal ash hearing on September 8th. Transportation and logistics provided by the Sierra Club. We've got to outnumber the industry goons. Sign up to go to the hearing here.
3) One we get the strong coal ash rule, keep up the pressure on the EPA to make sure they work with the Office of Surface Mining to regulate minefilling.
Even if Congress can't pass a climate bill, we CAN make a difference.
We know about the Bad Health Brigade, and that coal ash contains toxic amounts of them, but there's an insidious friend of theirs that just isn't getting any attention at all.
Burning coal can produce Radon (it's actually TENORM, technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials), Polonium 210 and Lead 210- and it can be emitted as solid radioactive material, as gases, and as both.
For example, Radon gas emissions at the proposed NRG coal-fired power plant result from its presence in the coal, which means that alarming quantities of radon gas will be released into the air during large-scale coal combustion.
Radon gas emissions at the proposed Oak Grove plant result from the presence of radon in the coal, and significant quantities are released into the environment. The highest potential concentrations of radiation would be in the Robertson County area closest to the oak grove plant.
However, there is NO information about the average concentrations of radon and its radioactive relatives in the coal in the permit application, the TCEQ's technical review, or the draft permit for the Sandy Creek plant.
The Law:
1) TCEQ's Regulatory Definition of "Air Contaminant" in state law includes "radioactive material".
2) Radon is a radionuclide classified as hazardous air pollutant/HAP under Title III of the Clean Air Act.
Why isn't the TCEQ regulating radon exposure to radon and its carcinogenic byproducts? Well, they don't regulate much.
Has any radiation been detected near coal plants? In Texas!?
Yes.
The U.S. Geological survey conducted extensive flyovers of the US looking for radiation hotspots. Every coal-fired power plant had two radiation hotspots. One for the coal and one for the coal ash piles.
The highest concentrations would be in the Robertson County area closest to the Oak Grove Plant. Radon gas emissions at the proposed Oak Grove coal-fired power plant results from its presence in the coal, and significant quantities of radon gas are released into the air during large-scale coal combustion.
Get involved, fight coal ash at www.cleanuptexasnow.org
The EPA has proposed two rules to regulate toxic coal ash, and they're going to hold only five hearings across the country to hear from citizens. One of those hearings is going to be in Dallas, Texas, on September 8th, so we are putting all hands on deck to make sure that there's a powerful voice demanding a strong coal ash rule.
Not sure what coal ash is? It's all the waste produced when burning coal (you can imagine how toxic it is). It may look like dirt, but it tastes like a Superfund site: monitoring data at 31 coal ash sites found arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium, thallium antimony, mercury, boron, sulfate, and more exceeding drinking water standards in groundwater at 26 of the sites.
Right now, coal companies are free to put it wherever they like, usually in ponds, landfills, and uncovered earthen pits.
The EPA has proposed a strong option, which would classify coal ash as hazardous waste, and under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Subtitle C, the EPA would have the power to federally enforce the following requirements: getting a permit for a disposal site, require effective clean-up in the case of a leak, groundwater monitoring, and storage sites. The soft option means continuing to classify coal ash as solid waste, which means that the regulation would be state-to state and enforcement would depend on the oh-so-easy citizen lawsuits. If you remember Pirates of the Caribbean, the soft option is kind of like Pirate Code. It's more of a guidelines, really, which means Elizabeth Turner is still going to be a prisoner on the Black Pearl and coal companies are still going to dump coal ash wherever they like.
Not sure how destructive this can be? See what happens when 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge destroy a Tennessee community.
This was an obvious destructive catastrophe, but coal is a silent killer too. Living near a coal ash site is like smoking twenty, yes, that's right, TWENTY packs of cigarettes a day. Except if you live near a coal ash site, you can't just quit. You have to leave your home.
In Texas alone, the Brandy Branch Coal ash dump, the Southwestern Electric Power Co. coal ash dump, and the Texas Utilities Electric Martin Lake Reservoir have leaked elevated levels of selenium and toxic metals. There are no leachate collection systems in Texas, and there is no groundwater monitoring. It's worse than using a plastic bag for your goldfish- it's definitely going to leak.
But it's not just about coal ash. This is about making sure that polluters are responsible for external costs. This is about making sure that when there is environmental impact, the burden of responsibility falls on those who are responsible for the impact, not for those who suffer the collateral damage.
A fire at the Magnablend Chemical Company is burning out of control today near Dallas in Joe Barton’s Congressional District. Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 4, Congressman Barton of Ennis is holding an Energy and Environment Subcommittee Hearing: Quality Science for Quality Air. 