GALVESTON BAY FISH CONSUMPTION WARNING DUE TO PCBs

Freeze Impacts hit Fish, Turtles along Entire Texas Coast

2011-02-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

News Release – News Images

Media Contact: Steve Lightfoot, 512-389-4701, steve.lightfoot@tpwd.state.tx.us

Feb. 17, 2011

Freeze Impacts hit Fish, Turtles along Entire Texas Coast

AUSTIN – Preliminary assessments by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department coastal fisheries biologists suggest the damage from back-to-back freeze events that impacted marine life from Galveston to Brownsville could have been much worse.

Forecasts of prolonged sub-freezing temperatures along the Texas coast during the first week in February had biologists bracing for major fish kills the likes of which had not been seen in more than two decades. A second, less severe freeze wave hit the Texas coast less than a week later.

Coastal fisheries populations suffered devastating losses during three freeze events in the 1980s, with combined estimates of more than 30 million dead fish. In the aftermath of the freezes of 2011, TPWD officials are breathing collective sighs of relief. Based on early findings, the total numbers of fish impacted will be above that seen during 2010 (51,000 fish killed along the mid and lower coast), 2004 (35,000 fish killed in the lower Laguna Madre) and 1997 (200,000-300,000 fish killed in the upper and lower Laguna Madre) freezes, but lower than the three freezes in the 80s (1983 and two in 1989).

Biologists suggest the total impacts from this year’s fish kill in terms of numbers appear similar to the freeze of 1997, but the species makeup is drastically different. During 1997, spotted seatrout, black drum and red drum comprised roughly 75 percent of the impact. During this year’s freeze, it appears more than 85 percent of the impacted fish are non-recreational species, like silver perch, hardhead catfish, and mullet. Of the recreational species impacted this year, black drum appear to make up a larger component with spotted seatrout, red drum, sand seatrout, sheepshead, whiting, snook, gray snapper, Atlantic croaker and gag grouper making up a much smaller percentage.

“It could be that most fish had time to escape to deeper water before the freeze hit,” theorized Rebecca Hensley, TPWD coastal fisheries regional director. “We didn’t see the beaches covered in ice and very large numbers of dead fish like during the ‘80s freezes.”

Hensley also credits reduced mortality on game fish to conservation measures taken during the freeze, including a temporary fishing closure in deep water thermal refuges and voluntary stoppage of barge traffic in the lower Laguna Madre and through the land cut in the upper Laguna Madre.

“We appreciate the conservation ethic displayed by anglers during and immediately after the freeze when these fish were vulnerable,” said Robin Riechers, TPWD director of coastal fisheries. “It definitely helped reduce fish mortality.”

The recent freeze also saw a huge jump in the number of cold-stunned sea turtles recovered and the high survival rates. More than 1,500 sea turtles were recovered thanks to a massive network of volunteers and state and federal agency efforts.

“There were people out on the water gathering turtles immediately once the freeze hit and that made a huge difference,” said Riechers. “Turtle survival has been fairly high compared to previous freezes.”

In past years for similar coastal freezes, cold-stunned sea turtles in Texas have typically been held in captivity to recuperate for weeks until sea water temperatures rose. But two factors prompted Texas wildlife workers to return turtles to the wild faster this time. First, experts in Florida who’ve had similar recent experiences with cold-stunned turtles advised returning them to the water as soon as possible. Second, the sheer numbers of rescued turtles overwhelmed available facilities, so that many were on floors or wrapped in blankets, and experts say it’s better for them to return to water as soon as possible.

Within days of rescue, sea turtles were returned en masse with volunteers forming assembly-line chains to shuttle turtles down to the water’s edge on beaches near Corpus Christi and along the South Padre Island seashore.

Biologists say they won’t know the full impact to coastal fisheries from the freeze until annual sampling surveys are conducted later in the spring.

Photo Editors: Images associated with this news release are available on the TPWD Web site (http://archive.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/news_images/).

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20110217c

tss

Galveston Bay Fish Kill Arctic Blast of 2011 ???

2011-02-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

Galveston Bay Fish Kill Arctic Blast of 2011 ???

Saturday, February 05, 2011 7:25 PM

I sure hope there is not a major fish kill. it sure was warm just days before this Arctic express came roaring through, and believe it or not, the bait had come back up in here, there were some pelicans and gulls feeding on the bait last week when it was in the 70s. so, I imagine there were some specs and other fish up in here feeding. if I am not mistaken, it was that 83 freeze that took out the specs, and made the limit go from 20 to 10. the bay froze over too in 83 and 89.

water temp at Eagle point Thurs. was 46 degrees (F).

For spotted seatrout, water temperatures below about 45 degrees (F) become lethal. Red drum are a bit more hardy and can tolerate temperatures down to the mid-30's (F); flounder to the low 40's (F).

Water temp at Eagle Point Friday was 41 degrees (F).

Water temp today at Eagle Point today Sat. 42 degrees (F)

let's pray for a miracle. ...TSS

Freeze-triggered coastal fishing ban extended to Monday
By SHANNON TOMPKINS
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle Feb. 4, 2011, 6:38PM

Concerned about potential pillaging of speckled trout, redfish and other coastal game fish crowded into harbors, channels and other deep-water sanctuaries to escape frigid temperatures, state fisheries officials extended until noon, Monday, a closure of some areas along the coast to all fishing.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had imposed the closure, which affects 21 locations along the coast, Wednesday when it became obvious the days-long siege of freezing or near freezing temperatures would drop inshore water temperatures to levels that would trigger fish to seek refuge in deeper, more insulated waters.

The ban had been set to expire at noon, Saturday.

"This freeze event has lasted longer than was projected earlier in the week and temperatures are not expected to get much above freezing today," said Robin Riechers, TPWD coastal fisheries division director. "We realize an extension through the weekend may inconvenience some anglers and we appreciate their patience and cooperation, but our primary concern is to give fish holding in those thermal refuges a chance to recover." ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/outdoors/7413799.html

see the picture of Galveston Bay Froze over behind the house here in 1989.

UPDATE Monday February 7, 2011

Fish kill minimal along coast . Monday, 07 February 2011 11:19 Staff report .Relatively small numbers of dead fish have been reported along the Texas coast after a major cold front late last week. Photo by Patrick Thomas. Anglers and Texas Parks and Wildlife officials along the Texas coast are breathing easier this week after a massive cold front Thursday and Friday seemed to have spared many fish along the bays and Intracoastal Waterway.

Robin Riechers, TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division spokesman, characterized the weekend as “dodging a bullet.”

“That may not be what I’m saying Wednesday (after a flyover), but we are still counting dead game fish in the hundreds, which is amazing considering the cold,” he said. “The most notable kills occurred with pinfish, mullet and hardheads.”

Low tides the previous week and already-cold water help save a lot of fish killed because many of them had already moved to deeper water before the freeze hit.

“In past big events, the cold weather came on quick,” Riechers sad. “Having cold weather before the front, the fish were acclimated already. A lot of water was already shoved out of the bays (because of the low tides) and the barge traffic stoppage helped a lot.”

According to a TPWD memo, “many of the fish seen have been along the shoreline and are small (less than 6-10 inches in length). This weekend, additional fish species have been seen, but in low numbers. During field reconnaissance, the water clarity remains high and many fish were seen in canals beginning to come off the bottom (with their tails on the bottom and head in the water column). With the higher water temperatures, many of the dead fish in the deeper water are beginning to float.”

Mid-coast captain Scott Sommerlatte said he flew over the middle bays Sunday and counted several hundred dead trout, but called the fish kill “insignificant.”

“I think we escaped anything too terrible,” he said. “I saw a couple of really big trout, but not a single redfish. East Matagorda had most of the dead fish, but this wasn’t as bad as last year — not even close.”

A small snook kill was reported in the Lower Laguna Madre, but Capt. Eric Glass guided a redfish client Sunday along the southernmost tip of the coast and reported a great day of fly-fishing on the flats.

http://www.lsonews.com/fishing-news/1479-staff-report

TSS

TEXAS AND IT'S INDUSTRY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDOUS POLLUTING LAWS

2011-01-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

TEXAS AND IT'S INDUSTRY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDOUS POLLUTING LAWS

January 2, 2011

Howdy Bay Area Neighbors,

Wasn't it refreshing to read the headlines in the City and State section of the Chronicle Friday December 31, 2010. Three headlines caught my eye. First was 'Texas tries again to foil EPA, second was 'Downpour Sends raw sewage into bayou', and the third was 'Decision to expand dump put on hold'. Puts a light on where we're headed in 2011. More nuke waste material in Texas, More shit in Galveston Bay, and even more shit from the EPA and Austin. Maybe we can redirect Buffalo Bayou and the Nuke waste dump to the Governors office. well, it's just a thought. ...

Buffalo Bayou sewage repairs may take 3 weeks Pipes break from downpour's load

By ALLAN TURNER HOUSTON CHRONICLE Dec. 31, 2010, 9:13AM

City workers on Thursday began assessing damage to a maze of sewer pipes that, gorged with water from heavy rains, spewed more than 100,000 gallons of raw sewage into Buffalo Bayou.

Public works spokesman Alvin Wright said it may take as long as three weeks to repair the damage, but sewer customers should not be inconvenienced in the process.

"They can still flush," Wright said. ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7360522.html

Texas tries again to foil EPA It asks federal appeals court to stop takeover of rules for permits

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE HOUSTON CHRONICLE Dec. 30, 2010, 9:09PM

Texas took another swing Thursday at the EPA, asking a federal appeals court to block the agency from seizing the state's authority to regulate the largest industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

The latest legal move comes three days before new nationwide regulations for emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases take effect. Texas is the only state to refuse to implement the rules.

The Texas petition to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of abusing its powers by taking control of the permitting program without proper public notice. The EPA made the unilateral move Dec. 23.

"Once again, the federal government is overreaching and improperly intruding upon the state of Texas and its legal rights," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement. Typically, the federal government delegates implementation of Clean Air Act rules to the states....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7360473.html

Judge orders halt to radioactive waste dump By JAY ROOT © 2010 The Associated Press

Dec. 30, 2010, 5:11PM

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas judge ordered a temporary halt Thursday to a proposal that could allow three dozen states to dump their radioactive waste in far West Texas, a ruling that sided with environmentalists and caught the state attorney general's office off guard.

State District Judge Jon Wisser issued a temporary restraining order against the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, which is scheduled to vote Jan. 4 on rules that could expand how much waste could be processed at a dump in remote Andrews County.

The injunction was issued in the judge's courtroom late Thursday morning, shortly after environmentalists filed the request, with nobody there representing the commission. A few minutes later, shocked lawyers from the Texas Attorney General's Office — which hadn't been officially notified of the pending court action — showed up and convinced the judge to order a new hearing on the injunction.

The hearing is set for Monday in Austin, one day before the commission's scheduled vote. ....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7360256.html

Friday, December 24, 2010

TEXAS NUCLEAR DUMP VOTE SET AMID HOLIDAY RUSH THANKS TO GOVERNOR RICK PERRY

NUCLEAR DUMP VOTE SET AMID HOLIDAY RUSH

CRITICS PROTEST TIMING OF MEETING ON 38-STATE WASTE FACILITY IN TEXAS

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2010/12/texas-nuclear-dump-vote-set-amid.html

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008

TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE

(see photo's)

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html

Monday, July 5, 2010

B.P. Gulf Oil Spill Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches Galveston and Bolivar

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/07/gulf-oil-spill-tar-balls-hit-texas.html

Thursday, August 5, 2010

DEAD ZONES IN THE GULF AND GALVESTON BAY, NORTH AND SOUTH BACLIFF, SAN LEON, SHORELINE

flounders and stingrays floating belly up north and south of spillway part outlet.

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/08/dead-zones-in-gulf-and-galveston-bay.html

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

TROUBLED WATERS

(DEAD DOLPHIN washed up on rocks in backyard, on Galveston Bay, in Bacliff, Texas 77518)

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/08/troubled-waters.html

Saturday, July 19, 2008

GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

Greetings again kind friends and neighbors. ...

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/galveston-bay-swimming-with-dolphins.html

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

December 20, 2010

Don’t Trash Texas— Unless You Pay Perry $1.1 Million A billionaire gives the governor $500,000 more to make Texas the nation’s nuclear waste dump.

http://info.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/pdf/SimmonsNukeImport.pdf

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/rick-perrys-nuclear-money-mach.html

Terry S Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

DEAD ZONES IN THE GULF AND GALVESTON BAY, NORTH AND SOUTH BACLIFF, SAN LEON, SHORELINE

2010-08-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

DEAD ZONES IN THE GULF AND GALVESTON BAY, NORTH AND SOUTH BACLIFF, SAN LEON, SHORELINE 77518

Low-oxygen area now deeper into Texas waters Largest-ever Gulf dead zone spans from Galveston to Mississippi River

By ERIC BERGER HOUSTON CHRONICLE Aug. 3, 2010, 10:37PM

The dead zone off the Texas coast is larger this year than scientists have ever measured, stretching offshore from the Mississippi River to Galveston Island.

An area of low-oxygen water that threatens marine life, the dead zone is at its largest during the summer months.

Scientists have surveyed the Gulf dead zone for a quarter-century, and this year's 7,722-square-mile area of hypoxic water is among the five largest.

"It's been getting larger and larger over the last five to seven years," said Nancy Rabelais, a Louisiana scientist who leads efforts to annually map the dead zone. "As it's been getting larger, it's expanded farther into Texas waters.

"This is the largest such area off the upper Texas coast that we have found since we began this work in 1985."

Discharge from the Mississippi River, which carries nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients from Midwestern states, largely creates the dead zone.

These nutrients, partly from commercial fertilizers, spur the growth of algaeblooms which, after dying, sink to the bottom. There the bacteria which feast upon the algae also bloom, depleting oxygen in the water.

Fish and shellfish often can swim away from these areas but immobile organisms, such as clams, simply die without access to oxygen.

Scientists are beginning to try and quantify the economic effect of dead zones, primarily due to potential disruption of fisheries.

"There are a whole host of biological consequences for fish in hypoxic areas, and when you add up all those different things you might expect there will be less fish to catch," said Martin Smith, an environmental economist at Duke University.

In recent years Smith has studied the effects of hypoxia on North Carolina fisheries at the mouth of the Neuse River, and he said low-oxygen water may have reduced catches by 10 to 15 percent.

Long-term worries Smith is part of a team that recently received a four-year, $700,000 grant to perform the first extensive study of the economic consequences of the Gulf dead zone.

In the short term it may benefit some fisheries, he said, because some species such as shrimp may be more tightly clustered at the edge of hypoxic areas, making them easier to catch.

Nevertheless there are long-term concerns about areas of low-oxygen water because they may reduce the reproduction of fish, or slow their growth rates.

"One would expect that if there's less dissolved oxygen, as the severity of the problem worsens, the consequences are going to get worse, too," he said. "But we're not going to answer that question scientifically until we do the study."

Common in summer Texas has seen dead zones before. Excessive rainfall in 2007 caused the Brazos River to discharge more than twice as much water into the Gulf of Mexico than previously measured since at least 1967.

This large amount of fresh water carrying nitrates led to the creation of a temporary 1,750-square-mile area of oxygen-depleted water, stretching from Freeport to Matagorda Bay.

And the Gulf's summer dead zone — such areas occur most commonly in the summer when winds are lightest - has stretched along the upper Texas coast before.

Now it appears that, absent tropical weather in the summer to break up dead zones by mixing the water, dead zones will become permanent summertime fixtures.

"There's still room for it to grow," Rabelais said. "It just has to do with the pressure of more people and nutrients. It means lower water quality, and larger algae blooms. It's certainly not a good thing."

eric.berger@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7137925.html

Subject: deadzone reply tss

WE have a dead zone right here in Bacliff Texas, on Galveston Bay, caused by ZERO oxygen level towards the bottom, flowing out of the Reliant spillway park, due to treated sewer being dumped into the discharge canal. you can see the pipe from google search. i was told by TPWD, from that pipe down to the mouth of the bay, via the discharge pipe, there is a blue green algae that has created the ZERO oxygen levels towards the bottom. the ZERO oxygen levels once the water discharges into the bay, runs both North and South up and down Bacliff, and San Leon shore line. Both FLOUNDER AND STINGRAYS have been seen floating belly up in large numbers. this has been going on for about 4 or 5 years, every year about this same time we saw it this year, and is generally seen around no tide movement days. BUT, we have had a significant reduction in the numbers of flounders in our area over this same time frame. i guess that's why we smell fece's in Galveston bay from time to time also. isn't progress wonderful. ...not///

check out the next addition of the SEABREEZE newspaper.

stupid is, as stupid does, and sometimes, you just can't fix stupid...

please see article ;

August 6, 2010

GOT FLOUNDER? Not in San Leon...

GOT FLOUNDER? Not in San Leon...

Got Flounder? Not in San Leon.

During the month of July, flounder and stingray have been floating up dead all along the San Leon/Bacliff shoreline on the north side. Our freelance reporter, Terry Singeltary, ob- served dead flounder floating by in groups of twos and three's with an occasional five or six. These are big, mature flounder, from two to seven pounds. Along with these flounder, dead stingrays have been seen floating by. Mr. Bobby Redfield, who lives on Bayshore Drive, also observed the same thing and gave me a call. This went on for several days. We received eight more calls where someone people left messages regarding dead flounder floating around the spillway, but did not leave their names and numbers. Our reporter contacted Lance Robinson, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist located at the Dickinson office and expressed his concern about the destruction of these fish. Mr. Robinson said that they were aware of this problem and knew the cause. It turns out that a water treatment plant in the Bacliff area has a discharge pipeline that dumps into the HL&P outlet canal and goes out by way of the spillway and follows the tide. Since there is no longer any pressured flow discharging from HL&P, the chemicals from this treated water build up, removing all of the oxygen from the bottom of the water along the shoreline. The fish that live on the bottom of the bay, like flounder and stingray, cannot survive. This has been going on for years and has not been addressed. With the three sewer plants dumping into Dickinson Bayou and the de- pletion of flounder it makes you wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to put another sewer plant dumping into our precious, fragile resources. Mr. Robinson said they were having a meeting on this very subject. The meeting was to take place one week ago from this newspaper printing. Our reporter has put a call in to Mr. Robinson three days prior to this publication and at this time has not been called back. Maybe the Texas Parks and Wildlife has to contact the CCA and ask them how they should handle it. As we know more, you will know more. Do you fisherman ever wonder why there may be a shortage of flounder? With all of the sewer plants up and down the Texas coast dumping water treatment chemicals into our bays, creeks, rivers, bayous, estuaries, it's no wonder that the flounder are disappearing. What are you going to do about it Texas Parks & Wildlife? Are you going to keep cutting back the limits with the fisherman until you stop fishing for flounder forever, or are you actually going to address the problem? It's time for you Texas fishermen to wake up and let your voices be heard.

http://seabreezenews.com/issue/Page_16.pdf

http://seabreezenews.com/

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

TSS

B.P. Gulf Oil Spill Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches Galveston and Bolivar

2010-07-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

GALVESTON, Texas, July 5, 2010

Gulf Oil Spill Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches

State Says Responders Have Recovered About 35 Gallons of Waste Material Tainted by Oil on Beaches

(AP) A top Texas official said Monday that tar balls from the Gulf oil spill have been found on state beaches, marking the first known evidence that gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well has now reached all the Gulf states.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

http://www.cbsnews.com/2718-201_162-558.html

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said two crews were removing tar balls found on the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island on Sunday.

"We've said since day one that if and when we have an impact from Deepwater Horizon, it would be in the form of tarballs," Patterson said in a news release. "This shows that our modeling is accurate. Any Texas shores impacted by the Deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab."

The state said responders have recovered about 35 gallons of waste material tainted by the oil from the two sites.

Signs of landfall by oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill had previously only been reported in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

The distance between the western-most reach of the spill in Texas and the eastern-most reports of oil in Florida is about 550 miles.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/05/national/main6649045.shtml

oh hell,

I see right out of the starting gates they are wanting to blame the tankers on bringing this B.P. oil globs to our Texas beaches. so, back to my question (part of this was omitted in the Galveston Daily News comment submission that was published due to comment length limit), BUT WHAT ABOUT Galveston Bay and all it's estuaries ?

tarball...(flounder)

===================================

From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
T o:
Cc: letters@galvnews.com

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:24 AM
Subject: do we need an Ike dike, or a BP dike ?

WHAT (if any), is the contingency plan we have to keep that BP oil from getting into Galveston Bay, and all it's estuary's, if it heads our way, and threatens our coast ?

PLEASE NOTE ; the booms do not seem to be working. I have seen them broke up and beached, with oil soaked birds trying to stay afloat on them. we know the entrance between the jetties can be a rough one, sometimes on a calm day, as with San Luis Pass.

SO what is the contingency plan to protect the cuts coming into Galveston bay, and keep the BP oil, or any oil, from entering ?

OUR BEACHES would be very vulnerable too, so another question would be, what is the contingency plan to keep the BP oil off our beaches from High Islands, to Corpus, and beyond, IF the oil was to come our way? the surf would break up any booms, so what plan is it you have for the beaches as well ?

===================================

Thursday, June 3, 2010

CAUGHT IN B.P. OIL

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/06/caught-in-bp-oil.html

Galveston Daily News

Letters to the Editor

May 28, 2010

How Would We Deal With An Oil Spill Here?

Do we need an Ike dike, or a BP dike?

I watch in misery as I see what is happening to our kind neighbors to the east of us, and think to myself, there, but for the grace of God, go we.

All that would have to happen is a change in wind pattern or weather pattern and BP’s God-awful mess could be at our doorsteps in a minute.

What, if any, is the contingency plan to keep that BP oil from getting into Galveston Bay and all its estuaries, if it heads our way? Will the ship channel and cuts be closed to seal off the bay?

Our beaches would be vulnerable, too. What is the contingency plan to keep the BP oil off our beaches from High Island to Corpus Christi and beyond, if the oil were to come our way?

If an oil dispersant is used, how would we keep that from coming into Galveston Bay, and what harm is it to humans and wildlife, including fish?

These are just a few of many questions I would like answered before the BP oil slick, or any oil slick, is seen off our coast, not after it comes ashore.

Terry Singeltary Sr. Bacliff

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b8f097d3ec4f9965

ORIGINAL SUBMISSION ;

----- Original Message -----

From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To:
Cc: letters@galvnews.com
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:24 AM
Subject: do we need an Ike dike, or a BP dike ?

Greetings Mr. Taylor and The Galveston Daily News et al !

I have a few questions please, that I think someone needs to answer for the public.

I watch in misery and pain as I see what is happening to our Kind Neighbors to the East of us, and on around the Gulf Coast to Florida, and think to myself, there for the Grace of God, are us. all that would have to happen is a change in wind pattern, and or weather pattern, or maybe even an early tropical storm coming in from the Florida keys from east to west across the gulf. any of these scenario's would put that God awful mess at our door steps in a minute.

WHAT (if any), is the contingency plan we have to keep that BP oil from getting into Galveston Bay, and all it's estuary's, if it heads our way, and threatens our coast ?

PLEASE NOTE ; the booms do not seem to be working. I have seen them broke up and beached, with oil soaked birds trying to stay afloat on them. we know the entrance between the jetties can be a rough one, sometimes on a calm day, as with San Luis Pass.

SO what is the contingency plan to protect the cuts coming into Galveston bay, and keep the BP oil, or any oil, from entering ?

OUR BEACHES would be very vulnerable too, so another question would be, what is the contingency plan to keep the BP oil off our beaches from High Islands, to Corpus, and beyond, IF the oil was to come our way? the surf would break up any booms, so what plan is it you have for the beaches as well ?

IF OIL DISPERSANTS are used, how would we keep that from coming into Galveston Bay, and what harm would it be to our wildlife and fishing in general ?

THESE are just a few of many questions myself, and I am sure others would like to have answered, BEFORE the BP oil slick, or any oil slick, is seen off our coast. NOT after it is seen.

I am sure, somewhere there is a contingency plan. I am sure it is published somewhere, I would hope so anyway, and we should all have a copy of it for scrutiny, in case it is not sufficient to protect our Galveston Bay, and our Beaches. ...

sincerely concerned,

Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

Sunday, May 30, 2010

DO WE NEED AN IKE DIKE, OR A B.P. DIKE, OR BOTH

Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/05/do-we-need-ike-dike-or-bp-dike-or-both.html

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

OFFICIALS CLAIM PLAN IS IN PLACE IF OIL HITS TEXAS BEACHES Officials:

Plan in place if oil hits Texas beaches

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/06/officials-claim-plan-is-in-place-if-oil.html

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Will Bacterial Plague Follow Crude Oil Spill Along Gulf Coast?

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/06/will-bacterial-plague-follow-crude-oil.html

Governor Perry comments ;

"I want to assure Texans we are taking aggressive actions." ...end

let's hope so. i have my doubts though. ...tarball (flounder)

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

Will Bacterial Plague Follow Crude Oil Spill Along Gulf Coast?

2010-06-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Will Bacterial Plague Follow Crude Oil Spill Along Gulf Coast?

By PAUL VOOSEN of Greenwire

Published: June 17, 2010

Some bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico love eating oil as much as they like infecting humans.

A close relative of the bacteria infamous for seafood contaminations that often lead to fatal disease, the microbe Vibrio parahaemolyticus, is common in warm coastal waters like the Gulf. The long comma-shaped bacteria, slurped down with raw oysters, brings twisting cramps and nausea to 4,500 American shellfish aficionados each year.

But unlike some of its finicky peers, V. parahaemolyticus has a deep thirst for crude oil. "You can feed it exclusively oil," and it will thrive, said Jay Grimes, marine microbiologist at the University of Southern Mississippi.

As many have noticed, oil is not in short supply on the Gulf Coast.

Scientists have long known that the ultimate end of the crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the damaged BP PLC well will rest in the hands of marine bacteria, single-cell organisms that have been purging the seas of oil from natural seeps for millenia, having only recently added human folly to their cleanup resume. Without these bacteria, whose numbers surge in response to hydrocarbons, enough oil would leak each year to coat the world's oceans in a fine film, molecules deep.

Beneath this awareness, however, sit vast reserves of uncertainty. Microbiologists are unsure which bacteria, feeding off the oil, are already growing exponentially in the Gulf. They are curious how long the bacterial growth will last once the oil's hard remnants drift down into ocean sediment. And no one seems certain how the surge in microbial life will alter the intricate, disentangling web of the Gulf's already weakened ecology.

One of the more pressing questions involves Vibrios, which, until the oil spill, were one of the primary threats to the region's vital shellfish business. While parahaemolyticus rarely causes serious disease, another Vibrio species, vulnificus, kills dozens of Americans each year, largely through seafood contamination. The disease, only recently discovered, has caused fierce debate between health officials and local Gulf politicians over raw oysters, the primary carriers of the disease.

Since Vibrio populations swell in the summer -- they love the heat -- this year there is a likely possibility, scientists say, that Vibrio growth could be further spurred, directly or indirectly, in response to the oil and the organic flotsam it has left behind.

"The question is: Will there be an inadvertent enhancement of the growth of these potential human pathogens?" said Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and an expert in marine microbial life. "It's a question, and the answer is uncertain."

So far, hard evidence is scant. Grimes recently examined an oiled water sample taken by the research ship Pelican. The oil, likely exposed to dispersant, was finely divided. Using gene-staining technology, Grimes discovered several microbes attached to the droplet. Now glowing blue, they had been gorging. At least one was a Vibrio.

"There's no question bacteria, in general, increase following spills, and this includes Vibrios," said Jim Oliver, a Vibrio specialist at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Whether the pathogenic Vibrios "significantly increase is unsure, I would say, but they are coastal bacteria ... so [they] could well increase either as a direct result of oil degradation or as a side effect of the added nutrient levels."

The ingredients are there for heightened concern, Oliver added. The carcasses of bacteria feeding off the oil will increase overall nutrient levels as sweltering summer temperatures hit their peak. While there are natural controls, like bacterial viruses and protozoa, that can check Vibrio growth, those can be overwhelmed, studies have shown. And because of the cleanup, more people could be coming into direct contact with the bacteria.

"I think that combination could lead to very serious public health concerns," Oliver said.

FDA aware of threat

Already, the spill is stressing and killing marine life, covering oyster cages in oily films, Oliver's Gulf colleagues tell him. The most common vector for seafood contamination, the oysters that survive the crude could see their immune systems weakened, potentially leaving them easy prey for bacteria. And what if their offspring are weakened?

There are few answers, said Doug Bartlett, a microbiologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Mostly questions. "If the oil is killing all these marine animals and if the marine animals are highly compromised, would they be more likely to succumb to infectious disease?" he said.

The Food and Drug Administration is aware of the Vibrio threat but believes the bacteria's numbers will decline in parallel with the oil, said Meghan Scott, an FDA spokeswoman. Currently, most oyster reefs within the spill's reach are closed as part of the federal response, which has shuttered about a third of federal waters in the Gulf.

"Closure of oyster harvesting areas is based upon the presence of oil, and reopening cannot occur until the presence of oil is gone and shellfish have been tested by sensory and chemical analysis," Scott said. "Concurrent with acceptable test results for oil in oysters, Vibrio levels will have returned to background."

When harvesting resumes, Vibrio controls will be enforced by state shellfish control authorities. Those requirements have been the source of controversy in recent years, as last year FDA sought to reduce Vibrio-related deaths by tightening controls on raw oyster processing. Gulf fishermen and politicians fended off those standards, at least temporarily, citing economic concerns.

Without a doubt, higher Vibrio numbers would pale in comparison to the oil, which should remain the primary concern of emergency responders, given its potential to accumulate in wildlife and disrupt fish larvae. The synthetic dispersants used to break down the crude, making it available for microbes, are a close second. But there should be awareness that even as the oil recedes -- which, at times, seems an ever remote possibility -- its impact on the Gulf will linger, invisibly.

"I honestly don't know what is going to happen with regard to the oil spill," Scripps' Bartlett said. "It's very likely in the heavily impacted areas to have a strong influence on the composition of microbial communities. But gosh, I just don't have a good sense of where that all is going to go."

'Insufficient investment' in research

Marine microbiology has long been a meagerly funded field. Even when oil spills have been on politicians' agendas, most money has gone toward technological fixes like double-hulled tankers. As a result, microbiologists have few specific answers to offer on how the Gulf's bacterial life will change. Some lessons have been learned from spills in Japan, Alaska and France, but over the past 20 years, when biological tools have rapidly advanced, money has slipped out of reach.

"We are now reaping the sad result of insufficient investment in the kind of research that should have been happening all along," said Colwell, who was tapped this week to lead an independent panel advising where BP's promised $500 million in research funds should be invested.

Given the uncertainty, microbiologists are scrambling to reach the Gulf and sample waters near the former site of the Deepwater Horizon. Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Santa Barbara, backed in part by emergency federal grants, have set out on research ships like Cape Hatteras, Brooks McCall and Ocean Veritas to sample the ocean's smallest residents.

Few initial results are available, and much microbial activity has been inferred from a drop in oxygen levels in waters surrounding the spill. This plunge, however, even in the undersea plumes of oil-water mixture, has not been deep enough to limit the oxygen needed by microbes, according to Ken Lee, director of Canada's Centre for Offshore Oil, Gas and Energy Research. Lee has had researchers monitoring the spill for weeks.

"We've been monitoring oxygen profiles in the water column continuously," Lee said. Early tests likely used inaccurate equipment, he added, as "it doesn't look like there's a significant or any significant change in oxygen profiles at this time."

The undersea plumes are less dense than previous analogies may have suggested, Lee added. "It's certainly not salad dressing under water at depth," he said. "We've collected many samples for [analysis] and it appears that the concentrations are quite low."

There is evidence that the dispersants, despite whatever toxicity they may cause in the deep sea, are breaking down the oil into finer droplets than even the most efficient microbes, Lee added. Since most bacteria cannot live in oil and can only "stick their noses into it," as Oliver put it, increasing the surface area is critical to degradation. It is a tough call to use them in such volumes -- more than 1.3 million gallons so far -- but it may have been the right one, USM's Grimes added.

"As a microbiologist, I think the dispersants were the right way to go," Grimes said.

Colwell is not so certain, though, citing evidence that the dispersants could block vital nutrients from reaching oil-degrading bacteria. Much of the first $25 million pledged to Gulf-area research institutes from BP will investigate the effect of dispersants.

In these investigations, one of the more impressive bacteria that scientists expect to find in large numbers near the spill are Alcanivorax borkumensis, a microbe described only a decade ago by German scientists, or similar species. Alcanivorax are selective microbes, so focused on hydrocarbons that they can create their own surfactants, the detergent-like chemicals used by dispersants, to break apart oil.

Typically, bacteria that consume oil grow from less than 1 percent of the marine population to 10 percent or more, as seen in the Exxon Valdez spill. It is expected that microbe species similar to Alcanivorax constitute a large part of this primary growth, said Kenneth Timmis, a microbiologist at Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research who helped discover A. borkumensis.

"The unfortunate thing is Alcanivorax can only handle a small part of the problem," Timmis said. The bacteria target saturated hydrocarbons, simple chemical chains that constitute the major volume of the Gulf oil but are also the most likely to evaporate. It is small, he said, "but it's an important part of it."

Indeed, the word "oil" can mask the sheer complexity of crude, Colwell said. Recent studies have found more than 17,000 different chemical components in crude, spawning a term that mirrors the complexity of biology: petroleomics. Some bacteria, like the Alcanivorax, will degrade the simple components, while others, like some Vibrios, hanker for aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene, which are more stable and toxic.

"It's what we call a consortium activity," Colwell said, chains of bacteria that tag-team to devour the oil. "It's a complex system and we, in the 21st century, need to be thinking of systems. ... We have to understand sequential events. It requires a new way of thinking."

Nature's limits

While bacteria -- be they Alcanivorax, Vibrio or some other flagella-tailed bug -- will degrade much of the oil in the Gulf, they will encounter limits in their efforts. Even with enough dissolved oxygen in the water, it is likely that the nutrients needed by the microbes will be in scarce supply, if they are not already, scientists said.

"My guess is that biodegradation is limited by nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and iron," said Jim Spain, a microbial engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology. "There might be a time when addition of such nutrients could be helpful, but the caveat is that stimulation of photosynthesis -- algal blooms -- should be avoided."

Fertilization of the ocean should be explored, Colwell agreed. But, she added it should only be considered in a serious, science-based approach that knows exactly what is being added into contaminated waters with volumes calculated based on oil and microbial concentrations.

Soon enough, however, the Gulf will receive a dose of nutrients that it can do little to control. Each summer, runoff from the fertilizer-saturated farms of the Midwest sluices down and out the Mississippi River, typically causing a massive bloom in algae growth and, in turn, a "dead zone" without oxygen. How this runoff will interact with Gulf microbes is anyone's guess.

It could stimulate the hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, Bartlett said. But if algae instead bloom, the local Vibrio population could also escape its normal limits. Bartlett saw such results during one bloom off the California coast, where the protozoa were no longer able to stop the growth of Vibrio, which can have an affinity for algae.

"The lesson from that is that under high nutrient conditions, it may be that the Vibrio numbers would go up," Bartlett said. "Though one might need to distinguish one algae from another. So we have more questions than answers."

In the end, there is just too much oil for bacteria to break down before large recalcitrant chunks of the crude -- resins and asphaltenes -- sink to the seafloor, coating marine life. The chemicals will then burrow into sediment and, while not very toxic, in such a oxygen-free environment, the oil will take many years to degrade, Helmholtz's Timmis said.

While efforts to limit the oil's spread are understandable, given the wildlife and ecosystem concerns, the high concentrations will make it much more difficult for bacteria to mitigate the oil, he said. The short-term fix complicates the long-term solution.

"It needs to be contained on one hand, and dispersed at the same moment," Timmis said.

For the oil that has not reached the shore, it will be "marine bacteria that will ultimately save the day," UNC's Oliver said. They will degrade the oil to water and carbon dioxide, he said, given time and the assistance of wind and waves.

But those days of clear seas remain on a distant horizon.

"This oil," Colwell said, "will be around for a long time."

Copyright 2010 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/17/17greenwire-will-bacterial-plague-follow-crude-oil-spill-a-81599.html?pagewanted=all

see more on the Vibrio parahaemolyticus ;

What type of illness is caused by V. parahaemolyticus?

When ingested, V. parahaemolyticus causes watery diarrhea often with abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills. Usually these symptoms occur within 24 hours of ingestion. Illness is usually self-limited and lasts 3 days. Severe disease is rare and occurs more commonly in persons with weakened immune systems. V. parahaemolyticus can also cause an infection of the skin when an open wound is exposed to warm seawater.

How does infection with V. parahaemolyticus occur?

Most people become infected by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters. Less commonly, this organism can cause an infection in the skin when an open wound is exposed to warm seawater.

snip... see full text ;

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/vibriop/

The increasing trend of human incidences of gastroenteritis due to seafood contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus has gained significant national and worldwide attention. The Food Borne Diseases Active Surveillance Network reports that Vibrio infection rate has been the highest, 47%, from 1996 to 2004, compared to other bacterial infections, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, and E. coli (5). The significance of V. parahaemolyticus infection in humans has continued to rise since 2000 in the U.S. In 2006, the Council of State and Terrestrial Epidemiologists suggested all Vibrio illnesses, including non-cholera Vibrio illness, should be classified as nationally notifiable diseases (5).

A model for risk characterization based on the historical/surveillance data was developed by CDC's program Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance System (COVISS). In the study conducted from 1998 to 2002, 62% of V. parahaemolyticus illnesses was due to contaminated oyster consumption and wound associated (58).

The Pacific Coast States were the site of the highest number of reported V. parahaemolyticus by the state of residence from a report from the CDC (58); however, there was no direct relation to the oyster harvesting sites. As a result, residents of the Pacific Coast states, such as Washington and Oregon, consumed oysters harvested from various sites in nation as well as other states. This study also found that most oyster-linked V. parahaemolyticus illnesses were associated with harvesting areas in the following order: Gulf Coast oysters, Pacific Northwest oysters, Atlantic oysters, and other states (58). Elston from Aqua Technics in Sequim argues that the consequence of warming of the ocean water due to El Niño effect might be correlated with the sudden growth of bacteria near shore and possible increase of Vibrio contamination should be highly considered (18). Food safety concerns are raised since various microorganisms would be contained while the digestive organ of the shellfish filters the seawater, and entire raw or lightly cooked animals are often consumed by people (16).

The general symptoms due to consumed raw or inadequately cooked seafood infected with V. parahaemolyticus are watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills lasting one to three days with onset often within twenty four hours (5, 65). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, although there is no treatment necessary in most cases of V. parahaemolyticus infections, it is recommended to patients for drinking lots of liquids in order to restore the lost fluids from diarrhea symptoms. In harsh cases, antibiotics that are susceptible to the microorganisms are used, and they are tetracylcline or ciprofloxacin (6).

Raw or improperly cooked seafood products during warmer seasons lead to higher rates of the world outbreaks of V. parahaemolyticus. According to Kaysner, the bacterial contamination could be possibly eliminated by proper heating and cooking practice in dealing with seafood (33). Research conducted in 1970 by Vanderzant and colleagues focused on an isolation of V. parahaemolyticus from the shrimps harvested from the Gulf Coast and found that after heat treatment of a shrimp homogenate containing V. parahaemolyticus for a minute at 100 oC , no survival of bacteria was found after an hour (60). In live crabs, the bacteria were destroyed after exposure to steam for 15 minutes between 72 oC to 75 oC (26).

see full text ;

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/11165/1/JeehyeLee.pdf

Epidemiology and Infection Cambridge University Press Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010 doi:10.1017/S0950268810001354

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Papers

Vibrio illness in Florida, 1998–2007

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K. E. WEISa1a2 c1, R. M. HAMMONDa2, R. HUTCHINSONa2 and C. G. M. BLACKMOREa2

a1 Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Applied Epidemiology Fellowship, Atlanta, GA, USA a2 Bureau of Environmental Public Health Medicine, Division of Environmental Health, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, USA

SUMMARY This study characterized the current epidemiology of vibrio infections in Florida and examined cases reported from 1998 to 2007. Logistic regression was used to determine risk of death. There were 834 vibrio infections in 825 individuals (average annual incidence rate 4·8/1 000 000). Common Vibrio species reported were Vibrio vulnificus (33%), V. parahaemolyticus (29%), and V. alginolyticus (16%). Most exposures were attributed to wounds (42%), and the most common clinical syndromes were wound infections (45%) and gastroenteritis (42%). Almost half of individuals reported an underlying health condition. Risk of death was associated with any underlying condition and increased with the number of conditions (P<0·0001).

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7806086

Deadly flesh-eating bacteria along coast

August 05, 2009 5:50 PM Jessica Holloway BEAUMONT- The state health department is warning residents about a flesh-eating bacteria in coastal regions that have killed two people so far this year.

The bacteria is called Vibrio, and beach-goers and fishermen should be aware, says the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Five cases and two deaths have occurred in 2009. Last year, 17 cases and seven deaths were reported.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a bacterium commonly found in coastal waters and can make people ill by causing a serious skin infection if it enters an opening in the skin.

This usually happens when a person with a cut or abrasion swims or fishes in seawater containing a high number of the bacteria, according to the health department’s Web site.

Therefore, people with cuts or abrasions should avoid the water until their skin is healed.

Nelda Muirhead, of Beaumont, said she lost her 42-year-old son to Vibrio in 2004 after he visited Crystal Beach.

She said her son's feet began hurting immediately after his visit to the beach, that the bacteria spread across his body, and he died two weeks later, leaving behind two children.

Muirhead said she wants to help the health department spread the warning about Vibrio.

"Even when the bacteria sign is up at the beach, there are people still in the water," she said.

To learn more about the flesh-eating bacteria, click here http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/factsheet_vibrio.pdf.

http://www.kfdm.com/articles/flesh-33329-along-warns.html

Flesh-eating bacteria a concern in local waters

Posted July 8, 2009 at 11:13 p.m.

CORPUS CHRISTI — I was wading that sandy shelf along the east side of the Lydia Ann Channel this past week and nearly stepped on a stingray.

I’d been shuffling my feet along the hard bottom when the toe of my boot caught the outer rim of a small depression, causing me to stumble slightly. The bottom of my boot skipped across the hole and landed on the other side, barely tickling the wingtip of a stingray about the size of a 45 rpm record.

The little tan ray scooted away, leaving behind a puff of sand and my rapid heartbeat. I’m not sure the stinger of this ray could have reached beyond the Kevlar shield that protects my ankle and foot. I wear Foreverlast low-style reef boots, which provide just enough confidence and protection for a diligent feet shuffler such as me. Those shin protectors are too cumbersome for my comfort.

A larger stingray could easily plant its barb above my armor. This recently happened to a friend in Port Mansfield. Some of you probably have seen the photos of Mike McBride’s festering foot. These gruesome images circulated on the Internet about six weeks ago.

But Mike’s injuries went much deeper than the stingray’s barb. It’s the ensuing infection that got him into life-threatening trouble.

As of this week Mike still is suffering through a painful recovery from his wounds.

Doctors suspect it was the infamous flesh-eating Vibrio vulnificus bacteria that toppled this otherwise healthy angler. The stingray simply provided a fertile opening for the aggressive bacteria.

Within 26 hours Mike’s symptoms went from that of a simple puncture wound to a swelling, reddening foot that was hot to the touch. As the swelling worsened, the skin around the wound turned from red to purple to black. And then blisters began to pock the surface.

McBride went to the emergency room and didn’t leave the hospital for days.

“If I had gone into the emergency room at 5 instead of 11, there’s no doubt I wouldn’t be in this condition right now,” said McBride, who is hoping to be back on the water by October.

When McBride does return to fishing you can bet he’ll be wearing breathable waders.

Vibrio is the same bacteria that sometimes makes people sick from eating raw oysters. When ingested, our stomachs can handle the intrusion. The bacteria cannot penetrate healthy skin. But if this insidious microorganism enters the bloodstream through a break in the skin, the infection spreads rapidly and can result in amputation or death. Immediate treatment is the most effective cure.

If you cut yourself while fishing, saturate the wound with a bleach solution, hydrogen peroxide, hand sanitizer or other across the counter product such as Invisible Armor, Hibiclens or Hibistat.

The only vaccination against Vibrio or Staph is enlightenment. Don’t take lightly these bay-borne bacteria.

I’ve already described the symptoms. If you experience any of them, find an emergency room quickly. And for gosh sakes if you step on a stingray or gash your leg on a rock or oyster shell don’t invite bacteria in by keeping the wound submerged in the bay or surf.

Joanna Mott, a microbiologist, professor and chair of the Department of Life Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said studies in 1996 and as recently as 2007 at the university revealed widespread occurrences of the bacteria in Oso Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, Redfish Bay, Copano Bay, Nueces Bay, near Cole Park and near Bird Island in Upper Laguna Madre.

Most cases of Vibrio, and nearly all fatalities, involve high-risk patients who are elderly or with liver problems, deficient immune systems, diabetes, gastric disorders, cancer or steroid dependency. McBride suffered from none of these. Consuming alcohol also puts us at greater risk. But neglect and ignorance rank as the greatest risk factors.

David Sikes’ Outdoors column runs Thursday and Sunday. Contact David at 886-3616 or sikesd@caller.com.

© 2009 Corpus Christi Caller Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/jul/08/flesh-eating-bacteria-a-concern-in-local-waters/

A Baytown man has died from illness caused by exposure to a rare pathogen often referred to as flesh-eating bacteria. Thomas Jesse Shurley, 52, died Tuesday night of multiple organ failure following a three-week battle against the infection. He had suffered a scrape on his knee while fishing in Galveston Bay on July 26, family members said. The bacteria, most often encountered in seawater, rapidly spread throughout his body, and even the amputation of his leg could not stop it.

“It's really a shock to the entire family,” said his daughter, Shaunte Angelo. “He was young and full of life. We never saw this coming.”

The incident occurred when Shurley was fishing alone close to shore in a small jon boat. The boat tipped over and he scraped his left knee while righting it. Shurley felt sick the next day but thought little of it. By Tuesday evening, his knee was so swollen and he felt so bad that friends took him to Baytown Methodist Hospital, fearing he had broken it.

“The doctors ran some tests and figured out what it was,” Angelo said. “They asked him if he wanted to lose his leg or his life. Of course, he chose his leg.”

The next day Shurley was taken by Life Flight to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. He was placed on a ventilator and never regained full consciousness, his daughter said. Infected tissue was surgically removed, and later most of his leg. But there was little hope once the infection spread through his blood and most of his organs, she said.

He was taken off life support at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and died about five hours later.

snip...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/_Flesh-eating_bacteria_kills_angler_after_Galveston_Bay_trip__.html

SEE LEG INFECTION PHOTO'S ;

http://www.fishgame.com/print/print.aspx?ArticleID=4347

SEE FOOT INFECTION PHOTO'S

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1420970&forum_id=34

Flesh-eating bacteria migrating north Channel 11 KHOU-TV, July 30, 2007

CRYSTAL BEACH – Fishermen frequent Crystal Beach, getting waist deep in the Gulf to cast lines for speckled trout. But Steve Gilpatrick, 58, caught something else while fishing ankle deep in the surf he never expected. The Nacogdoches man contracted vibrio vulnificus, better known as flesh eating bacteria, on July 8 through a cut on his leg. What happened next is frightening. In less than a day, the fast moving bacteria moved up his leg discoloring it and painfully destroying his skin. Blisters soon developed a half-inch thick. The 58-year-old diabetic almost lost his leg -- and nearly his life. "They were able to keep him away from total organ failure,” Linda continued. “We were very close.” Flesh-eating bacteria lives in the warm Gulf waters. People rarely are infected. The Texas Department of Health said it only records a couple dozen cases a year. Twelve so far in 2007, said TDH spokesman Doug McBride. In fact, experts believe the real number of flesh-eating bacteria cases is much higher. What's worrisome though is this warm water bacteria is now being discovered in cold water, in places like Alaska, Sweden and along the eastern seaboard. "There's no question the water temperatures are increasing,” explained Dr. James Oliver, microbiologist, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Gilpatrick is in stable condition in a second-floor care unit at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Doctors removed all the skin from his right leg and in five surgeries have started grafting new pieces on it.

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/jul/08/flesh-eating-bacteria-a-concern-in-local-waters/

Beachgoers should beware of bacteria

Brazoport Fact, July 19, 2007

Though summer months bring out more beachgoers and fishermen wading in area waters, it also fuels breeding grounds for a bacteria known as the "flesh-eating" bacteria. A Nacogdoches man contracted the rare Vibrio vulnificus bacterium July 8 while he was visiting Crystal Beach in Galveston County, the Associated Press reported. Steve Gilpatrick, 58, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by the bacteria. Gilpatrick’s physician, Dr. David Herndon, the chief of burn services and professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said Tuesday the situation is life-threatening because the infection spread to Gilpatrick’s blood. Gilpatrick is suffering from multiple organ failure, and doctors are trying to save his leg.

Outlook better for man infected in Gulf

Galveston County Daily News, July 19, 2007

GALVESTON — Steve Gilpatrick finally got some good news Wednesday. Galveston doctors told the Nacogdoches man he would survive deadly bacteria that infected him in the Gulf and that he likely would keep the leg that the bug contaminated. "He’s still very sick," his wife, Linda Gilpatrick, said Wednesday in an interview from the University of Texas Medical Branch’s John Sealy Hospital. It was the first glimmer of hope after a terrifying week for the Gilpatricks. On July 8, Steve Gilpatrick briefly went fishing in ankle-deep water at Crystal Beach, his wife said. Gilpatrick, 58, is diabetic. He had a sore on his leg that had almost healed. He felt fine until the night of July 10, when he awoke with chills and a 103-degree fever. One of his legs was especially hot and it had turned purplish-red, said Linda Gilpatrick. Medical branch doctors quickly determined that he had been infected with vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium found in all seawater. The same bug can make people sick when they eat raw oysters, especially in summertime. Healthy people almost always are able to fight off a skin infection by vibrio vulnificus, but diabetics are doubly vulnerable, said Johnny Peterson, a medical branch microbiologist who studies the disease.

"Flesh-eating" bacteria infections rare

Galveston County Daily News, July 19, 2007

GALVESTON — One strain of a "flesh-eating"e; bacterium is grabbing headlines since it infected a Nacogdoches man last week during a visit to Crystal Beach. But experts say there are a several types of bacteria that destroy human flesh. What’s more, they say, infections like the most recent one are rare. But that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t take some commonsense precautions when they’re around seawater. Steve Gilpatrick, 58, is recovering at the University of Texas Medical Branch after suffering an infection of vibrio vulnificus that could well have been fatal. He became infected after walking in ankle-deep water on a Bolivar Peninsula beach. The vibrio vulnificus bacterium, which is related to the one that causes cholera, exists in all seawater. Populations of it are especially great along the Gulf in summer, when the water is warm. Even so, only about 300 cases of infection were documented in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070727_tj_flesheaters.c6661f6e.html

Flesh-eating bacteria put man's life at risk

Houston Chronicle, July 18, 2007

GALVESTON — A Nacogdoches man who was infected by flesh-eating bacteria while swimming off Galveston County's Crystal Beach still faces the threat of losing a leg — and possibly his life — despite three surgeries. Steve Gilpatrick is fighting necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by a bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus. The retired oil company marketing consultant also is suffering from multiple organ failure because the disease has caused a blood infection, his physician said Tuesday. Gilpatrick, 58, was listed in critical but stable condition. The bacterium thrives in warm salt water and is most prevalent during summer months. Swimmers with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients or people with liver disease, are most susceptible to the disease. To be contracted through contaminated water, the bacteria need a point of entry, such as an open wound. Gilpatrick, who is diabetic, had an ulcer on his lower leg that he believed was nearly healed when he went swimming during a fishing trip on July 8, his wife said. His leg became infected three days later and he began running a high fever, spurring them to head for the emergency room. There also is a risk of death in patients whose Vibrio vulnificus infection spreads to the blood, as it has in Gilpatrick's case, said his physician, Dr. David Herndon, who is chief of burn services and professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Herndon said he sees about one case of necrotizing fasciitis, which can be caused by several bacteria, each month. But Vibrio vulnificus infections are not as common, he said, noting that John Sealy Hospital receives only two or three cases in a year. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 54 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection in 2006. At least 16 were caused by water contact.

http://microbiology.utmb.edu/news/news2007.shtml

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Kills Louisiana Man Man Fell Overboard, Cut Hand

Posted: 9:39 am PDT July 23, 2007

COCODRIE, La. -- After flesh-eating bacteria claimed the life of his father, Michael Theriot is warning people against swimming in Louisiana bayous.

Related Link: More On Vibrio vulnificus

Last month, Michael Theriot Sr. was on the Robinson Canal in Cocodrie, La., when he fell overboard and cut his hand on a piece of tin.

From then on, he battled an infection of Vibrio vulnificus, a disease found during the summer months in warm salt water.

"Twenty-six days he stayed in the hospital on life support, from the time of the accident until he passed away on June 12," Theriot said.

Symptoms include fever, chills, diarrhea and intense stomach pain. Vibrio vulnificus can be treated with antibiotics, but it has to be treated early.

Or, as Theriot warned, don't go into the water at all.

"As we have seen in the last month, it can be very devastating," he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said bloodstream infections are fatal in about 50 percent of cases.

http://www.kirotv.com/health/13736402/detail.html

Health, Science & Technology See other Health, Science & Technology Articles

Title: Flesh-Eating Bacteria Claims Life Of Texas Dentist

Source: healthtalk URL Source:

http://www.healthtalk.ca/flesh_eating_bacteria_08142004_2932.php

Published: Aug 14, 2004 Author: healthtalk Post Date: 2004-08-14 23:57:03 by TLBSHOW

A dentist from Houston, Texas, has died after becoming infected with a flesh-eating bacteria. Dr. Kenneth Dean Creamer, 52, became infected after suffering a cut to his leg while he was fishing near Port O'Connor, on the Gulf coast, according to officials.

Creamer was being treated since July 17, two days after he became infected with the saltwater bacteria vibrio vulnificus.

According to the Texas Department of Health, Creamer is the seventh vibrio vulnificus related death in Texas this year. The bacteria is common in warm Gulf waters.

If caught early enough, the infection can be successfully treated with antibiotics.

Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium in the same family as those that cause cholera. It normally lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of vibrios that are called "halophilic" because they require salt.

Vibrio vulnificus can cause an infection of the skin when open wounds are exposed to warm seawater; these infections may lead to skin breakdown and ulceration. Persons who are immunocompromised are at higher risk for invasion of the organism into the bloodstream and potentially fatal complications.

http://wallycourie.com/1Classes%20Fall%2004/MicroBiology/flesh%20eating%20bacteria.htm

Oliver Johnson dies from flesh eating bacteria Environment, posted by the Dude, a resident of Half Moon Bay, on May 18, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Share It:

The truth be known...not covered in lies!!!!! can you deny his death! Readers beware of Bloggers covering the truth of sewage entering our ocean. Fight for your Ocean!!!!!

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April 6 2006

UH scientists note that the raw sewage that flowed out of the canal, and into the boat harbor and the ocean, would have provided nutrients for the deadly bacteria to suddenly flourish.

FLESH-EATING EFFECT

Two bacteria — Vibrio vulnificus and aeromonas identified in Johnson's wounds, according to the Health Department — are potentially deadly, and both can cause a flesh-eating effect.

"That would be an organism that can kill very quickly," said Roger Fujioka, a UH microbiologist familiar with the vibrio bacteria that grow in seawater. "It gets into the bloodstream."

It's the same bacteria that killed a man on the Big Island in 2001, after he swam in brackish hot springs.

Fujioka said the bacteria are in the water all the time, but in very low concentrations.

There aren't enough bacteria to create infections, he said, "until something unusual happens like the sewage spill."

Dr. Alan Tice, an infectious disease specialist with UH and Queen's, said several conditions combined in Johnson's case to increase the danger: the bacteria bloom because of the sewage spill; wounds Johnson suffered beforehand, giving bacteria easy access; and the fact he had been drinking, which could have reduced his liver's ability to filter them out.

snip...

http://talkabout.hmbreview.com/topic.php?t=2080

June 18, 2010

Wild Sharks, Redfish Harbor Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria ScienceDaily (June 18, 2010) — Researchers have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in seven species of sharks and redfish captured in waters off Belize, Florida, Louisiana and Massachusetts. Most of these wild, free-swimming fish harbored several drug-resistant bacterial strains.

The study, published in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in every fish species sampled.

The researchers also found multidrug-resistant bacteria in fish at nearly all of the study sites, said Mark Mitchell, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine at the University of Illinois and a senior author of the paper.

"Ultimately the idea of this study was to see if there were organisms out there that had exposures or resistance patterns to antibiotics that we might not expect," Mitchell said. "We found that there was resistance to antibiotics that these fish shouldn't be exposed to."

Among the animals sampled, nurse sharks in Belize and in the Florida Keys had the highest occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These sharks feed on crustaceans, small fish and other animals living in shallow waters close to shore.

Random mutations may account for drug-resistant bacteria in marine environments, Mitchell said, but there is a lot of evidence for a human origin.

"The shark population in Belize, for example, is a big tourist area, so there are people in the water right there," he said. "The sampling site is not far from a sewage plant, and so all those exposures we think are playing a role."

Sewage also is a problem in the Atlantic coastal waters of the United States, he said. Previous studies have shown that sewage outflows can leak antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the environment.

In the new study, the researchers looked for and found bacterial resistance to 13 antibacterial drugs in the fish. Patterns of resistance varied among the sites.

Bacteria from sharks off Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and in offshore Louisiana were resistant to the fewest number of antibiotics, while sharks in the Florida Keys and Belize harbored bacteria that were resistant to amikacin, ceftazidime, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, penicillin, piperacillin, sulfamethoxazole and ticarcillin.

Redfish in the Louisiana offshore site hosted more varieties of drug-resistance than sharks in the same waters. This may reflect differences in their age (the redfish were more mature than the sharks), feeding or migratory habits, Mitchell said.

While the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in sharks and other fish does not necessarily harm them, Mitchell said, the findings point to a growing problem for human health.

"There are estimates of over 100,000 deaths from infections in hospitals per year, many of them from antibiotic-resistant organisms," Mitchell said. "And we're creating even more of these organisms out in the environment. … Unfortunately, as these things collect, there's probably a threshold at some point where there's going to be a spillover and it will start to affect us as a species."

People do eat sharks and redfish, Mitchell said, and now these fish represent a potential new route of exposure to drug-resistant bacteria. Sharks and redfish also are predators, and so may function as sentinels for human health.

"Some people might say, well, a bull shark in offshore Louisiana doesn't really have an influence on my health," Mitchell said. "But these fish eat what we eat. We're sharing the same food sources. There should be a concern for us as well."

This study was the thesis for first author Jason Blackburn, a former master's student at Louisiana State University now on the faculty at the University of Florida. The team included researchers from LSU, the University of Florida, the U. of I. and the University of Southern California.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100616161209.htm

GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

Greetings again kind friends and neighbors,

well, see there, i was not dreaming, i know what shit smells like when i smell it. i was not only fishing with the PCBs, i was also fishing in feces yesterday, right in our backyard, on Galveston Bay. wonder what the PCBs and the fact Galveston Bay is now being used as a toilet, just to flush feces down, wonder what that will do to bay front property values ??? the realtors and such keep telling me they call this progress. hmmm, some progress. yep, glad i threw that limit of specs away yesterday. that was the first time i had ever released a limit of specs, one by one off our pier. i don't like catch and release, especially when live shrimp is 10 dollars a pint. catch and put in freezer is my logo, and if you cannot do that, what's the use of going, especially when you smell like feces when you get out of the bay. oh well, business is booming, Bayport et al is running wide open, the shit channel is bigger and better, and Galveston Bay is now nothing more than a toilet full of feces, PCBs, and many other toxins, not to forget the deadly flesh eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, come on down and get your bay front, water front, property now. ...TSS

p.s. as of this morning, no identifiable lesions, and or open wounds yet. ...TSS

July 18, 2008, 11:15PM

Buffalo Bayou tributary flushed Investigators trying to identify source of sewage

By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Hazardous materials workers began the laborious process of flushing a stagnant segment of Buffalo Bayou's Newman Branch on Friday after it was contaminated by raw sewage, possibly flowing from a broken pipe.

Most heavily contaminated was a section of the waterway between Interstate 10 and Memorial Drive.

Investigators from the city health department and other agencies arrived at the scene early Friday afternoon after nearby residents complained of the stench. The process of flushing the bayou with water from fire hydrants began at midafternoon.

Today, hazardous material workers plan to siphon scum from atop the water at a collection point set up with booms near the Memorial bridge.

Stephen Dicker, an investigator with Houston Police Department's environmental crimes unit, said workers trying to identify the source of the leak were hampered by the uncertainty of the location of underground sewer pipes

MORE PHOTO'S ;

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
flounder9@verizon.net

CAUGHT IN B.P. OIL

2010-06-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

These photo's should disgust everyone. my good friend the pelican is in dire straights again, along with other birds and wildlife, again, thanks to man. ...TSS

June 3, 2010

Caught in the oil

A short entry - AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island. As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident. (8 photos total)

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

OFFICIALS CLAIM PLAN IS IN PLACE IF OIL HITS TEXAS BEACHES

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/06/officials-claim-plan-is-in-place-if-oil.html

Sunday, May 30, 2010

DO WE NEED AN IKE DIKE, OR A B.P. DIKE, OR BOTH

Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/05/do-we-need-ike-dike-or-bp-dike-or-both.html

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Pelicans Soaring and B.P. Oil

watch the Pelicans outback ;

everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsCckM8fB78

TSS

OFFICIALS CLAIM PLAN IS IN PLACE IF OIL HITS TEXAS BEACHES

2010-06-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Officials: Plan in place if oil hits Texas beaches

By T.J. Aulds The Daily News Published June 2, 2010

The fish still are biting, the skies are clear, and beaches of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula are free of any oil residue from BP’s Deep Horizon spill off the Louisiana Coast.

Still, worried about perceptions the entire Gulf of Mexico is coated in oil, federal, state and local officials gathered to announce that, should the slick move this way, they were ready to respond.

“In my business, perception is more important than fact,” Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said during a news conference that included top officials from Harris and Brazoria counties, as well as representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office and the ports of Houston and Freeport.

The reality, Yarbrough said, was that none of the oil from the massive oil spill 400 miles away was headed toward Texas, and none was expected to.

There is, however, a comprehensive plan that calls for setting up booms along sensitive ecological areas along the coast, including estuaries and some beaches.

The more likely local consequence of the spill would be tar balls, not a top-water sheen such as is being seen in Louisiana.

Booms would be ineffective in stopping that threat, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Marcus Wooding said.

The plan includes provisions to apply oil dispersing chemicals, as well as burning off oil, should the spill approach the state coast in any form other than tar balls.

The leaders pointed out this area had experience with past oil spills from sources closer to the Texas shore.

Wooding and the county leaders promised the 153-page plan, which has been tweaked because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, should cover any contingency.

“We want people to be assured if things change we will be one step ahead if the oil starts to come to our coastal area,” Brazoria County Judge Joe King said.

Already the land office has positioned some booms along Bolivar Peninsula beaches, Richard Arnhart, regional director of the land office’s oil spill response division, said.

Those booms are catching little more than seaweed at this point, Arnhart said, but are providing a good test run should any surface oil drift this way.

For now, not even the seafood caught in the coastal waters near Galveston County is at risk, Kurt Koopmann, of the county’s health district, said.

Koopmann said the state was conducting regular tests of seafood and no health warnings had been issued.

The biggest risk of any of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill making its way to the Texas Coast actually is by ship. Wooding said a tanker that was to make port in Port Arthur last week went through some of the leaking oil, which coated the hull of the vessel.

He said when the captain realized what had happened, he reported the incident to the Coast Guard.

The ship anchored off the coast while booms were placed around the vessel and its hull cleaned before the ship made its way to the port, Wooding said.

There have been no other reports of ships having their hulls coated in the spilled oil, Wooding said.

Related Links

Read the region's oil spill response plan

http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/oilspill/Atlas/atlas/acp/houston/msohoustongalvestongrp.pdf

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/157601

Officials say they're ready if oil reaches Texas

By HARVEY RICE Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

June 1, 2010, 9:15PM

GALVESTON — There is no indication that oil from the BP blowout off the Louisiana Coast is heading for Texas, but equipment and trained manpower are ready to deal with it if it does, officials said Tuesday.

Officials from Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties called a news conference to reassure their constituents that the oil slick remains a long way from Texas. But they admitted unknowns exist, such as what would happen if a hurricane pushes the spill this way.

“It's not moving to the west, but the public is increasingly asking ... what happens if?” Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said. Because of the queries, officials decided, “We've got to have a meeting and tell everyone what is going on,” Emmett said.

Emmett said Harris County residents were unlikely to see oil even if it gets as far as Texas. “Galveston and Brazoria will bear the brunt,” he said.

Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said the oil spill was far from Texas. “There is no reason for them not to come and enjoy the entire Texas coastline,” Yarbrough said.

On lookout for tar balls

If oil from the spill reaches Texas, it will likely be in the form of tar balls, said Capt. Marcus Woodring, U.S. Coast Guard sector commander for Houston-Galveston. He said tar balls found along Texas shores so far have been analyzed and are not from the spill. Tar balls are common along the Gulf Coast because of minor oil spills and natural seepage, he said.

As a precaution, floating barriers are already being placed in washout areas on the Bolivar Peninsula to protect the wetlands behind them, he said.

Shipping continues

Woodring said the spill is about 400 miles away and is being monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He said shipping in the Houston area continues uninterrupted.

Richard Arnhart, regional director of the Texas General Land Office's oil spill response, said that his office monitored sensor-equipped buoys in the Gulf that would give an early warning of approaching oil. The buoys are able to a limited extent to monitor underwater plumes of oil, but not at great depths, he said.

The underwater oil plumes carried by deep currents remain one of the unknowns. Another is how a hurricane would affect the spill, Woodring said. “If it arrives here with a hurricane? That's a good question,” he said.

harvey.rice@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/7032107.html

Sunday, May 30, 2010

DO WE NEED AN IKE DIKE, OR A B.P. DIKE, OR BOTH

Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2010/05/do-we-need-ike-dike-or-bp-dike-or-both.html

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Greetings,

BE very suspicious of Government (red, blue, and inbetweeners), or Industry officials telling you that everything is alright, under control, and most of all, is not harmful to humans or animals. don't believe me, just think Tobacco and Asbestos, or mad cow disease. I was oblivious of this for years, until I was forced to open my eyes, and what I have seen is complete ignorance and greed. for anyone interested, please follow the data below. ...kind regards, terry

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE

IT seems a more correct headlines would have read ''Company bribes Governor Perry to bury nuclear waste and contaminate Texas''. Waste Control Specialists. The company is owned by Harold Simmons, a ''TOP DONOR TO GOV. RICK PERRY, WHO APPOINTS MEMBERS TO THE TCEQ.'' The good governor has sold out to the citizens of Texas for train car, after train car of nuclear waste from 'the mound' Monsanto plant in Miamisburg Ohio. It just so happens, my father-in-law, who is down visiting now with us, has pictures of those railroad cars just sitting and waiting to come down to Texas. Odd how I was watching the news today, about this small plane that had crashed, it had showed pictures of where it had crashed right up near a bunch of tractor-trailer cargo container boxes in a parking lot. What would keep this from happening with those radioactive toxic containers in Ohio, at 'the mound', and or in route to Texas? You see, it's been killing my father-in-law, he has been on oxygen for years, but his breathing is getting more and more labored now, even with the oxygen. He worked at 'the mound' for years and years, and he is now dying a slow death from asbestosis, among other ailments caused by working at 'the mound'. NOW here is what I just cannot understand. This material is so toxic, in trying to gain further medical assistance from the DOE, the evidence that was needed to show that indeed my father-in-law worked their i.e. work records, paperwork records, payment records etc., they told my father-in-law, that they could not dig those records up, that they were buried due to high nuclear contamination, it was just too toxic, and that he had to prove that he had worked there. In which he did finally prove, and did gain further assistance. ...

(see more photo's of railcars loaded with MOUND COLD WAR NUCLEAR AFTER-BIRTH headed to a nuclear dump in Texas...tss)

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Company advances on plan for West Texas nuclear dump

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/08/company-advances-on-plan-for-west-texas.html

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Transmissible Spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) animal and human TSE in North America 14th

ICID International Scientific Exchange Brochure -

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2010/02/transmissible-spongiform-encephalopathy.html

O.I.E. and U.S.D.A. ignore key data on human health risk from atypical BSE

To date the OIE/WAHO assumes that the human and animal health standards set out in the BSE chapter for classical BSE (C-Type) applies to all forms of BSE which include the H-type and L-type atypical forms. This assumption is scientifically not completely justified and accumulating evidence suggests that this may in fact not be the case. Molecular characterization and the spatial distribution pattern of histopathologic lesions and immunohistochemistry (IHC) signals are used to identify and characterize atypical BSE. Both the L-type and H-type atypical cases display significant differences in the conformation and spatial accumulation of the disease associated prion protein (PrPSc) in brains of afflicted cattle. Transmission studies in bovine transgenic and wild type mouse models support that the atypical BSE types might be unique strains because they have different incubation times and lesion profiles when compared to C-type BSE. When L-type BSE was inoculated into ovine transgenic mice and Syrian hamster the resulting molecular fingerprint had changed, either in the first or a subsequent passage, from L-type into C-type BSE. In addition, non-human primates are specifically susceptible for atypical BSE as demonstrated by an approximately 50% shortened incubation time for L-type BSE as compared to C-type. Considering the current scientific information available, it cannot be assumed that these different BSE types pose the same human health risks as C-type BSE or that these risks are mitigated by the same protective measures.

http://www.prionetcanada.ca/detail.aspx?menu=5&dt=293380&app=93&cat1=387&tp=20&lk=no&cat2

please see full text ;

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Atypical BSE in Cattle

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/03/atypical-bse-in-cattle-position-post.html

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

USA cases of dpCJD rising with 24 cases so far in 2010

http://cjdtexas.blogspot.com/2010/06/usa-cases-of-dpcjd-rising-with-24-cases.html

CJD TEXAS 38 YEAR OLD FEMALE WORKED SLAUGHTERING CATTLE EXPOSED TO BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD MATTER

>>> Up until about 6 years ago, the pt worked at Tyson foods where she worked on the assembly line, slaughtering cattle and preparing them for packaging. She was exposed to brain and spinal cord matter when she would euthanize the cattle. <<<

Irma Linda Andablo CJD Victim, she died at 38 years old on February 6, 2010 in Mesquite Texas Irma Linda Andablo CJD Victim, she died at 38 years old on February 6, 2010 in Mesquite Texas.She left 6 Kids and a Husband.The Purpose of this web is to give information in Spanish to the Hispanic community, and to all the community who want's information about this terrible disease.-

Physician Discharge Summary, Parkland Hospital, Dallas Texas Admit Date: 12/29/2009

Discharge Date: 1/20/2010 Attending Provider: Greenberg, Benjamin Morris;

General Neurology Team: General Neurology Team

Linda was a Hispanic female with no past medical history presents with 14 months of incresing/progressive altered mental status, generalized weakness, inability to walk, loss of appetite, inability to speak, tremor and bowel/blader incontinence.She was, in her usual state of health up until February, 2009, when her husbans notes that she began forgetting things like names and short term memories. He also noticed mild/vague personality changes such as increased aggression. In March, she was involved in a hit and run MVA,although she was not injured. The police tracked her down and ticketed her. At that time, her son deployed to Iraq with the Army and her husband assumed her mentation changes were due to stress over these two events. Also in March, she began to have weakness in her legs, making it difficult to walk. Over the next few months, her mentation and personality changes worsened, getting to a point where she could no longer recognized her children. She was eating less and less. She was losing more weight. In the last 2-3 months, she reached the point where she could not walk without an assist, then 1 month ago, she stopped talking, only making grunting/aggressive sounds when anyone came near her. She also became both bowel and bladder incontinent, having to wear diapers. Her '"tremor'" and body jerks worsened and her hands assumed a sort of permanent grip position, leading her family to put tennis balls in her hands to protect her fingers. The husband says that they have lived in Nebraska for the past 21 years. They had seen a doctor there during the summer time who prescribed her Seroquel and Lexapro, Thinking these were sx of a mood disorder. However, the medications did not help and she continued to deteriorate clinically. Up until about 6 years ago, the pt worked at Tyson foods where she worked on the assembly line, slaughtering cattle and preparing them for packaging. She was exposed to brain and spinal cord matter when she would euthanize the cattle. The husband says that he does not know any fellow workers with a similar illness. He also says that she did not have any preceeding illness or travel.

http://www.recordandoalinda.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:cjd-english-info&catid=9:cjd-ingles&Itemid=8

>>> Up until about 6 years ago, the pt worked at Tyson foods where she worked on the assembly line, slaughtering cattle and preparing them for packaging. She was exposed to brain and spinal cord matter when she would euthanize the cattle. <<<

please see full text ;

Monday, March 29, 2010

Irma Linda Andablo CJD Victim, she died at 38 years old on February 6, 2010 in Mesquite Texas

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/irma-linda-andablo-cjd-victim-she-died.html

CJD TEXAS 38 YEAR OLD FEMALE WORKED SLAUGHTERING CATTLE EXPOSED TO BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD MATTER

http://cjdtexas.blogspot.com/2010/03/cjd-texas-38-year-old-female-worked.html

TSS

DO WE NEED AN IKE DIKE, OR A B.P. DIKE, OR BOTH

2010-05-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig

The Deepwater Horizon rig last month.

By IAN URBINA Published: May 29, 2010

WASHINGTON — Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.

The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.

The documents show that in March, after several weeks of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well control.” And as far back as 11 months ago, it was concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer.

On June 22, for example, BP engineers expressed concerns that the metal casing the company wanted to use might collapse under high pressure.

“This would certainly be a worst-case scenario,” Mark E. Hafle, a senior drilling engineer at BP, warned in an internal report. “However, I have seen it happen so know it can occur.”

The company went ahead with the casing, but only after getting special permission from BP colleagues because it violated the company’s safety policies and design standards. The internal reports do not explain why the company allowed for an exception. BP documents released last week to The Times revealed that company officials knew the casing was the riskier of two options.

Though his report indicates that the company was aware of certain risks and that it made the exception, Mr. Hafle, testifying before a panel on Friday in Louisiana about the cause of the rig disaster, rejected the notion that the company had taken risks.

“Nobody believed there was going to be a safety issue,” Mr. Hafle told a six-member panel of Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service officials.

“All the risks had been addressed, all the concerns had been addressed, and we had a model that suggested if executed properly we would have a successful job,” he said.

Mr. Hafle, asked for comment by a reporter after his testimony Friday about the internal report, declined to answer questions.

BP’s concerns about the casing did not go away after Mr. Hafle’s 2009 report.

In April of this year, BP engineers concluded that the casing was “unlikely to be a successful cement job,” according to a document, referring to how the casing would be sealed to prevent gases from escaping up the well.

The document also says that the plan for casing the well is “unable to fulfill M.M.S. regulations,” referring to the Minerals Management Service.

A second version of the same document says “It is possible to obtain a successful cement job” and “It is possible to fulfill M.M.S. regulations.”

Andrew Gowers, a BP spokesman, said the second document was produced after further testing had been done.

On Tuesday Congress released a memorandum with preliminary findings from BP’s internal investigation, which indicated that there were warning signs immediately before the explosion on April 20, including equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout.

A parade of witnesses at hearings last week told about bad decisions and cut corners in the days and hours before the explosion of the rig, but BP’s internal documents provide a clearer picture of when company and federal officials saw problems emerging.

In addition to focusing on the casing, investigators are also focusing on the blowout preventer, a fail-safe device that was supposed to slice through a drill pipe in a last-ditch effort to close off the well when the disaster struck. The blowout preventer did not work, which is one of the reasons oil has continued to spill into the gulf, though the reason it failed remains unclear.

Federal drilling records and well reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and BP’s internal documents, including more than 50,000 pages of company e-mail messages, inspection reports, engineering studies and other company records obtained by The Times from Congressional investigators, shed new light on the extent and timing of problems with the blowout preventer and the casing long before the explosion.

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, declined to answer questions about the casings, the blowout preventer and regulators’ oversight of the rig because those matters are part of a continuing investigation.

The documents show that in March, after problems on the rig that included drilling mud falling into the formation, sudden gas releases known as “kicks” and a pipe falling into the well, BP officials informed federal regulators that they were struggling with a loss of “well control.”

On at least three occasions, BP records indicate, the blowout preventer was leaking fluid, which the manufacturer of the device has said limits its ability to operate properly.

“The most important thing at a time like this is to stop everything and get the operation under control,” said Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas, Austin, offering his assessment about the documents.

He added that he was surprised that regulators and company officials did not commence a review of whether drilling should continue after the well was brought under control.

(Page 2 of 2)

After informing regulators of their struggles, company officials asked for permission to delay their federally mandated test of the blowout preventer, which is supposed to occur every two weeks, until the problems were resolved, BP documents say.

At first, the minerals agency declined.

“Sorry, we cannot grant a departure on the B.O.P. test further than when you get the well under control,” wrote Frank Patton, a minerals agency official. But BP officials pressed harder, citing “major concerns” about doing the test the next day. And by 10:58 p.m., David Trocquet, another M.M.S. official, acquiesced.

“After further consideration,” Mr. Trocquet wrote, “an extension is approved to delay the B.O.P. test until the lower cement plug is set.”

When the blowout preventer was eventually tested again, it was tested at a lower pressure — 6,500 pounds per square inch — than the 10,000-pounds-per-square-inch tests used on the device before the delay. It tested at this lower pressure until the explosion.

A review of Minerals Management Service’s data of all B.O.P. tests done in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico for five years shows B.O.P. tests rarely dropped so sharply, and, in general, either continued at the same threshold or were done at increasing levels.

The manufacturer of the blowout preventer, Cameron, declined to say what the appropriate testing pressure was for the device.

In an e-mail message, Mr. Gowers of BP wrote that until their investigation was complete, it was premature to answer questions about the casings or the blowout preventer.

Even though the documents asking regulators about testing the blowout preventer are from BP, Mr. Gowers said that any questions regarding the device should be directed to Transocean, which owns the rig and, he said, was responsible for maintenance and testing of the device. Transocean officials declined to comment.

Bob Sherrill, an expert on blowout preventers and the owner of Blackwater Subsea, an engineering consulting firm, said the conditions on the rig in February and March and the language used by the operator referring to a loss of well control “sounds like they were facing a blowout scenario.”

Mr. Sherrill said federal regulators made the right call in delaying the blowout test, because doing a test before the well is stable risks gas kicks. But once the well was stable, he added, it would have made sense for regulators to investigate the problems further.

In April, the month the rig exploded, workers encountered obstructions in the well. Most of the problems were conveyed to federal regulators, according to federal records. Many of the incidents required that BP get a permit for a new tactic for dealing with the problem.

One of the final indications of such problems was an April 15 request for a permit to revise its plan to deal with a blockage, according to federal documents obtained from Congress by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group.

In the documents, company officials apologized to federal regulators for not having mentioned the type of casing they were using earlier, adding that they had “inadvertently” failed to include it. In the permit request, they did not disclose BP’s own internal concerns about the design of the casing.

Less than 10 minutes after the request was submitted, federal regulators approved the permit.

Robbie Brown contributed reporting from Kenner, La., and Andy Lehren from New York.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 30, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html?pagewanted=2

Galveston Daily News

Letters to the Editor

May 28, 2010

How Would We Deal With An Oil Spill Here?

Do we need an Ike dike, or a BP dike?

I watch in misery as I see what is happening to our kind neighbors to the east of us, and think to myself, there, but for the grace of God, go we.

All that would have to happen is a change in wind pattern or weather pattern and BP’s God-awful mess could be at our doorsteps in a minute.

What, if any, is the contingency plan to keep that BP oil from getting into Galveston Bay and all its estuaries, if it heads our way? Will the ship channel and cuts be closed to seal off the bay?

Our beaches would be vulnerable, too. What is the contingency plan to keep the BP oil off our beaches from High Island to Corpus Christi and beyond, if the oil were to come our way?

If an oil dispersant is used, how would we keep that from coming into Galveston Bay, and what harm is it to humans and wildlife, including fish?

These are just a few of many questions I would like answered before the BP oil slick, or any oil slick, is seen off our coast, not after it comes ashore.

Terry Singeltary Sr. Bacliff

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b8f097d3ec4f9965

Front Page May 27, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY

Oil throws entirely new twist into storm anxiety

Storm surge might deposit black goo on area shores

Lee

The 2010 hurricane season begins Tuesday. Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach residents know too well it is time to get prepared with home reinforcements, evacuation plans and stockpiles of water and non-perishable food items.

But local residents have never gone into a hurricane season with a catastrophic oil spill threatening the area’s pristine beaches and shores. The spill could grow exponentially more disastrous if the approaching hurricane season whips up massive, black waves and inundates beaches and coastal areas with oily water and debris.

“Hurricanes are bad,” said Buck Lee, Executive Director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority. “Hurricanes with oil are even worse.”

With just five days remaining until the Atlantic hurricane season, odds are more than 40 percent that a big storm could cross the giant spill spewing from beneath a ruptured well on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

Five weeks ago on April 20, a deadly blast rocked the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil rig located about 50 miles southeast of New Orleans, killing 11 workers and leaving its uncontrolled well to gush millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.

The last thing anyone in this area wants is a hurricane to make landfall here, especially storms as strong as virtual-Category 4 Ivan in 2004 and Category 3 Dennis in 2005. Ivan’s surge six years ago pushed water far inland into the rivers of the two-county Bay area. Water several feet deep covered Pensacola Beach for several hours, and Soundside Drive residences in south Santa Rosa County were swamped as well.

“A direct hit would not only mess up Pensacola Beach, but all of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties,” Lee said. “Remember, folks had water in their homes that lived just off Escambia Bay. Not only would there be water in their homes, there could be a touch of oil in there, too. We don’t know.”

In April, forecasters at Colorado State University said there was a 44 percent chance a hurricane would enter the Gulf of Mexico in the 2010 season, far greater than the 30 percent historic average. Some experts say early conditions are very similar to those that precipitated the terrible 2004 season.

“High winds may distribute oil over a wide area,” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said. “Storm surges might carry oil inland, mixed with hurricane debris.”

Should a hurricane pass to the west of the main oil slick, areas of the Gulf in the right, northeast quadrant of the storm would be most vulnerable to wind and surge. Mix in millions of gallons of oil, and the consequences are almost unfathomable.

“On the flip side,” Lee said, “if a hurricane hit to the east of us, let’s say Fort Walton Beach or Panama City, then the counterclockwise wind would push the oil away from us. So it all depends on which side of the hurricane we’re on, if we have one.”

This year’s hurricane season – June 1 to Nov. 30 – is expected to be above average with 15 tropical storms of which eight could be hurricanes. Forecasters say a season with multiple storms could send oil farther inland.

“To think a storm surge could resuscitate a huge sum of oil (from the deep) and deposit it on land is truly catastrophic,” said Joe Jaworski, Mayor of Galveston, Texas, which was slammed by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

That storm caused coastal flooding on Pensacola Beach and parts of the Fairpoint Peninsula as it passed from east to west about 100 miles south of Pensacola Beach.

Last year, only two named tropical systems – Claudette and Ida – made landfall in the U.S., and both came ashore within 50 miles of Gulf Breeze, doing minimal damage.

Locally, residents should take note that several changes have been made regarding the 2010 hurricane season. These changes include hurricane classifications, evacuation zones and hurricane forecast information.

When it comes to hurricanes, it is important to understand that wind speed is not the only factor. Now, a number of factors will be considered when looking at evacuations; including the size of the storm, speed the storm is moving, wind speed and the overall storm surge.

Evacuation notification is not an exact science, and keeping your safety in mind, evacuation zones have been updated using storm surge information and the latest Light Detection and Ranging or LIDAR data collected during the 2009 hurricane evacuation study. The evacuation zones will now be identified using the letters A through E, instead of the storm category numbers of 1 through 5 that were previously used.

To find out how the evacuation zones will affect you, read pages 25 and 26 of the 2010 Santa Rosa County disaster guide or enter your home or business address on the interactive map found at www.santarosa. fl.gov/gis.

The Saffir-Simpson scale has also been updated for the 2010 hurricane season. In the past, the Saffir-Simpson scale was categorized by wind speed and storm surge; beginning this year, the hurricane categories will only reflect wind speed. This change was made due to the unreliability of predicting surge in relation to wind speed. Familiarize yourself with the new Saffir-Simpson scale as the new classifications might alter your plans.

Additionally, the National Weather Service has implemented a few changes in the way it provides hurricane forecast information. Residents will now be notified of tropical storm and hurricane watches 12 hours earlier than in previous years, within 48 hours of possible hurricane or tropical storm conditions may affect our area. Hurricane or tropical storm warnings are also now issued within 36 hours of a possible storm impact.

Other changes have been implemented as well, and can be viewed at www.srh.noaa. gov/mob.

HURRICANE SEASON PREPARATION

By following these simple steps, citizens can save lives, money, damage and distress:

¦ Make a family plan.

¦ Include in your plan how to care for family or friends with special needs and your pets.

¦ Set up an out-of-town contact for your family members to call in case you are separated.

¦ Evaluate your home and surroundings. Trim hazardous tree limbs and have a plan to secure items that could become deadly missiles in a storm.

¦ Harden and prepare your home with proper bracing and shutters.

¦ Make a disaster kit that has at least three days of drinking water and non-perishable food for each person and pet, vital prescription drugs, and any needed baby supplies.

¦ Also, include a flashlight, radio, extra batteries and cash. Prepare this kit ahead of time, and be sure to check your disaster kits for expired items.

¦ Equip your home and office with a NOAA weather radio. It just might save your life.

Citizens can automatically receive breaking news alerts from Santa Rosa County Emergency Management via e-mail or text message. Residents can sign up for the alert service or make changes in their current subscription online at

www.santarosa.fl.gov/emergency/publicwarning.html.

For more information, pick up the new 2010 disaster guide, which includes a shopping checklist, updated hurricane evacuation zones and the new hurricane classifications. You can find this free guide at county offices, libraries, major retailers in the county, or online at

www.santarosa.fl.gov, under the emergency management button.

– Santa Rosa County Emergency Management

2010 HURRICANE NAMES

Alex Fiona Karl Paula Bonnie Gaston Lisa Richard Colin Hermine Matthew Shary Danielle Igor Nicole Tomas Earl Julia Otto Virginie Walter

This is the same list used in the 2004 season with the exception of Colin, Fiona, Igor and Julia, which replaced the names of the four major hurricanes that made landfall in Florida in 2004: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, respectively.

http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2010-05-27/Front_Page/Oil_throws_entirely_new_twist_into_storm_anxiety.html

UPDATE 1-Obama aide says US oil spill could last until August

Sun May 30, 2010 11:14am EDT

WASHINGTON May 30 (Reuters) - Oil could gush into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP BP.L. rig until August and the U.S. government is "preparing for the worst," Carol Browner, President Barack Obama's top adviser on energy and climate change, said on Sunday.

Speaking on the CBS TV show "Face The Nation," Browner said: "There could be oil coming up till August when the relief wells are done."

She said BP's latest effort to try to capture and contain oil would not provide a permanent solution or prevent some oil escaping into the sea even if the maneuver succeeded.

"We are prepared for the worst. We have been prepared from the beginning," she added. (Reporting by Alan Elsner, editing by Vicki Allen)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3024392320100530?type=marketsNews

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

Hidden poison: San Jacinto River's submerged toxic dumps must be secured, and soon

2009-11-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: TERRY SINGELTARY
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 10:46 AM
Subject: San Jacinto River's submerged toxic dumps must be secured, and soon

Hidden voice San Jacinto River’s submerged toxic dumps must be secured, and soon HOUSTON CHRONICLE Nov. 19, 2009, 8:18PM

Since 2005, state and federal environmental officials have known the source of dangerous levels of the carcinogen dioxin originating in the San Jacinto River and contaminating seafood harvested from northern Galveston Bay.

Industrial waste pits that operated nearly a half century ago and are now submerged due to subsidence under the river just north of the I-10 bridge continue to leak toxic sediments, particularly during coastal storms. Because that portion of the river is subject to tidal flow, the chemicals can also be driven upstream.

As a result of the pollution, state officials have issued guidelines advising residents not to eat more than one eight-ounce serving per month of seafood originating in the most heavily contaminated areas of the river, the Ship Channel and the bay.

Thanks to the committed efforts of area elected officials, including Rep. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican, the toxic dump, called the McGinnes pits for a now-defunct former owner, was fast-tracked onto the federal Superfund list of sites eligible for cleanup money.

Environmental Protection Agency officials have also pinpointed the companies which absorbed the entities responsible for the chemicals in the dumps and will bear the cleanup costs: International Paper and Waste Management.

So far, so good. However, negotiations between the companies and the EPA over a course of action continue, even as the dump continues to inject its poisons into surrounding waters.

Waste Management officials have proposed immediate measures to confine the chemicals behind flood-proof dikes and levees, but EPA officials want more studies of the potential scope of the polluted area before green lighting the plan. As reported by Chronicle environmental writer Matthew Tre-saugue, EPA spokesman Donn Walters says the agency wants to make sure the companies carry out a complete cleanup- even if it takes more time.

Congressman Green expressed frustration that the company’s offer to begin securing the dumps from the river is not being seized upon. “The immediate thing is to get those containers that are now under water contained right now,” says the congressman. “Tomorrow is too late for me.”

Green says he plans to meet as soon as possible with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to stress the urgency of the situation. Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, whose office is also involved in the negotiations to clean up the dump site, agrees with Green.

“Public health concerns require that the leaking pits be plugged immediately to stop even more new dioxin from poisoning the river and the bay,” commented Ryan. The companies “are offering a way to do that with what we see as a significant short-term fix,” said Ryan, who promises to require them to carry out further remedial action “that is more than a first-aid bandage.”

Even with posted warning signs, right now area anglers are hooking or netting unsafe seafood from the polluted zones and taking the catch home for dinner. Unlike many Superfund sites on dry land, this one continues to spread its carcinogenic legacy into a prime sport and commercial fishery and recreational area.

This isn’t an environmental time bomb; it’s a slow-motion explosion. The EPA must recognize that while complete removal of the toxics is the ultimate goal, cutting off the flow of dioxins into the bay and separating the dump from the river is a priority that can’t wait on more studies.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6730197.html

I hope and pray that Congressman Green, Rep. Ted Poe and Harris County Attorney Vince (Chico) Ryan will do everything they can to get this ball rolling. it's been a long time coming. it's a damn shame when you cannot even eat fresh seafood from Galveston Bay no longer, for fear of these dangerous Toxins being in the seafood we eat, and our children eat. debating this issue for half a century is long enough, clean the crap up, NOW. GO after these companies that have polluted our bay with everything you have. TAKE NO PRISONERS. ...TSS

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

DSHS Issues Fish Advisory for Clear Creek DO NOT EAT ANY FISH !

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2009/07/dshs-issues-fish-advisory-for-clear.html

Galveston Bay blogspot

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

IKE 77518

turn it up !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4xSThx5ksA

TSS

DSHS Issues Fish Advisory for Clear Creek DO NOT EAT ANY FISH !

2009-07-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Texas Department of State Health Services NEWS RELEASE July 8, 2009

DSHS Issues Fish Advisory for Clear Creek

The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued an advisory warning people not to consume any species of fish from Clear Creek. The creek runs through parts of Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Harris counties.

The advisory was issued after laboratory testing showed elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in fish samples collected from the creek.

DSHS tested tissue samples from seven species of fish as part of a reevaluation of the creek. The creek previously was under a 1993 advisory for elevated levels of volatile organic compounds. That advisory was lifted in 2001.

Long-term consumption of PCBs may cause cancer and reproductive, immune system, developmental and liver problems. According to DSHS standards, PCB levels in fish above 0.047 parts per million (ppm) may pose a health risk to humans. PCB levels in the most recent Clear Creek samples averaged 0.100 ppm and were as high as 0.676 ppm.

PCBs are industrial chemicals once used as coolants and lubricants in electrical transformers and capacitors. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned PCBs in 1979, but items containing PCBs did not have to be replaced. PCBs degrade slowly in the environment.

Elevated levels of PCBs in fish do not pose a health risk for people swimming, fishing or participating in other water recreation activities in Clear Creek.

A July 2008 advisory remains in place for Galveston Bay and its contiguous waters, including Clear Creek, due to elevated levels of dioxins and PCBs in spotted sea trout and catfish.

-30-

(News Media Contact: Carrie Williams, DSHS Assistant Press Officer, 512-458-7400.)

Content Questions: DSHS Press Officer

Subscription Information: User Profile Page

DSHS News Items: Online

Technical Assistance: mhtml:%7B33B38F65-8D2E-434D-8F9B-8BDCD77D3066%7Dmid://00000208/!x-usc:mailto:support@govdelivery.com

GovDelivery, Inc. sending on behalf of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission · 4900 North Lamar Blvd · Austin TX 78751 · 1-800-439-1420

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/20090708.shtm

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/20090708-sp.shtm

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.01.012

Copyright © 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Water quality in the Dickinson Bayou watershed (Texas, Gulf of Mexico) and health issues

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

Antonietta Quigga, b, , , Linda Broachc, 1, , Winston Dentond, 2, and Roger Mirandae, 3,

aDepartment of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University at Galveston, 5007 Avenue U, Galveston, TX 77551, United States

bDepartment of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 3146 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, United States

cTexas Commission on Environmental Quality, 5425 Polk Avenue, Suite H, Houston, TX 77023, United States

dCoastal Fisheries Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Dickinson Department, 1502 FM 517 East, Dickinson, TX 77539, United States

eTexas Commission on Environmental Quality, 1200 Park 35 Circle, Austin, TX 78711, United States

Available online 24 February 2009.

Abstract The Dickinson Bayou watershed (near Houston, Texas, Gulf of Mexico) provides habitat for numerous coastally influenced communities of wildlife, including scores of birds and fish. Encroaching development and impervious surfaces are altering the habitat and degrading water quality. Herein we have defined the current health of the bayou using water quality data collected between 2000 and 2006. Elevated bacteria (fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus) and depressed dissolved oxygen concentrations (often <3 mg l-1) are the two major impairments to this ecosystem. While nutrient ratios indicate primary productivity may be nitrogen limited, concerns of eutrophication persist because the bayou has a low intrinsic flushing rate. Consistent with this is the magnitude of algal blooms (ca. 100 µg chl l-1) which often occur in spring/summer. The findings of this study will assist with the understanding of the influence of urban development on small watersheds. Keywords: Bacteria; Ecosystem management; Environmental monitoring; Eutrophication; Low dissolved oxygen; Nitrogen; Nutrients Article Outline 1. Introduction 1.1. Study area 2. Methods 3. Results 3.1. Air temperature and rainfall 3.2. Salinity and dissolved oxygen concentrations 3.3. Chlorophyll and nutrients 3.4. Bacteria 4. Discussion Acknowledgements References Fig. 1. The Dickinson Bayou watershed is located within the San Jacinto–Brazos Coastal Basin at 29°29' N, 95°14' W, 45 km southeast of Houston, Texas.

View Within Article

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Fig. 2. Average monthly (A) air temperature (°C) and (B) rainfall (cm) in the DBW between 2000 and 2006. Error bars represent standard deviations. (C) Annual rainfall (cm) is subject to cyclic patterns and perturbations due to tropical storms.

View Within Article

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Fig. 3. Average water column salinities (‰) measured between 2000 and 2006 from Dickinson Bay (0 km; SH I46) to the upper reach of the tidal portion of Dickinson Bayou. The averages are presented with minimums (lower bars) and maximums (higher bars). A log scale was used to show the range across the bayou.

View Within Article

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Fig. 4. Average (24 h) DO concentrations (mg l-1) measured between 2000 and 2006 from Dickinson Bay (0 km; SH I46) to the upper reach of the tidal portion of Dickinson Bayou. (A) Surface DO was typically 6.1 mg l-1 along the length of the bayou with minimum DO’s (bottom bar) ranging from 0.6-2.8 mg l-1 and maximums (top bar) from 7.9–19 mg l-1. (B) DO at >1 m depth was typically 3.5 mg l-1 in the bayou with minimums (bottom bar) ranging from 0.1–1.0 mg l-1 and maximums (top bar) from 8.2–9.8 mg l-1. (C) Exceedances refer to the measurement of instantaneous DO concentrations of 3 mg l-1. The fraction of exceedances in surface (1 m) waters (white bars) was less than those in deep (>1 m) waters (black bars). The greatest fraction of exceedances occurred in the tidal segment of the bayou between Gum Bayou (6.4 km) and Cemetery Road (19.7 km).

View Within Article

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Fig. 5. Seasonal patterns in DO concentrations varied as a function of water depth. Surface waters were those at 1 m (A) while deep waters were those at >1 m (B). October to April represent the cool months (white bars) while May to September are the warm months (black bars), respectively.

View Within Article

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Fig. 6. Percentage exceedances of fecal coliform measured between 2000 and 2006 from Dickinson Bay (0 km; SH I46) to the above tidal portion of Dickinson Bayou. The main stem of the bayou (white bars) in general, had fewer exceedances than the tributaries (black bars).

View Within Article

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Table 1. Summary of sampling sites visited on a regular basis between 2000 and 2006. The distances inland were calculated relative to Dickinson Bay at SHI46 (see Fig. 1). Segment, latitude, longitude, and a brief description are included for reference. Tributaries are in italics.

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Table 2. Average chlorophyll concentrations (µg l-1) measured between 2000 and 2006 from Dickinson Bay to the upper reach of the tidal region. No data is available for above the tidal reach. Values presented here are the median chlorophyll concentrations (i.e., chl a plus phaeophytin). The range and number of samples (N) examined is also included. Tributaries are in italics.

View Within Article

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Table 3. Total nutrient concentrations (mg l-1) in the water column of Dickinson Bayou, based on a sample size (N), collected between 2000 and 2006. The range (min–max) was included to show the variability. Tributaries are in italics.

View Within Article

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Table 4. Bacterial counts in the surface waters of Dickinson Bayou. Minimum and maximum values generally (but not always) reflect the lower and upper detection limits for these tests and so were not included. Rather the % of samples that exceeded the criteria (%E) were included as well as the number of samples (N) measured. Fecal coliform was measured at all stations while Enterococcus was only measured in the tidal segment and E. coli only in the above tidal segment. Tributaries are in italics.

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Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 409 740 4990; fax: +1 409 740 5001. 1 Tel.: +1 713 767 3579. 2 Tel.: +1 281 534 0138. 3 Tel.: +1 512 239 6278. Sponsored Links 24-7 Emergency On Call Water Damage Restoration - Direct Insurance Bill. Call 281-537-8379 AroundDClockRestorationHouston.com

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6N-4VP5XM3-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=951717896&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0b5256cab4ed99911bde5a9b51148a9f

DID not really surprise me. if you can't eat fish and crabs from Galveston bay due to these PCBs, did anyone really expect them not to be in our bayous ???

now the gum bayou waste dumping proposal all for a buck $$$ i.e. developers, to create tons of treated crap in a bayou already contaminated ???

now that's what i call science, but i assure you, they will buy the best junk science they can buy, to say that Dickinson Bayou will be o.k. $$$

they need the tax base.

add it all up, and it's nothing more than money. for ANY of our elected officials to go along with this blatant act of neglect to the environment and it's existing people around Gum bayou, they should be voted out of office. THERE IS NO VALID EXCUSE FOR THIS OTHER THAN MONEY $$$

our bay and bayous will be dead soon, as the approaching dead zone to galveston bay gets even closer.

TSS

State approves contested sewage plant permit

By Chris Paschenko The Daily News Published April 20, 2009

DICKINSON — A four-year, grass-roots effort opposing a wastewater treatment plant failed when state environmental regulators deemed the release of 500,000 gallons of treated effluent into Gum Bayou posed no environmental risk.

The city of Dickinson and residents of the Tropical Garden’s subdivision contested the permit sought by Marlin Atlantis White, the developer of record, to build a sewage treatment plant that, in its final phase, could release up to 500,000 gallons a day of treated sewage into Gum Bayou. Gum Bayou drains into Dickinson Bayou, which is listed by the state as an impaired tidewater, having low oxygen and high bacteria levels.

The plant would service a proposed 1,300-home subdivision near Gum Bayou and FM 517 in Texas City.

In Austin on April 8, Craig R. Bennett, an administrative law judge with the State Office of Administrative Hearings, told a panel of three commissioners with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that there was no evidence the plant would endanger human health, aquatic life or the environment.

Bacteria Study Ignored

The state’s evidence, presented in a three-day hearing in Galveston in September, was generated through modeling of Gum Bayou.

Those opposed to the plant argued the state didn’t adequately measure the depth of Gum Bayou, nor did the commission consider its own preliminary study that found high elevations of bacteria present in Dickinson Bayou.

In deeming Gum Bayou eligible for the plant, Mark A. Rudolph, an engineer for the commission testifying in Galveston, said he relied on aerial photographs and professional judgment to determine the bayou’s depth and width, which are factors in determining whether the state would permit the plant.

The commission also refused to consider its own preliminary bacteria study, which it released in March. The draft shows elevated E. coli and enterococci bacteria levels in the majority of Dickinson Bayou monitoring stations nearly 90 percent of the time.

High levels of E. coli and enterococci are indicators of the presence of fecal matter in the water. Rudolph testified that the state couldn’t use the data because neither the state nor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have finalized the draft, which could take another three years. Rudolph testified the bacteria modeling would have forced the commission to use an outside consultant and would have been a budgeting issue.

The commission, however, upheld Bennett’s recommendation and issued the permit with some exceptions. The permit, which expires Sept. 1, 2013, requires the plant to be closed if and when a regional plant comes online.

Residents Ask Governor For Delay

Peggy Wright, a resident of Tropical Gardens, dedicated three years of her life fighting the permit for the plant that would drain near her subdivision. She attended last week’s hearing in Austin and said the governor’s office didn’t respond to signed petitions or requests for intervention.

“We’re below the outfall and all the potential problems it could bring,” Wright said. “We still feel, myself personally, it could serve as a quasi plant for other developers.”

Val Perkins, attorney for the developer of record, argued in September that the state can’t ask developers to put projects on hold until draft studies are confirmed.

The state is expected to issue the permit in 30 to 45 days, Perkins said.

“When we get it, we will be enabled to commence with the development, but I don’t know what the development plans are for the property right now.” Perkins said.

Whether the slowing of the housing market nationally will affect the development is unknown. Perkins is unaware of a timetable for the development.

“It’s certainly true nationally, but I don’t presume to know what the markets might be,” Perkins said. “I will say, generally, housing projects that have financing are moving forward.”

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a450ca706c60aed0

Sewer plant opponents set up legal fight fund

By T.J. Aulds The Daily News Published July 7, 2009

DICKINSON — Residents battling a planned wastewater treatment plant near a bayou along the city limits of Dickinson and Texas City have set up a legal fund to fight the plan in court.

Now they just need an attorney who will take the case.

The plant would serve a proposed 1,300-home subdivision near Gum Bayou and FM 517 in Texas City.

The residents of the Tropical Gardens subdivision contested the permit sought by developer Marlin Atlantis to build the sewage treatment plant that could release up to 500,000 gallons a day of treated sewage into Gum Bayou. The bayou drains into Dickinson Bayou, which is listed by the state as an impaired tidewater, with low levels of oxygen and high levels of bacteria.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in April approved the developer’s application to build the plant. The city of Dickinson, which had opposed the plant’s construction, narrowly voted against appealing that decision.

However, Bridget Long and other area residents plan to keep up the fight. She claims the application was flawed and that a study on bacteria levels in Gum Bayou was ignored.

Last week, Long set up a legal fund account at the Regents Bank in Dickinson with hopes of appealing the state’s decision in court. The problem is finding a lawyer who will take on the case, Long said. She said the group planned to contact the Galveston Bay Foundation to see what help that environmental group could offer.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=98de9ce7519f75db

TSS

TROUBLED WATERS

2008-08-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

(DEAD DOLPHIN washed up on rocks in backyard, on Galveston Bay, in Bacliff, Texas 77518)

Troubled waters

Federal and state agencies must find ways to control fertilizer runoff feeding Gulf of Mexico's dead zone.

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 4, 2008, 11:01PM

As Tropical Storm Eduard moves toward the Upper Texas coast, it is providing a little-noticed service. In churning the normally languid summertime coastal waters, it is curbing the spread of an 8,000-square-mile dead zone.

The zone, first detected in the 1970s, is created when the outflow of the Mississippi River dumps nitrogen and phosphates from crop fertilizer runoff and human effluent into the Gulf of Mexico, sparking intense blooms of algae. As the algae decompose and sink into the depths, oxygen is absorbed from the water, creating an environment where fish, crabs and shrimp cannot survive. The phenomenon known as hypoxia typically occurs during the summer months, and dissipates with the arrival of cooler weather. This year's dead zone is tied for the second-largest on record, topped only by an 8,500-square-mile monster in 2002.

The Gulf Coast is not the only area plagued by hypoxia. On the East Coast, the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal waters have suffered episodes of algae blooms that create toxic red tides costing the shellfish industry tens of millions of dollars.

Scientists had expected a record dead zone in the Gulf this year because of the flooding along the upper Mississippi watershed, which boosted fertilizer runoff by an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent. The recent boost in corn production to feed the growing ethanol industry also exacerbated the situation. Corn cultivation requires more nitrogen-based fertilizer, creating higher pollution levels.

Tropical systems help to counter the spread of the dead zone along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Nancy Rabalais, who leads the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and conducts an annual measurement of the zone, credits last month's Hurricane Dolly with keeping the dead zone from reaching record levels this year. Storm waves provide turbulence that mixes aerated surface waters with the deeper, oxygen-depleted zones.

Rather than depend on storms to mitigate the growing environmental damage, government must take on the problem at its source, the farmlands bleeding fertilizer and riverside cities leaking untreated wastewater into the Mississippi. Earlier this summer, a task force of federal and state officials released an action plan to target upstream pollution sources and reduce their flow into the Gulf.

Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., are sponsoring the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2008.

The Gulf of Mexico provides a livelihood for our commercial fisherman, sport for anglers and seafood bounty for dinner tables. Preventing the growth of the dead zone is an urgent priority that deserves the full attention of both federal and state environmental regulators.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5924145.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "TERRY SINGELTARY"
To:
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 4:15 PM
Subject: [SANET-MG] MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down

MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down

Greetings Sanet et al,

I have not by any means stopped my no madcow, no kind, no way, activism. but I thought I needed to expand my despair, kinda spread the love ya know. I am mad as hell, they closed Galveston bay, all of it, no speckle trout, any catfish family, and or blue crabs, the complete bay. and that ain't right. I hope that some of you find interest in this, because like everything else, we have floundered to long. I love Galveston bay, and to have it trashed, polluted, so bad, you cannot swim in it, you cannot eat the fish or crabs from it, or even breath the air that surrounds it, well, this makes me angry. so I thought that by spreading my love, bringing awareness to mans stupidity at this front, might help in some small way. runoff from agriculture products, pesticides, human/animal wastes, etc, all play a huge roll in our oceans demise, and in the end, our demise as well. ...

kind regards, terry

TESTING THE WATERS 2008 TEXAS BEACHES UPDATE

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/testing-waters-2008-texas-beaches.html

CAN OUR OCEANS SURVIVE? INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Monday, July 28, 2008

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-our-oceans-survive.html

Saturday, July 19, 2008 GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/galveston-bay-swimming-with-dolphins.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

Monday, July 14, 2008 Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/heedless-practices-of-texas-industry.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

SEE GALVESTON BAY HERE ;

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html

SEE MUCH MORE HERE ;

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/

with saddest regards, still disgusted in sunny, scorching hot, Baycliff, Texas 77518

terry

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

********************************************************

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0808&L=sanet-mg&T=0&F=&S=&P=3953

Testing the Waters 2008 TEXAS BEACHES UPDATE

2008-07-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Oceans Campaign News Search • RSS Feed

For Immediate Release: 07/29/2008

For More Information: Contact Luke Metzger (512) 479-0388

Beach Warnings Increase in Texas Environment Texas Calls for Faster Pollution Testing, Opposes More Offshore Drilling AUSTIN (July 29, 2008) –

As millions of Americans flock to beaches around the country, Environment Texas reported that beach closings and warnings due to pollution went up last year in Texas, according to the Natural Resource Defense Council’s 18th annual beach water quality report. The group called for increased federal funding and faster testing for beachwater pollution and decried efforts to open protected coastlines to offshore drilling.

Using data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the report, Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, tallied 532 beach closing and health advisory days in 2007 in Texas, an eleven percent jump from the year before. In Texas, 49 percent of the closing and advisory days were caused by high bacteria levels resulting from storm water run-off. Another 49 per cent were high bacteria levels from unknown sources.

“Some families can’t enjoy a day at the beach because the water is polluted and kids are getting sick,” said Brittany Ballard, Citizen Outreach Director for Environment Texas. “Texas beachgoers should not be swimming in human and animal waste.”

For the first time, the Testing the Waters report gives a five-star rating for a selection of the most popular beaches in the nation. The star rating criteria is based on indicators of beach water quality, monitoring frequency, and use of health standards to protect beachgoers. In Texas, no beaches earned 5 stars, and Stewart Beach Park in Galveston County and McGee Beach in Nueces County earned 1 star, because advisories at those beaches are always issued without waiting for re-sampling or other information to confirm results.

Across the country, the number of closing and advisory days at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches was more than 22,000 for the third consecutive year, confirming that our nation’s beaches continue to suffer from serious water pollution that puts swimmers at risk.

While nationally there was an overall decrease in beach closing and advisory days from 2006, regionally the picture varied. The biggest increase in closing and advisory days (38 percent) was in the Gulf Coast region, partly because beaches in Louisiana and Mississippi were reopened and monitored for the first full beach season there since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.

The report shows that the number of closing and advisory days due to sewage spills and overflows more than tripled to 4,097 from 2006 to 2007, but the largest known source of pollution continues to be contamination from stormwater, which caused more than 10,000 closing and advisory days. Stormwater carries pollution from the streets to the beach without treatment whenever it rains. Unknown sources of pollution caused more than 8,000 closing and advisory days.

Nationally, seven percent of beachwater samples violated health standards, showing no improvement from 2006. In Texas, 9 percent of beachwater samples violated those standards.

“What this report means for families heading to the beach is they need to be careful and do a little homework,” said Nancy Stonerdirector of NRDC’s clean water project. “Call your local public health authority and ask them if the beachwater is safe for swimming. If there is any doubt, or if the water smells bad or looks dirty, stay out of it.”

Aging and poorly-designed sewage and storm water systems hold much of the blame for beachwater pollution. Environment Texas also said that sprawl development in coastal areas is devouring wetlands and other natural buffers such as dunes and beach grass that otherwise would help filter out dangerous pollution before it reaches the beach.

Not only are the beaches polluted, the way they are tested is also failing the American public, according to Environment Texas. Beach water quality standards are more than 20 years old and rely on outdated science and monitoring methods that leave beachgoers vulnerable to a range of waterborne illnesses including gastroenteritis, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments and other serious health problems. For small children, senior citizens and people with weak immune systems, the results can be fatal.

The Beach Protection Act (H.R. 2537/S. 1506), a bill now pending in Congress, would provide more money for beachwater sampling and require the use of faster testing methods so people get timely information about whether it is safe to swim. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Beach Protection Act in April and the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the bill soon.

“We urge Senators Cornyn and Hutchison to support the Beach Protection Act and ensure America’s beaches are tested for pollution in time to protect public health,” said Ballard.

Environment Texas also called on Congress to continue to protect U.S. beaches from offshore oil and gas drilling. Offshore drilling threatens beaches with chronic toxic pollution from oil and gas production and oil spills from the pipelines, tankers and barges that bring oil to shore. Environment Texas also pointed to a Bush administration analysis which concluded that opening currently protected offshore areas would have an “insignificant” impact on prices.

###

Environment Texas is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization.

http://www.environmenttexas.org/newsroom/oceans/oceans-campaign-news7/beach-warnings-increase-in-texas

Testing the Waters 2008 TX.1 Natural Resources Defense Council Texas 10th in the nation in percent exceedances in 2007

Texas 10th in the nation in percent exceedances in 2007

Virtually the entire Texas coast is bordered by barrier islands, which separate the Gulf of Mexico from the bays. The mainland has over 1,400 miles of coastline, but most of it is privately owned or is composed of wetlands. Of the barrier islands, which have almost 400 miles of Gulf shoreline and more than 650 miles of shoreline on their back side, three are privately owned and have beaches that can only be accessed by boat. Padre Island National Seashore and the National Wildlife Refuge are accessible to the public but is federally managed; the state was unable to verify whether beaches at the National Seashore or in the Wildlife Refuge are monitored. Most of the back side of the barrier islands is wetlands with little or no opportunity for water contact recreation. In all, 56 miles of mainland coast, 235 miles of barrier island Gulf coast, and 33 miles of back side barrier island coast are subject to monitoring under the BEACH Act. There are 166 public coastal beaches lining this 324 miles of coastline. Forty percent of these beaches and 50 percent of the beach miles are monitored in a program administered by the Texas General Land office, which contracts with local county health departments, universities, municipalities, and commercial laboratories to conduct the Texas Beach Watch Program.

Nine counties had monitored beaches in 2007: Aransas, Brazoria, Cameron, Jefferson, Galveston, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, and San Patricio. Another five counties with at least one public water contact recreation coastal beach had no monitored beaches:
Calhoun, Chambers, Harris, Refugio, and Willacy. Orange County, Kenedy County, and Victoria County are on the coast but have no publicly accessible beaches and/or no water contact recreation beaches. The Texas General Land Office recommends beach advisories when bacterial standards are exceeded but does not have the authority to close beaches or post advisory signs at the beaches. This authority lies with local government officials and health departments.1 Beaches are monitored year-round, with more frequent monitoring from May to September for all monitored beaches and in March at Gulf of Mexico beaches (for spring break).1 Texas experienced more rainfall in 2007 than in 2006. Texas received a $385,180 federal BEACH Act grant in 2007 and was eligible for a $379,140 grant in 2008. In addition to these funds, the state allocated nearly $150,000 to the beach monitoring program in 2007.

Standards Indicator Organism: Enterococcus Standards: Texas applies an Enterococcus single-sample maximum of 104 cfu/100ml when making decisions about advisories. No geometric mean standard is used. Two or three samples are taken at each location and the results are averaged before comparing to the standard.1 In 2007, the Texas General Land Office funded a study that examined the occurrence and levels of Vibrio vulnificus during the summer at six beach stations currently monitored for Enterococcus through the Texas Beach Watch Program. The Texas General Land Office will use the data to determine if regular sampling and testing for Vibrio is warranted and, if so, will determine the feasibility of using local contractors who already collect water samples to test for Enterococcus to concurrently collect additional samples to test for Vibrio.1 Texas does not have preemptive rainfall standards. In the case of a known sewage spill, the decision to issue a preemptive closing or advisory would be made by local government.1 ?? Sewage 0%?? Stormwater 49%?? Unknown 49%?? Other 2% Texas Sources of Contamination Testing the Waters 2008 TX.2 Natural Resources Defense Council In Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has a team of biologists who respond to an incident where fish or other animals have been harmed. These specially trained biologists contact other agencies and personnel (including the Texas Department of State Health Services if human health issues are suspected, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for impacts to natural res urces, and the governing authority that manages a particular area), collect water samples for analysis and confirmation of algae, if appropriate, collect water quality and environmental data, and identify and count the number of dead wildlife, among other tasks. TPWD monitors harmful algal blooms and communicates to the public through their website, e-mail alerts, and a hotline. The Harmful Algal Bloom Workgroup has produced the Texas Harmful Algal Bloom Response Plan for identification and management of harmful algal blooms in Texas.1

Monitoring Frequency: Texas reported 169 beaches in 2007. Thirty-six percent (61) were monitored weekly, 4 percent (7) were monitored at an unspecified frequency, and 60 percent (101) were not monitored. Monitored beaches represent 153 miles of coastline. Beach segments that are used most frequently by the public and where health risks are the greatest are given priority for monitoring.

Practice: The Texas Beach Watch Program collects samples between sunrise and noon. Samples are generally collected about one foot below the surface in water that is knee deep (approximately two feet deep). If the majority of recreational activity occurs at a depth significantly different than two feet, then samples can be collected at the location of greatest swimmer activity. Also, if the two-foot sampling depth occurs more than 50 meters from shore, samples can be collected 50 meters from shore or at the location of greatest swimmer activity. Two or three samples are taken per sampling location. Sample results are available a minimum of 24 hours after the lab receives the sample. Routine sampling usually takes place on Tuesdays, with Mondays and Wednesdays as alternate sampling days. Results: For the third consecutive year, NRDC looked at the percent of monitoring samples that exceeded the state’s daily maximum bacterial standards. The percent of samples exceeding the standard increased to 9 percent in 2007 from 8 percent in 2006 and 9 percent in 2005.

Note: to make this three-year comparison, NRDC includes only those beaches reported in each of these three years.

The beaches with the highest percent exceedances in 2007 were Cole Park (44%), Ropes Park (38%), Emerald Beach (35%), and Poenisch Park in Nueces County (33%), Nueces Bay Causeway #4 in San Patricio (26%), Laguna Shores (26%), University Beach (23%), JFK Causeway-SW (20%), and McGee Beach in Nueces (19%),

and Texas City Dike in Galveston (18%).

Nueces County had the highest percent exceedance in 2007 (16%), followed by Aransas (15%), Galveston (9%), Kleberg (5%), Jefferson (4%), Brazoria (3%), Matagorda (2%), and Cameron (1%).

snip...see full text with county by county ;

http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/ttw/sumtex.pdf

>>>In the case of a known sewage spill, the decision to issue a preemptive closing or advisory would be made by local government.1 ???<<<

THANKS AGAIN THERE MAYOR WHITE, i want to thank you again for that wade in feces a few weeks ago outback in Galveston Bay, when some brilliant decision was made to flush a broken sewage pipe up in Buffalo Bayou, into Galveston Bay, probably the last time i go wade fishing. ...thanks mayor!

what do you have against your fellow neighbors down south of you???

i remember well when you dumped all of Houston on our interstate highways during the coastal evacuation from Hurricane Rita. now your dumping feces on us. next your probably be taking in the train loads of Thousands of metal cylinders of corrosive radioactive waste from THE MOUND weapons LAB, up in Miamisburg, Ohio. Thanks to your good buddy Governor Perry, who seems to want to turn TEXAS into the next BIG RADIOACTIVE DUMPING SITE, i look for those train loads to start rolling on in, if they are not here already. ...

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html

Saturday, July 19, 2008 GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/galveston-bay-swimming-with-dolphins.html

GALVESTON BAY FISH CONSUMPTION WARNING DUE TO PCBs

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Monday, July 14, 2008

Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now
poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/heedless-practices-of-texas-industry.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

TSS

Can Our Oceans Survive?

2008-07-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Can Our Oceans Survive?

Published: July 27, 2008

As director of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., Frances Gulland sees firsthand the effects of the oceans’ deteriorating state. Her patients have included cancer-stricken sea lions whose tumors are thought to be associated with PCBs, sea otters infected by a parasite linked to run-off, and fur seals sickened by toxic algae. These animals act as “an early warning system,” says Gulland. “All these things could happen to us.”

A recent study led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif., found that close to half of the oceans are “fairly degraded,” and only 3.7% show little or no impact from human activity. Oceans help keep the environment healthy by absorbing carbon dioxide. But now the results of that intake are evident. The seas have risen, warmed, and acidified worldwide. Those changes, combined with overfishing, have caused 90% of our big fish to disappear, according to Leon Panetta, co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. “Pollution has led to almost 26,000 U.S. beaches being temporarily closed or put under advisories,” he adds, “ and nearly 90% of our wetlands, the nurseries for fish, have vanished due to development. The oceans are in crisis.”

The U.S. government spends relatively little on the sea. Around $18,700 per square mile goes to the National Park System, while $400 per square mile goes to its ocean counterpart, the National Marine Sanctuary System. Private charities show a similar trend. “Close to 99% of conservation dollars donated go to land causes, and 1% to oceans,” says Debra Erickson, executive director of the nonprofit Kerzner Marine Foundation (KMF). “But over 70% of the Earth is covered by oceans.”

Lack of public attention may be due to the sea’s placid appearance. “You look at the surface, and it looks fine,” says Prof. Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University in Corvallis. “Yet below the surface is a whole different story.” The Blue Project—a collaboration among KMF, other nonprofits, and Kerzner’s Atlantis resort in the Bahamas—is trying to educate people about what’s happening underwater, specifically with coral reefs. Atlantis visitors can go scuba diving or snorkeling and see the stark difference between a healthy reef filled with colorful creatures and a degraded one that contains bleached coral and not much else. “When you see a reef that has the proper number of fish in it vs. one that doesn’t, it takes your breath away,” says Erickson. —Daryl Chen

http://www.parade.com/hot-topics/0807/can-our-oceans-survive.html

Monday, July 14, 2008
Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/heedless-practices-of-texas-industry.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

Saturday, July 19, 2008
GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/galveston-bay-swimming-with-dolphins.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Baycliff, Texas USA 77518

GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

2008-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER

Greetings again kind friends and neighbors,

well, see there, i was not dreaming, i know what shit smells like when i smell it. i was not only fishing with the PCBs, i was also fishing in feces yesterday, right in our backyard, on Galveston Bay. wonder what the PCBs and the fact Galveston Bay is now being used as a toilet, just to flush feces down, wonder what that will do to bay front property values ??? the realtors and such keep telling me they call this progress. hmmm, some progress. yep, glad i threw that limit of specs away yesterday. that was the first time i had ever released a limit of specs, one by one off our pier. i don't like catch and release, especially when live shrimp is 10 dollars a pint. catch and put in freezer is my logo, and if you cannot do that, what's the use of going, especially when you smell like feces when you get out of the bay. oh well, business is booming, Bayport et al is running wide open, the shit channel is bigger and better, and Galveston Bay is now nothing more than a toilet full of feces, PCBs, and many other toxins, not to forget the deadly flesh eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, come on down and get your bay front, water front, property now. ...TSS

p.s. as of this morning, no identifiable lesions, and or open wounds yet. ...TSS

July 18, 2008, 11:15PM Buffalo Bayou tributary flushed Investigators trying to identify source of sewage

By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Hazardous materials workers began the laborious process of flushing a stagnant segment of Buffalo Bayou's Newman Branch on Friday after it was contaminated by raw sewage, possibly flowing from a broken pipe.

Most heavily contaminated was a section of the waterway between Interstate 10 and Memorial Drive.

Investigators from the city health department and other agencies arrived at the scene early Friday afternoon after nearby residents complained of the stench. The process of flushing the bayou with water from fire hydrants began at midafternoon.

Today, hazardous material workers plan to siphon scum from atop the water at a collection point set up with booms near the Memorial bridge.

Stephen Dicker, an investigator with Houston Police Department's environmental crimes unit, said workers trying to identify the source of the leak were hampered by the uncertainty of the location of underground sewer pipes.

Newman Branch flows north to south just east of Antoine. North of I-10, the branch is contained in storm sewers, Dicker said.

Houston oilman Dewey Stringer, who lives near the point where the bayou passes Memorial, said similar pollution has periodically plagued the waterway for at least five years. Generally, however, heavy rainfall dilutes the contamination.

Stringer, who was among residents to report the pollution to authorities, said the odor was so severe that he and his wife found it difficult to sleep. He had planned to relocate to Galveston this weekend and commute to work.

Stringer said he has developed eye irritation from vapors rising from the bayou and both he and his wife have developed persistent coughs.

In the past, Stringer said official response to pollution incidents had been lackadaisical.

Thursday night, he said, he began telephoning federal, state, county and city agencies he thought might have jurisdiction in the matter.

"No one is saying that there isn't a problem today," he said as investigators scurried along the bayou bank at his home. "They're all running around with red eyes."

While complete water sample test results were not available Friday, preliminary tests indicated the water's oxygen level was far below the level needed to sustain aquatic life.

Investigators have seen no signs of a fish kill, Dicker said.

At the point where Newman Branch passes Stringer's house, the water Friday afternoon was a metallic black, covered by thick pads of ivory-colored scum. Stringer said the bayou had been in that condition about a month.

Dicker said he has investigated previous pollution cases at Newman Branch — one involving dumping chemicals from a paint factory and one from construction runoff.

"This is the first time we've had apparent sewage pollution," he said.

Dicker said his investigation is complicated by the presence of both city and subdivision sewer systems in the area.

allan.turner@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5896226.html

In fact, much of Buffalo Bayou is tidal. Spartina alterniflora, the salt marsh plant in the low-tidal zone, seems to cut off upstream of the connection with the San Jacinto, up closer to around Jensen/Runnels street. I’m not sure if that’s due to the change in salinity or the abrupt change in topography there (from more flat estuarine-like along the edges to a deeper, narrow channel)

Further up the bayou, I have witnessed a dolphin at the intersection of White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou, as several newspapers described back in the 90’s; there are certainly small alligators and big fish as far upstream as it goes. FYI, there’s also a lot of submerged junk there, too.

There is flow to Buffalo Bayou, it is regulated by a dam up near Addick’s Reserviour, they can make it fast enough to make canoe races entertaining as evidenced by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s annual race. I don’t know of any spring-fed flow, I would find that very strange for this bayou in particular. Ground water certainly is a major contributor from adjacent urban areas, and major rains can cause a massive fish kill, I have an old picture of one if anyone’s interested. I don’t know the name, but some folks at the University of Houston - Downtown have done a little work on that.

One can see evidence of flow from floods in the trees: there are characteristic water lines formed by trash hanging from the high points among the branches.I would say that historically, Buffalo Bayou probably drained the Katy Prairie, which should be somewhat more wet than it is today. Today, it drains Addick’s. Also, the areas adjacent to the Bayou were and are drained as well.

In conclusion, there is flow generally towards Galveston Bay, but sometimes it reverses due to high tides and southeast winds, particularly in the summer. Thus, it is a brackish connection between the fresh upper reaches, and the lower saline/brackish estuary.

http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/blog-readers-demand-to-know-dolphins-in-houstons-buffalo-bayou/

The Port of Houston faces the ongoing challenge of floating debris deposited into Buffalo Bayou and floating into the Turning Basin and Galveston Bay.

http://www.irconnect.com/poha/pages/news_releases.html?d=125640

does that include floating turds. ...

still disgusted in sunny, hot, baycliff texas, where Houston still flushes turds into Galveston bay (at-a-boy mayor), and where you cannot eat the fish and crabs due to the PCBs and other deadly toxins, and where the deadly flesh eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus lives, come on down. ...TSS

----- Original Message -----
From: TERRY SINGELTARY
To: steve@seabreezenews.com
Cc: judge
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 11:24 AM
Subject: LIMITED OUT THIS A.M. and i let them all go....first time that ever happened

greetings,

got a limit this A.M. before 10. the bay was flat, murky green, and the bay smelt just like sewage. or like it did in the late 50s, when you could walk the beach here in baycliff, and every house sewage went straight to the bay, that's what it smelled like. oh well, go figure, must have been the PCBs. also, while wading, it was like walking on potato chips. the bottom of the bay floor was littered with some kind of clam shells. every step you took, you would crunch a bunch of clam shells. no clams in them, they were all empty, just strange, had never seen that in this area before. where did the clams go? i was so disgusted, i sat on the pier and let them all go, one by one. i let a limit of speckle trout go. wasted 10 dollars on a pint of shrimp, just so i could let 10 specs go. probably the last time this year for that. what are we gonna do? do like most guides are doing and just play like everything is o.k., go ahead and fry em up, and feed our kids and grandkids these trout we now KNOW are tainted with PCBs? that seems what most of the guides are doing. just ignore it, play like it aint happening. i just cannot do it now, maybe later??? i think it's pathetic the way the public has flat out not responded to this. course with most everyone trying to convince joe q public, there aint nothing wrong with those specs, i am sure most will just forget about it, which is what most of the fishing industry is hoping. sad........

terry

GALVESTON BAY FISH CONSUMPTION WARNING DUE TO PCBs

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

Monday, July 14, 2008

Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/heedless-practices-of-texas-industry.html

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/forum/19324/GALVESTON-BAY-FISH-CONSUMPTION-WARNING-and-ship-channel-dredging-for-BAYPORT

TSS

Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

2008-07-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS

News Release July 8, 2008 DSHS Issues Fish Consumption Advisory for Galveston Bay The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has issued an advisory warning people to limit their consumption of spotted seatrout and catfish from Galveston Bay. The advisory, which includes Chocolate Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay and contiguous waters, was issued after a two-year study showed elevated levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the two fish.

Other fish species such as red drum, black drum and flounder were sampled and are safe to eat.

Adults are advised to limit consumption of the two fish to no more than one 8-ounce meal a month. Women who are nursing, pregnant or who may become pregnant and children should not eat any catfish or spotted seatrout from these waters.

PCBs are industrial chemicals once used as coolants and lubricants in electrical transformers and capacitors. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned PCBs in 1979, but items containing PCBs did not have to be replaced. PCBs degrade slowly in the environment.

Dioxins are formed as unintentional by-products of many industrial and chemical production processes and incomplete combustion.

Long-term consumption of PCBs may cause cancer and reproductive, immune system, developmental and liver problems. Dioxins can cause skin rashes, liver damage, weight loss, reproductive damage and may increase the risk of cancer.

Spotted seatrout, also knows as speckled trout, is a favorite among recreational anglers in coastal waters. The DSHS advisory does not prohibit catching or possessing either fish species. The contaminants do not pose a threat to other recreational uses of the bay such as swimming or other contact recreational activities.

Fish consumption advisories have been in effect for the Houston Ship Channel and upper portion of Galveston Bay since 1990.

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(News Media: For more information, contact Emily Palmer, DSHS Assistant Press Officer, 512-458-7400.)

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/20080708.shtm

see maps ;

Galveston Bay blue crabs

Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay Advisory Area: ADV-3 The Houston Ship Channel and all contiguous waters including the San Jacinto River below the U.S. Highway 90 bridge and Upper Galveston Bay north of a line drawn from Red Bluff Point to Five Mile Cut Marker to Houston Point. Contaminant of Concern: Dioxin Species Affected: Blue crab Consumption Advice: 1. Adults should limit consumption of blue crab to no more than one (1) eight ounce (8 oz) meal per month. 2. Women who are nursing, pregnant, or who may become pregnant and children under twelve (12) years old should not consume blue crab from this area.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/MapsPDF/HSC%20UGB%20Blue%20Crab%20Advisory%20Map-2008.pdf

Galveston Bay Fish

Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, and Harris Counties ADV-20 Issued October 9, 2001 ADV-35 Issued July 8, 2008

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/MapsPDF/AdvisoryMaps/Galveston%20Bay%20and%20HSC%20Fish%20Advisory%20Map_2008.pdf

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES FISH AND SHELLFISH CONSUMPTION ADVISORY ADV-35 This advisory is issued as a result of sampling of Trinity Bay and Upper and Lower Galveston Bay in Chambers, Galveston, and Harris Counties. Gaftopsail catfish and spotted seatrout collected from Trinity Bay and Upper and Lower Galveston Bay indicates the presence of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs or “Dioxin”) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at concentrations exceeding health assessment guidelines established by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Consumption of catfish species and spotted seatrout from Galveston Bay may pose a threat to human health. COUNTY: Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, and Harris Counties AREA: Galveston Bay including Chocolate Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay and contiguous waters. SPECIES AFFECTED: All catfish species and spotted seatrout CONSUMPTION ADVISORY: Persons should limit consumption of catfish and spotted seatrout from this area to no more than one eight-ounce meal per month. Women who are nursing, pregnant, or who may become pregnant and children should not consume catfish or spotted seatrout from these waters. This advisory shall remain in effect until rescinded or modified in writing. Issued this 8th day of July, 2008 David L. Lakey, M.D. Commissioner

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/PDF2/FishConsumptionAdvisoryBaNNews/ADV-35_signed.pdf

Characterization of Potential Adverse Health Effects Associated with Consuming Fish or Blue Crab from Lower Galveston Bay Chambers, Galveston, and Harris Counties, Texas June 2008

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/PDF2/Risk%20Characterization/Lower%20Galveston%20Bay%20RC%202006-2007.pdf

Characterization of Potential Adverse Health Effects Associated with Consuming Fish or Blue Crab from Trinity Bay and Upper Galveston Bay Chambers, Galveston, and Harris Counties, Texas April 2008

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/PDF2/Risk%20Characterization/Trinity%20Bay-Upper%20Galveston%20Bay%20RC%202006.pdf

July 9, 2008, 10:48PM Hold the line Heedless practices of Texas industry now poisoning sport fishing industry.

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The State Department of Health plunged bay fishermen into a new reality: Human action has tainted the bay's biology, a circumstance they forget at their peril when they pull a fish out of the water.

snip...

OH please, everyone that jumped on the Bayport terminal bandwagon, and all these other port expansions, all in the name of progress, jobs, cruise ships, export, import, etc., knew exactly what you were getting. I said years ago when they started dredging that ship channel out, making it wider and deeper, they were digging up more than they bargained for. we went 2 years while that big dredge crept along out in the ship channel, and we never saw a green tide, just mud. dead fish, and crabs literally crawling out of the water. what the hell did the think they were going to dig up. well, now you know, and so did they. they tell me it's called progress. but I call it something else. they knew exactly what was going to happen. not to speak of the constant destruction of the shore line from the bigger tanker and cargo ships, running too fast. I see it all the time. it's called money, and we are just killing ourselves, and our environment. sadly, no one cares anymore, and when they do finally care, it's too late. think about this the next time you sit down for some fried spec fillets and or a pot full of big blues, and the next time you go to the voting booth. ...

still disgusted in Bacliff, Texas USA

http://www.chron.com/disp/commnts.mpl/editorial/5879974.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5879974.html

Bayport, the Economy and the Real Estate Market By M.A. Anari International trade growth has played a key role in Houston's remarkable economic recovery from the oil price collapse of the mid-1980s. Along with health care and research, space exploration and high-tech industries, international trade helped diversify the city's formerly energy-centered economy.

This strong trade sector is the impetus for the Bayport expansion project, which will expand industrial shipping facilities in the Port of Houston. The trickle-down effects of the $1.2 billion, 15- to 20-year project will no doubt have an impact on the Texas real estate industry.

snip...

RECREATIONAL BOATING BUSINESSES, along with the seafood industry and environmental groups, have voiced opposition to port expansion, citing adverse effects. The Port of Houston is competing with South Atlantic and Gulf ports for a bigger piece of the growing containerized cargo business.

http://www.bayareahouston.com/Home/PressRoom/HotoffthePress1/Bayporttheeconomyandth/

You know, i hear most of the guides, the industries of the fisheries, and even the fisherman/woman, and even myself to a certain extent, ''oh i have eaten these fish and crabs all my life and i am not sick'', then i think of all my friends and family that have died from some sort of cancer over the years, that they too ate the same fish and crabs, and then i begin to wonder? in my opinion, this is not something that we should ignore. we should be mad as hell about it. i am, in fact, i am disgusted. so, i ask the following ;

WHAT do you do with a freezer full of specs, tainted with PCBs ???

FISH FRY FOR ALL Bayport expansion proponents AND the dummies that voted with them at the spillway park !!!

NOW, i know bayport did not put those PCBs and toxins in the bay, but they knew what was going to happen before they ever started dredging that ship channel, (and no one will ever convince me that dredging that ship channel out did not play a major role in this), but, they did it anyway. now, Galveston Bay, and all the rest of us that love it so much, will all suffer for their greed for decades to come. ...

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

PEACE

END...JULY 2008...TSS

Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Baycliff, Texas USA 77518

UPDATE ON SOME PAST HISTORY

August 16, 2001

Meeting of the Houston Ship Channel Dioxin

TMDL Stakeholder Group

Stakeholders Present: Chris Barry, Charles Beckman, Linda Broach, Ralph Calvino, Tracy Hester, Pam Kroupa, Kristy Morten, Tina Proctor, Luis Sueiro, Lial Tischler, Jack Wahlstrom, John Westendorf Support Team Present: Lisa Gonzalez, Sara Hausman, Paul Jensen, Larry Koenig, Carl Masterson, Randy Palachek, Hanadi Rifai, Yu-Chun Su, Monica Suarez, Pris Weeks Others Present: Louis Brzuzy (Shell-Deer Park), Kirk Dean (Parsons ES), Phyllis Frank (Parsons ES), Joe Phillips (Shell-Deer Park), Tom Weaver (Houston ESA), Chuck Wemple (H-GAC), Bernadette Williams (City of League City) Materials Distributed:

· March 1, 2001 meeting summary · Summary of other Dioxin TMDL Studies in the United States (Rifai, et al., Aug. 2001) · Evaluation of High-Volume Water Sampling to Support Development of TMDL for Dioxins in the Houston Ship Channel (Rifai, et al., Aug. 2001) · Dr. Rifai’s PowerPoint presentation

1. The meeting for the Houston Ship Channel Dioxin TMDL Stakeholder Group was held from 1:30-4:30 PM at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, Texas 77058, Bayou Building 1st Floor, Forest Room. Pris Weeks of the Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH) welcomed the group. Self-introductions were made. Meeting agenda items were re-ordered and approved.

2. The March 1, 2001 meeting summary was approved without further changes. Membership issues were addressed. Stakeholder, Brad Ellis, has left the City of La Porte. It was agreed that his seat would be replaced by inviting Steve Spears with City of Pasadena to serve as a stakeholder. The HSC Dioxin stakeholder meetings will continue to be held at the UHCL campus. However, UHCL has recently changed its parking policy. It will now cost $3 per person to park in Visitor Lot R and $0.75 to park in the visitor lot in Lot D. EIH will have parking tokens available for the $0.75 parking.

3. Clean Rivers Program Update: A sediment and tissue sampling project is being conducted by PBS&J through a contract with the Houston Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). The project wants to emphasize tissue data (oysters, hardhead catfish and blue crab) collection (70%), but also includes sediment sampling data (30%). The focus was on stream segments not sampled in

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previous efforts. Sediment sampling stations were located in side bays, the main Houston Ship Channel (HSC) and open bay. The range was similar for hardhead catfish and blue crab sampling as well. Oysters were collected in Galveston Bay below Barbour’s Cut. Samples were sent to Wright State University for analysis. Results are expected in 1-2 weeks. Tropical Storm Allison made some locations difficult to sample for the indicator species. Debris generated by TS Allison and the HSC maintenancedredging project made is difficult to obtain some samples. Samples may include additional sediment brought in by flows associated with TS Allison. Normally 1-2 feet of sediment accumulates per year in the upper HSC. That much sediment was accumulated in the week after TS Allison event. Each sediment sample analyzed is a composite of three samples taken from within the same cross-section of the channel. Tissue samples consist of three samples each of blue crab and catfish at a given location. The edible tissue is then analyzed. TNRCC Update: TMDL Program Leader, Mel Vargas, has left the TNRCC. His replacement has not yet been found. UH Technical Update: Input from the March HSC Dioxin stakeholder meeting was incorporated into the work plan. This information is included in the report submitted to H-GAC in June 2001 and will be available via the H-GAC website ( <http://www.hgac.cog.tx.us/intro/introtmdl.html>). The new workplan and a summary of the 4-6 dioxin TMDL reports distributed to stakeholders in May will be presented today. The final version of the Phase II workplan will be completed in August 2001 and the Phase II work is expected to start September 1, 2001. Initially the work will consist of drafting the QAPP. Sampling may begin in spring 2002 and may take two years to complete. Fish tissue data generated by the PBS&J study mentioned above should be available in mid September 2001. Some stakeholders would like to see that data before they issue comments on the Phase II work plan.

Break

Some stakeholders suggested that winter would be a better time to collect tissue samples in the upper reaches of segment 1007. Not many fish are present in that area in the summer. High volume sampling and fish sampling were suggested as two activities that could occur in the winter. Stakeholders asked if the lower HSC (segments 1005 or 1006) could be targeted for tissue sampling. Some stakeholders also suggested that more than one year of data be compiled so that long-term trends can be analyzed. Seasonal trends are useful to understand the dynamics of a system.

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Phase II of the study will generate a large amount of congener data that can be analyzed later in the project. Eventually, PBS&J would like to analyze fish gut tissue to determine the source of dioxin e.g., from the food chain or from water. This will be possible if composite samples comprised of tissue from several catfish are used. At the least, consumption advisory species (hardhead catfish and blue cab) will be analyzed. It may be possible to incorporate other organisms as well.

Since future work plans and QAPPs will be based on the Phase II work plan, stakeholders would like to have a chance to review and make comments. The QAPP is due three months after project initiations. Comments on the work plan are needed by August 24, 2001.

Tischler had two suggestions: 1) identify stations so that reference stations are identified, 2) be careful when looking at concentrations in water versus concentrations in fish tissue since standards are based on fish and crab tissue.

4. Hanadi Rifai presented an update on the HSC Dioxin TMDL sampling methodology and available models. A handout of the presentation slides was made available.

Major tasks for work order # 3 (Summer 2001):

Additional information and data from other national studies was reviewed. Here are some good studies going on in other parts of the country. Existing models suitable for dioxin analyses were reviewed to see if anything can be added to the models that will be utilized for this study. Dioxin emission data and information from other TNRCC programs was reviewed to obtain information on wet and dry deposition from air sources. The Phase II work plan was refined and will be presented today. Stakeholder suggestions were incorporated.

Previous dioxin TMDL studies:

The UH team has looked at and has made available the report on the TMDL for total 2,3,7,8-TCDD for the Ohio River. This study was based on highvolume water sampling data. The modeling for this study was straightforward. This study over-simplified the sediment pathway and neglected to consider the air deposition pathway. Three or four other national studies used a simple water based approach. Dr. Rifai will e-mail a summary document when all the information on models used for TMDL is available.

The UH team has also made available the report on the TMDL for total 2,3,7,8-TCDD for the Kanawha River, Pocatalico Creek and Armour Creek (West Virginia). This study used the same endpoint (0.013 pg/L) and flow conditions (greater or equal to a 7Q10) as the study mentioned above for the Ohio River. One point source was identified, as were 70 potential sources.

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This study found that contaminated groundwater as well as soil and sediments may have been contributors to the dioxin contamination. A report on the TMDL for total 2,3,7,8-TCDD in the Columbia River Basin has also been reviewed by the UH team and made available. This study utilized a simple approach and no modeling.

Dr. Rifai explained the approach behind high-volume water sampling (HVS), a methodology utilized by some studies. UH and TNRCC are intrigued by this methodology and would like to find a way to incorporate into the HSC Dioxin TMDL workplan. HVS is a fairly simple concept, but can be expensive. The HVS method allows one to look at both the dissolved and filtered components. In this method 200-1,000 liters of water are processed. Particleassociated dioxins are collected on a glass fiber filter. Dissolved dioxins are trapped on a resin placed after filtering. Dioxin is then recovered from both the filter and the resin.

Problems associated with HVS include possibility that the filter and resin can miss some of the dioxin in the sample. The method to obtain the non-filterable solids is labor intensive.

Dr. Rifai recommends the use of HVS for the HSC Dioxin TMDL project. Costs of this sampling methodology could be $4,000 to $5,000 per sample. However, bulk sampling could reduce that cost. Tischler thought that the analytical costs might be a little cheaper- possibly around $3,000. Palachek said the cost per sample could be $2,000 or more.

Dr. Rifai then resented UH findings from their analyses of dioxin emissions data obtained from Risk Burn Reports. This is not the same as Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data. The data was self-reporting data from 30 units around the HSC. The data is generated when a unit does a risk/trial burn for their permit renewal. The data is used by the TNRCC to generate risk assessments. Only one facility has a completed risk assessment. Koenig added that one risk assessment is close to being published. The UH team would have liked to model fate and transport, but could not base a model on only one facility’s numbers. This risk burn data does, however, give an approximate figure for a HSC endpoint.

From the Risk Burn Report analysis the UH team estimated that dioxin air emissions totaled 24 g TEQ per year. This is approximately 10 times the load from direct discharges into water. It should be noted, however, dioxin air emission cannot be directly compared to direct discharges into water. Dr. Rifai then presented the proposed Phase II-III work plan. Phase I ended in June 2001. Phase II should begin at the end of August.

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Phase II will consist of:

· Identifying the water quality target · High volume water sampling · Sediment and tissue sampling · Screening models.

Phase III will consist of:

· Air sampling · Sophisticated model development · Load allocation.

The Phase II task of identifying water quality targets has two possible approaches:

1) Water concentration target based on high volume water sampling;

2) Water quality standards based on bioaccumulation factors; link water and sediment concentrations to tissue concentrations The second would require a more sophisticated approach to analyze sediment. Rifai stated that they do not have sufficient information at this point to decide which approach would be best. However, a simplistic approach could not be realistically used for the HSC. The national studies tended to look only at water concentrations. If that same route is taken for the HSC it would be simpler and less expensive, but it may not solve the problem. Tischler stated that the first approach gives no way to determine if the problem is solved. Not much would be gained given that HSC water concentrations do not exceed water quality standards for dioxin, but blue crab tissue samples do exceed the standards.

Koenig suggested that the first approach might be helpful to get the bureaucratic process going.

Tischler stated that the information collected by the first approach is important, but it does not foster enough confidence on which to base an implementation plan.

West stated that one must understand the system to identify a source. Rifai agreed by saying that uncertainty must be reduced to some degree. The Phase II task of monitoring and data collection includes two basic elements:

· Assess current status and trends in the study area · Assess major sources

To assess current status and trends, 34 locations have been identified for sediment sampling, 8 locations identified for sediment core sampling, 32 locations identified for water sampling (particulate and dissolved; spread out across both project phases) and 41 locations identified for tissue sampling. Maps in the report detail the locations of these sampling stations.

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Major sources will be assessed by analyzing effluent and sludge, analyzing sediment and water from tributaries, conducting runoff sampling, assessing wet/dry deposition and sampling the stacks at 40 units in the HSC area. West and Tischler suggested that sludge be obtained from the treatment unit rather than from a landfill to obtain the best representation of what is being discharged.

Rifai stated that sludge will be analyzed in Phase II, if there is a “hit”, then the effluent will be analyzed using high volume water sampling. Westendorf asked if Harris County Flood Control ditches would be sampled. He also stated that there are some sources that generate dioxin, but are not required to do stack sampling (e.g. burn barrels). Some people do not know that they generating dioxin.

Tischler asked if more sources would be seen on the Toxic Release Inventory.

Weeks asked about the mention that runoff and wet/dry deposition sampling will be done on a pilot scale.

Rifai stated that yes in Phase II it will be conducted on a smaller scale to assess the relevance of air deposition. If it is found to be relevant, then it will be pursued in Phase III.

West inquired about sediment sampling locations. Jensen stated that sediments will be sampled at the mouth and in the tidal portions of the tributaries.

Dr. Rifai stated that information gathered in Phase II will be used to eliminate those parameters that are not important. The project will then proceed into Phase III.

Dr. Rifai then presented a preliminary conceptual model (see presentation handout). The conceptual model will be refined. High volume data will be used. Runoff loadings will be estimated. Some simple mass balance model might be used to determine which parameters are most important to model. BSAFs will be calculated and the preliminary load allocations will be developed. The goal of the TMDL is the allocation. An allocation amount must be found and linked to a source(s) to come up with the needed reduction. The UH team is continuing its work with stakeholders to develop a project timeline, informational materials, technical presentations. The UH team also responds to questions and information requests and incorporates stakeholder recommendation into their strategy.

Dr. Rifai then discussed Phase II-IIO work plan costs. The estimated total for both phases is $4.1 million, but could be anywhere from $2-5 million depending on how in-depth the TNRCC would like to go. Koenig stated that he hopes the TNRCC can come up with the money to do a good job on the project. The project may need to be stretched out.

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Dr. Rifai summarized by saying that Phase II will incorporate two complimentary approaches: high volume water sampling and sediment-tissue sampling with screening models. Phase III will involve air sampling and sophisticated modeling with four complimentary models. She stated that the simple approaches taken in the national studies are not applicable for the more complex HSC. But the best ideas from those studies- high volume sampling will be incorporated. The contribution of air deposition will also be looked at. Sampling will take approximately two years.

5. Weeks than enquired as to when the next meeting could be held. Rifai suggested the next be held 3-6 months after they begin Phase II. The final report for the work done over the summer will be available in September 2001. QAPPs will be placed on the Internet. Stakeholders will be sent a request to review the QAPP and make comments.

Rifai asked if the UH team could see the report for the sediment and tissue sampling project conducted by PBS&J for the Clean Rivers Program. Jensen stated that it would be available upon its submission to H-GAC.

6. Meeting adjourned.

http://tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/implementation/water/tmdl/26hscdioxin/26-diox08-16-01min.pdf

doi:10.1006/eesa.1999.1807 Copyright © 1999 Academic Press. All rights reserved. Regular Article Analysis of Metal Pollutants in the Houston Ship Channel by Inductively Coupled Plasma/Mass Spectrometry

Mahmoud A. Saleh1 and Bobby L. Wilson

Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, 77004

Received 7 December 1998. Available online 2 April 2002.

Abstract Trace metal pollutants in the surface water of the Houston Ship Channel were determined using inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS). Metal concentrations varied according to sampling sites. Barium, cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, silver, beryllium, antimony, lead, and mercury concentrations were relatively similar throughout the channel averaging 83.25, 0.55, 6.31, 6.66, 0.02, 0.017, 3.61, 0.68, and 0.055 µg/L, respectively. Titanium, manganese, copper, zinc, nickel, and selenium concentrations were found to be higher at stations closer to the Galveston Bay (as the water is turning from relatively fresh water to sea water) with concentration ranges of 102.5–351.7, 0.3–25, 0.3–25, 30–280, 16–77, 6.2–26.5, and 0.0–6.2 µg/L, respectively. Aluminum was found to be much higher at the Buffalo Bayou station (341 µg/L) followed by the San Jacinto station (104 µg/L) with an average of 42 µg/L in the other two stations. Vanadium was found to be unusually high at the Washburn Tunnel station (116 µg/L) and at much lower concentrations in the other three stations, averaging 6.5 µg/L. Iron was also higher at the Buffalo Bayou station (143 µg/L) but was absent at the Lynchburg Ferries station. Arsenic was not found at the Lynchburg and San Jacinto stations. However, arsenic had similar concentrations of 1.983 and 1.835 µg/L at Buffalo Bayou and Washburn Tunnel, respectively. Cadmium was higher at the Lynchburg Ferries station (3.3 µg/L) and ranged from 0.3 to 0.96 µg/L in the other locations. Thallium was not found in any of the stations.

Author Keywords: Houston Ship Channel; trace metals; inorganic pollutants; ICP/MS.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WDM-45GWF99-1G&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d892af5fbef657b79ada83518c312ec0

DRAFT, SUBJECT TO REVIEW AND REVISION! Dioxin Stakeholder Meeting 8/31/05

1 Meeting Summary Houston Ship Channel/Upper Galveston Bay TMDL Stakeholder Group August 31, 2005

STAKEHOLDERS PRESENT: Scott Aspelin; Chris Barry; Charles Beckman; Winston Denton; Rory Lang; Ed Matuszak; Sara Metzger; Lial Tischler; Jack Wahlstrom; John Westendorf; Bob Wood STAKEHOLDERS ABSENT: Louis Brzuzy (represented by Jeff Stevenson, Shell); Ronald Crabtree; Luke Giles; George Guillen; Tracy Hester; Joy Ijharah; Guy Jackson; Kristy Morten; Juan Parras; Bob Stokes; Steve Weishar; Kerry Whelan; Kirk Wiles. SUPPORT TEAM PRESENT: Michael F. Bloom; Larry Koenig; Carl Masterson; Mary Jane Naquin; Randy Palachek; Hanadi Rifai; Monica Suarez. OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Woodall, Oxy Vinyls; Mark Harris, ChemRisk; Laura Ferriby, ChemRisk; Pat Radloff, TPWD; Pete Conwell URS; Lisa Arceneaux; Nicole Cass, Port of Houston; Linda Broach, TCEQ; Deb Sneck-Fahr, USGS; Christina Bowden, USGS: Dean Mericas, LTI; Scott Hinz, LTI; Joel Camann, CDM; Ganesh Ghurye; Jon-Paul Komar, Harris County Storm Water Quality; Joe Phillips, Shell; Steven Johnston, GBEP;. WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS Mary Jane Naquin welcomed participants and opened the meeting at approximately 1:10 PM and selfintroductions were made. REVIEW AGENDA Members accepted the agenda as proposed. ADOPTION OF February 2, 2005 MEETING

SUMMARY

There were no changes to the meeting summary and it was adopted by consensus. TMDL PROJECT STATUS Larry Koenig gave the group a quick summary of where the project stands - data collection is virtually finished, and the modeling portion is just beginning. Data Collection. Dr. Rifai brought the group up to date on the Quality Assurance Project Plan – it was approved in January 2005 with a non-substantive amendment in July that added additional high-resolution sediment sampling. She reviewed the location of sampling stations and the number of dioxin samples collected over the first three phases of this project; profiles of dioxin in water (problem area in San Jacinto river), sediment (peak levels of dioxin have shifted to the lower end of segment 1007), catfish (levels are high in fish caught in the tributaries as similar levels found in water samples) and crab samples (there is a need for outlier analysis for tissue samples); and seasonal trends in samples (some seasonal variation in tissue that is not found in water/sediment samples). Dr. Rifai pointed out that there are high, or relatively high, levels of dioxin in the side bays of the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) and in tributaries. Water Quality Targets. There was discussion about identifying water quality targets – should a Houston Ship Channel-specific standard be developed? Should a standard be water quality-based, tissue-based or sediment-based? Should we go with the current .093 standard or an alternate? There is another question of how much sediment contributes to contamination of the water column. There was an effort to collect both shallow and deep samples. The profile shows stratification with deep concentrations that are on average 1.5 times higher than shallow concentrations. A fugacity analysis also showed the possibility of fluxes of dioxins among the various phases. Dr. Rifai presented Toxic Equivalent data (TEQ) that showed peak levels of 2378-TCDD in Segment 1006 for water and sediment TEQ peak levels in the lower portion of Segment 1007). DRAFT SUBJECT TO REVIEW AND REVISION! Dioxin Stakeholder Meeting 8/31/05 2 Sediments. Peter Santschi, Texas A & M University Galveston (TAMUG) is doing a geochronology study of sediment and results to date show dioxin present as long as 100 years ago (non-anthropogenic), but the data from this study has not yet undergone Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC). Flow. Dr. Rifai’s team took flow measurements at fifteen locations and created flow vs. depth variation curves. Six to eight measurements were taken at each location within a week. The question is ‘can instream loads be calculated using the flow data’? Ambient Air. EPA national studies have pointed to air as a signif cant source of dioxins. By and large sampling results at the five air monitoring stations show TEQ concentrations are consistent with some peaks and outliers. 2378-TCDD and three other congeners are present in the vapor stage but not in particulates; five to six are found in both gas and particles; while seven to eight are mostly sorbed in particles. For ambient air, the technical team identified a number of sources of dioxin using the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Diesel fuel, unleaded fuel vehicles, utility boilers and pulp mills are the four types of dioxin-generating activities that appear in the data clusters using EPA’s Dioxin Congener Profile Source. The data collected for this project seems to show that 2378-TCDD is not present in particles in ambient air (It is present in vapor). Runoff. The technical team monitored storm water runoff in 2002 and again in 2005. There are still outstanding samples. Comparing the 2002 and 2005 results, there are some changes in the congener patterns. There appears to be nothing definitive to say at this time and this situation requires more thought before any conclusion can be made. Potential Source. There is a possible source of dioxin in Segment 1001 of the San Jacinto River just upstream of the IH 10 Bridge. It was a facility that went out of business in the 1970s that had abandoned pits and because of subsidence and erosion is now completely submerged. This location is very near where samples in Segment 1001 show high levels of dioxin. Currently TCEQ’s Superfund team is doing some follow up investigation as to what the abandoned pits contained. TCEQ is requesting anyone with aerial photographs of this location that would show the facility before it shut down to assist the Superfund Site investigation by sharing the photos. Load Estimates. Looking at dioxin loads to the channel, from point sources, runoff, and direct deposition compared to the total load leaving the Houston Ship Channel, 2378-TCDD loads total about 16% and TEQ totals are about 59% of the load leaving the channel. For this TMDL the central issue is still from where does the 2378-TCDD come. It is still there, and if we, look at sediment it might provide a little more of the answer as well as looking at the potential source in Segment 1001. The team proposes to examine sediment in Black Duck Bay (no point sources) and calculate the water concentrations from sediment resulting from partitioning from bottom sediment to dissolved phase. Once this partitioning coefficient is calculated, it could be applied to all the other locations and see how it compares to the profile and see if a sediment load can be derived. There are still data gaps and additional study will be needed during the implementation planning phase to get answers. Modeling. Dr. Rifai briefed the group that the team will be modeling dynamic situations (WASP 7 and DYNHYD models); runoff and atmospheric loads (HSPF model); sediment transport (WASP with measured water-sediment partitioning coefficients). Simulations will be completed for 2378-TCDD and major contributors to TEQ. The lower boundary of the modeling effort will be Morgan’s Point. Dr. Rifai guided the stakeholders through the modeling process and what data would be input to the model. There was much discussion among the stakeholders regarding data and the operation aspects of the model. COMMENTS The following points were raised at various points during the ongoing discussion among the stakeholders: There is a need to look at information on the effect of the salt water wedge on stratification and dissolved oxygen levels. DRAFT SUBJECT TO REVIEW AND REVISION! Dioxin Stakeholder Meeting 8/31/05 3 There could be a clue to levels of dioxin in stratified sediment in looking at the Clean Water Act and the cessation of discharging once-through cooling water from Ship Channel Industries. TCEQ has information to track increases in air emissions of dioxins. Need to look at what areas of the Ship Channel were dredged when looking at the data – and what data is coming from dredge and fill sites and d es dredging affect water sampling? The Port of Houston Authority found no dioxins coming off sediment from their sampling. Need to assemble dredging data for the next meeting. Need to look at circulation patterns of Upper Galveston Bay and the distribution of sediments. NEXT STEPS The final report should be completed by the end of September MEMBERSHIP ISSUES Carl Masterson noted that there are a number of stakeholders who have missed multiple meetings and are up for replacement. The group needs to discuss what categories should be represented. It is important to get replacements at the table. Masterson suggested that the group review the attendance record document that was distributed and send any nominations to him and this would be revisited at the next meeting. Mary Jane Naquin pointed out that members should send alternates if they cannot be present at a meeting. NEXT MEETING No definite date was set for the next meeting other than it will probably be December 2005 or early January 2006. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:45 PM.

http://tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/implementation/water/tmdl/26hscdioxin/26-diox08_31_05sum.pdf

Environmental Engineering Science Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Houston Ship Channel Tissue and Sediment

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To cite this paper: Monica P. Suarez, Hanadi S. Rifai, Randy M. Palachek, Kirk E. Dean, Larry Koenig. Environmental Engineering Science. November 1, 2005, 22(6): 891-906. doi:10.1089/ees.2005.22.891.

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Monica P. Suarez Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204. Hanadi S. Rifai Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204. Randy M. Palachek Parsons Water & Infrastructure, Austin, TX 78754. Kirk E. Dean Parsons Water & Infrastructure, Austin, TX 78754. Larry Koenig Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Austin, TX 78711.

Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were measured in sediment, catfish, and crab tissue from 45 locations in the Houston Ship Channel in Texas in the Summer of 2002. Concentrations of individual 2378-substituted congeners ranged from 0.1 to 42,000 ng/kg dry wt, from 0.1 to 230 ng/kg wet wt, and from 0.1 to 260 ng/kg wet wt for sediment, catfish, and crab samples, respectively. OCDD concentrations in sediments were up to two orders of magnitude higher than those for the remaining congeners, but this signature was not observed in catfish and crab samples. Results from this study suggest that despite regulatory controls on discharges from pulp and paper mills, there has been little change over the last 10 years in dioxin concentrations in sediment and tissue from the Houston Ship Channel. Ongoing PCDD/PCDF inputs from urban and industrial areas along the channel as well as resuspension/desorption from contaminated sediments may provide a partial explanation for the lack of change. Simple correlation statistical and principal component analyses were undertaken.

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ees.2005.22.891

Briefing Paper on Houston Area Bayous II:Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay plusAddicks and Barker Reservoirs; Buffalo, Greens and White Oak BayousJim Lester, PhD. and Lisa GonzalezHouston Advanced Research CenterGalveston Bay Status and Trends ProjectFunded by the TCEQ, Galveston Bay Estuary ProgramJuly 2005

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Houston Ship Channel Detail 2000sAcenaphtheneAcenaphthyleneAnthraceneBenzo(a)anthraceneBenzo(a)pyreneChrysene1,2,4,6 DibenzanthraceneFluorantheneFluoreneNaphthalenePCBs nsPhenanthrenePyreneTable 8. Detail of industrial organics in sediments of the Houston Ship Channel.ns = Insufficient sample size (< 10 samples). Table created by the Galveston Bay Indicators Project, HoustonAdvanced Research Center. Data source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

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Public Health Issues Three seafood consumption advisories for Galveston Bay and its tributaries have been issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) since 1990. While the majority of bay and tributary surface waters are not included in seafood consumption advisories, the DSHS advises that consumption of seafood taken from the Houston Ship Channel and portions of Upper Galveston Bay poses an increased risk of adverse human health effects. All three seafood consumption advisories in 1990, 2001, and 2005 were issued for these areas (Figure 1). Contaminants of concern include dioxin, organochlorine pesticides, and PCBs. Species of concern include blue crab, catfish, spotted seatrout, and other species of finfish. Additionally, the DSHS prohibits the commercial harvest of shellfish from this area.

http://www.galvbaydata.org/projects/reports/docs/Watershd_HoustonBayousII.pdf

National Estuary Program Coastal Condition Report Chapter 5: Gulf of Mexico National Estuary Program Coastal Condition, Galveston Bay Estuary Program June 2007

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Water and Sediment Quality The GBEP’s formal indicators for monitoring water quality conditions in the estuary include dissolved oxygen, nitrogen (e.g., nitrate, nitrite, ammonia), total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, total suspended solids/ turbidity, salinity, water temperature, pH, pathogens (e.g., Enterococci, fecal coliform), BOD, and TOC. Of the five subbays in the GBEP study area, only Christmas Bay exhibited a slightly increasing trend in dissolved oxygen concentrations, which rose from 7.0 to 8.0 mg/L between 1969 and 2001 (Lester and Gonzalez, 2003). To help measure changes in nutrient levels over time, the TCEQ monitors ammonia, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. Declines in annual average ammonia levels have been observed in several areas of Galveston Bay, with the most dramatic decline seen in the Houston Ship Channel. For the most part, annual average concentrations remain below screening levels. Nitratenitrite concentrations were highest in the Houston Ship Channel, which demonstrated an increasing trend from about 0 mg/L in 1969 to 1.75 mg/L in 2001. The Intracoastal Waterway East exhibited a significant declining trend in nitrate-nitrite, and the Trinity River had a significant declining trend in phosphorus (since 1969), which has slowed in recent years. None of the five subbays of Galveston Bay showed trends exceeding the estuarine screening levels for nutrients (Lester and Gonzalez, 2003). Annual average concentrations of chlorophyll a have declined across all Galveston Bay subbays and tributaries since 1969, with the largest decreasing trend in chlorophyll a concentrations found in the Houston Ship Channel, San Jacinto River, and Texas City Ship Channel. Monthly average concentrations of chlorophyll a did not show a significant trend in any of the five subbays in Galveston Bay. NCA data collected in 2000 and 2001 for the West Bay region had annual averages similar to those of the TCEQ data, but chlorophyll a concentrations were slightly higher in this region (Lester and Gonzalez, 2003).

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Conclusion Based on data from the NCA estuarine survey, the overall condition of Galveston Bay is rated fair. Data from the GBEP and its partners indicate that, in spite of the large human population and increasing resource demands, Galveston Bay remains productive and, for the most part, healthy. The Bay as a whole is not threatened by eutrophication, and nutrient concentrations are decreasing in many areas of this estuary. Several aquatic species exhibit stable trends in abundance. Galveston Bay is not rapidly degrading in terms of increasing concentrations of toxic or organic pollutants; rather, trends in pollution are mixed. Concentrations of contaminants are decreasing in the most polluted areas of the Bay, but are rising in other areas. Even with these stable and, in some cases, improving trends, focus remains on strategic habitat conservation and pollution control as the region’s population continues to expand and land-use patterns trend towards urbanization.

http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/nepccr/pdf/nepccr_gom_partg.pdf

Media Contact: Tom Harvey, TPWD, (512) 389-4453, tom.harvey@tpwd.state.tx.us; Terry Clawson, TCEQ, (512) 239-5000, TClawson@tceq.state.tx.us

Oct. 11, 2007

San Jacinto River Dioxin Site Proposed for Federal Cleanup HOUSTON, Texas — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed listing an abandoned toxic waste site in the San Jacinto River for the federal National Priorities List (NPL). If approved for inclusion on the NPL the site will be eligible for cleanup in the federal Superfund program.

"This listing results from the cooperative efforts of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Region 6 staff," said Patricia Radloff, Ph.D., TPWD water quality program leader. "Our agency is proud to have done the research that initiated the process. TCEQ took our information and moved quickly to authorize additional sampling, which confirmed very high levels of dioxin in the area. EPA verified the information and proposed the site for the NPL, with support from U.S. representatives Gene Green and Ted Poe. The proposed listing today thus represents the culmination of many people working for years to protect human health and public waters."

In early 2005, TPWD became aware of information that suggested waste pits in a sandbar in the San Jacinto River just north of the Interstate Highway 10 (I-10) bridge, including recent and historical photographs and maps of the area. Anecdotal evidence suggested that pits were operated there from the mid-1960’s until around the mid-1970’s to dispose of paper mill waste. Due to subsidence, the pits went underwater sometime in the 1970’s.

The submerged waste pits represent a previously unidentified major source of dioxin and other toxins for the San Jacinto River, the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay. Paper mill waste from the 1960’s and 70’s is known to contain high levels of dioxins and other toxic chemicals from chlorine bleaching processes then in use.

The potential presence of sediment contamination is an immediate concern since the San Jacinto River near the I-10 bridge is very active with respect to dredging, sand mining, and barge berthing. These activities may be spreading potentially contaminated sediments or resuspending dioxins in the water column. Therefore, scientists consider inclusion on the NPL paramount to remove this potential threat to the river, fish and wildlife and people.

"The discovery of this contaminant source and swift action to address it would make a significant contribution to remediate damage done to the health of the Galveston Bay ecosystem," stated Larry McKinney, Ph.D., TPWD coastal fisheries director. "If the site is listed for federal cleanup the human health benefits are clear, but we would also expect to see direct benefits for our fishery, especially for species like spotted seatrout."

In April 2005, TPWD wrote TCEQ advising officials there of the new information and requesting assistance to make sure appropriate measures were taken to protect fish and wildlife. TCEQ moved quickly and sampling under the Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection (PASI) program at TCEQ was conducted that summer. A complete site inspection report, including sampling data analysis and other background information, was ready in early 2007.

In addition, TCEQ approved reallocating resources for the Houston Ship Channel Dioxin Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project to sample a broad area around the I-10 Bridge. TMDL project sampling was conducted in August 2005 and results were published in January 2006. The PASI study found very high levels of dioxin in the waste pit area, while the TMDL sampling found elevated levels of dioxin over a much larger area.

The proposed listing stems from EPA’s review of the state site inspection report. Federal scientists have said they agree the site presents a significant threat and must be cleaned up. In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Governor Rick Perry expressed the state’s support for EPA’s plan to add the polluted area to the priorities list.

The term dioxin is used to represent a family of environmentally persistent chlorinated organic chemicals. Dioxins are closely related to two other chemical families, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These compounds are potent animal toxicants and represent a threat to aquatic life and human health at extremely low concentrations. While many organic chemicals are toxic at parts per million concentrations, dioxins and furans are known to be toxic in the parts per trillion and parts per quadrillion ranges.

In addition, dioxins and furans bioaccumulate in animal tissue and their tissue concentrations biomagnify as they move up the food chain. Dioxins can alter the fundamental growth and development of cells. In humans, adverse effects include suppression of the immune system, a variety of reproductive effects from reduced fertility to birth defects, chloracne, and cancer.

Since the 1970’s, sources of dioxin have been greatly reduced, but some sources still exist in combustion of fossil fuels and wood, incineration of solid waste, and certain chemical manufacturing processes.

The Houston Ship Channel, including the lower San Jacinto River, and Upper Galveston Bay are known to be contaminated with dioxin. The Texas Department of State Health Services, formerly the Texas Department of Health, has issued several fish consumption advisories. In 1990, TDH issued a fish consumption advisory for all species of fish and blue crabs for dioxin, organochlorine pesticides and PCBs for the upper portion of the Houston Ship Channel including the San Jacinto River below the U.S. Highway 90 bridge.

In 2001, the agency issued an advisory for all species of catfish and blue crabs for dioxin for Upper Galveston Bay and the lower portion of the Houston Ship Channel. And in 2005, TDH issued an advisory for spotted seatrout for polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) for the Houston Ship Channel including the San Jacinto River below the U.S. Highway 90 bridge, Tabbs Bay, and Upper Galveston Bay.

In response to the 1990 advisory, in 2000 TCEQ’s precursor agency began a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project to identify sources of dioxin and determine the amount of dioxin that the Ship Channel can receive and still support its use as a fishery. Sampling conducted as part of the TMDL project, and earlier sampling done as part of a Houston Ship Channel toxicity study, found high concentrations of dioxins in fish and crab tissue and in the sediments in the San Jacinto River near the I-10 bridge. The TMDL sampling also found high concentrations of dioxin in water there. In both studies the source of dioxin in or near the San Jacinto River could not be identified.

——— On the Net:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund program: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Houston Ship Channel Dioxin TMDL: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/26-hscdioxin.html Texas Department of State Health Services, Seafood and Aquatic Life Consumption Bans and Advisories: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/survey.shtm#info
2007-10-11

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20071011a

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Interference at the EPA - Science and Politics at the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency
please see full text ;
http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Baycliff, Texas USA 77518