"A Water War Is Developing"

"A water war is developing," that's how rancher and conservationist, Bill Addington, puts it in a recent Facebook post. Bill was recently interviewed for a story that appeared in the Houston Chronicle two days ago: As the oil patch demands more water, West Texas fights over a scarce resource. (Of course this story didn't run in the El Paso Times - it isn't midwest or east coast enough. They also missed this story which is even closer to home: El Paso case could set the path for rooftop solar. They also missed telling us that one of our EPISD Trustees, Susie Byrd, completely shucked her duties and missed a vote on a $500 Million budget so she could be with Veronica Escobar in Washington DC to start currying favor with the PACs Escobar will need for her run for Congress. Of course, Bob Moore would never betray his puppetmasters.)

Sorry - I digress. Read the Chronicle story about demands for water. Some key points:

• "West Texas land baron and oilman is on the verge of pumping 5.4 million gallons of water a day" to the Permian Basin for fracking.
• Hughes is not the only person wanting to pump precious water to the Permian Basin for fracking oil. There are other water pirates.
• That water is precious to ranchers and farmers. Some springs have already dried up.
• Energy companies use water by the billions of gallons for fracking (See chart above).
• "West Texas' network of aquifers are interconnected; water pumped from one can reduce flow in another."
• The Permian Basin contains the nation's most bountiful oil fields and is the most profitable.

Addison has published a list of Rep. Will Hurd's next Town Hall meetings and is urging people to attend and speak out against pumping water needed by ranchers, farmers, resorts and, well, just plain folk. 

Sunday, August 6, 2017
EL PASO- 1:00pm-2:30pm Dairy Queen, 800 N Zaragoza Rd, El Paso, TX 79907
SOCORRO- 3:00pm-4:30pm Peter Piper Pizza, 10870 North Loop Road, Socorro, TX 79927
Monday, August 7, 2017
PRESIDIO- 10:00am-11:00am The Enlightened Bean Café, 201 W O’Reilly St, Presidio, TX 79845
ALPINE- 1:30pm-3:00pm Sul Ross State University, Lobo Village Community Room, East Highway 90, Alpine, TX 79832
FORT STOCKTON- 5:30pm-7:00pm Dairy Queen, 408 W Dickinson Blvd, Fort Stockton, TX 79735
Tuesday, August 8, 2017

PECOS- 10:00am-11:30am Dairy Queen, 1226 S Eddy St, Pecos, TX 79772

Says Addington: "It is critical we attend Rep Will Hurd's Town Hall meeings. I will be attending the Pecos Town Hall at the Dairy Queen this Tuesday, August 8th. We must find an elected Reprentative to start championing our critical issue of water and the future of our region. Several Water Pirate companies and the oil & gas industry have targeted our homelands for extreme extraction and export via huge long pipelines to supply the Permisn Basin trillions of gallons of our aquifer ancient waters for extraction and export."

Addington posted on Monday:

"A water war is developing. Our side wants our precious ancient and finate aquifer water to continue to be sustainably used for drinking water for our communities, our cattle and other domestic animials on our farms and ranches, and for our wildlife and river. The Water Pirates want to put that all of our futures at risk by water mining, unsustainably taking vast amounts of water out of the underground bolsons by pumping and transfering our shared waters far away to the oilfields in the Permian and Delaware basins for thousands of gas and oil hydraulic fracturing aka frack wells. Each well fracked can use 2 - 8 million gallons of water, sometimes much more. Multipy this number by 2,000 wells. We cannot allow this to happen. Many more water pirate companies will want to drill, pump and send our aquifer water away to the vast oilfield in the Permain Basin if caring residents do not stand up and defend their home and their familie's future."

There are some things that should be held in common and never be private property: air and water are the two biggies.

EP Times Pays Attention to Elpasonaturally

Bill Addington

There have been many instances in the past when the El Paso Times finds a story from an elpasonaturally post. Yesterday's front page story Oil, Gas Plans Spark Protest by Marty Schladen is the newest example. Last week I posted Pay Attention: What's Happening in North Dakota is Happening Just South of El Paso. 

It's easy to see why so much attention is directed toward the protest in North Dakota. It is taking on epic proportions as a Native American act of independance with particiapation from tribes from as faraway as the Pacific Northwest. Big Bend too gets attention because it's Big Bend. El Paso activists continue to focus on N. Dakota. Only Bill Addington through his Facebook posts has shone a light on the pipeline going to San Elizario as well.

Love Water Not Oil and Gas

If you are on Facebook, you might consider befriending my friend, Bill Addington. Bill's posts are just about always about environmental activism. The image above comes from his August 31st post.

Nancy "the Wolf Lady" Bain wrote this comment to Bill's post: "Oil is death to our planet. We don't need to pump any more and don't need to pipeline it either. A spill destroys all it touches. YES DESTROYS. We need more solar and wind energy and there is now wind towers that jiggle so the wind fan blades are not necessary just the jiggle towers and I understand they are more efficient."

Of course, the problem in the United States is that just about everything runs on oil or natural gas. The relatively new technology of fracking continues to provide us with cheaper prices at the pump and everywhere else. The cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump is currently rising again. However at an average $2.57/gallon in the United States that is still cheaper than countries in Europe. Italy - $6.15/gallon. France - $5.62/gallon. $6.53 in Norway and $5.80 in England. Russia comes in at $2.15. Why? Like us they are oil and gas rich. (See Bloomberg's Gasoline Prices around the World)

From www.iter.org

Because Europe is not oil rich, they have become the leaders in alternative energy - wind, solar and soon fusion. Yes, fusion. Not nuclear. fusion. The French fusion generator, Iter, once online will produce 500 MW of power - 10X more than it will require to run.

So, what will happen if fracking is banned and Canadian pipelines are shutdown and tar sand operations (the Dachau for killing Mother Earth) is halted? What would happen to the price of gasoline at the pump? $5/gallon? $6/gallon? Maybe then we will start in earnest investing more in alternative forms of energy. With the Tesla battery and other battery technologies, there is now no reason not to power our homes and businesses with electrical power from alternative sources. There are plenty of reasons to stop destroying our earth and furthering the apocalypse of climate change.

Love Water not Oil.

Mountain Committee Duties Given to Open Space Advisory Board

In order to streamline government and save the taxpayers of El Paso some money, City Council at its meeting yesterday eliminated 7 advisory boards or transferred their duties to another board or commission.

In the past the Mountain Committee has been tasked with reviewing development applications in the hillside and mountain development areas which contain the bulk of El Paso's ecologically sensitive land so that development doesn't disrupt the environment in those areas. Staff recommended to Council that CPC assume these duties.

However, some citizens approached board members and suggested that the Open Space Advisory Board take over the Mountain Committee duties. At the Council meeting Sierra Club President, Bill Addington, also spoke in favor of OSAB being the best home for the Mountain Committee's former oversights. Representative Byrd requested the change and Council passed her recommendation.

Charlie Wakeem, a member of the OSAB, was jubilant. He announced to others: "When the item to abolish the Mountain Committee came up, Susie Byrd made the motion to turn its duties over to the OSAB. It passed unanimously!"

Also at yesterday's meeting, the Council approved the appointment of Mr. Addington to the Open Space Board - an appointment made by Representative Rachel Quintana.

Urban Sprawl

The El Paso City Council yesterday voted unanimously to annex some additional land on the eastside. Local Sierra Club President Bill Addington spoke to the Council about Sierra Club's policy that cities should attempt to fill inward rather than annexing new land.

In its Sprawl Overview, the Sierra Club states: "Poorly planned development threatens our environment, our health, and our quality of life in numerous ways. Sprawl spreads development out over large amounts of land; puts long distances between homes, stores, and job centers; and makes people more and more dependent on driving in their daily lives."

There is a large section on the Club's web site devoted to the issue of sprawl.

The Project for Public Spaces has also discussed the issue of sprawl extensively.

El Paso really doesn't have a comprehensive plan for sustainable development. The Open Space plan, the Parks Master Plan and the soon-to-be-released Stormwater Management Plan are steps in the right direction as are new development ordinances. Nevertheless there is no plan for sustainability - one that also takes into account the preservation of native plants and animals.