"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.

Makes You Wonder

Alamo Drafthouse Parking Lot. Erosion is coming from the Arroyo side.

Yesterday I mentioned TxDOT Regional Engineer Robert Bielek's concern about the development at the Top Golf site. It seems that the developer has underestimated how much run-off the development will cause and, thus, in Bielek's words, "compromise the stability of the embankment upon which I-10 sits." Although alerted to the problem, the City continues to "permit" EPT to develop the land. Bielek has told the City that TxDOT "will consider the City equally responsible for any damage to to the I-10 embankment or our [TxDOT's] drainage structure because of this oversight." 

Surely our city leaders care more about the safety of people and the integrity of our freeways and less about whether they could win a legal battle with TxDOT. Surely our city leaders want to do the right thing by satisfying TxDOT with an acceptable plan. I sent a link to yesterday's blog post to Mayor Margo, City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and Khalil Zaied. I asked for responses. As expected, there have been no responses. (One possible good note: Mr. Bielek just now told me that "[the TxDOT] staff has been meeting with the developer but no final resolution as yet." Sounds as if yesterday's post has had impact.)

I am aware that EPT also did the Alamo Drafthouse project. Many of us watched in horror as an arroyo was destroyed and an entire hillside dug out. The destruction of this open space was justified by the fact that is would be a "new urban" project. 

I went by the Alamo Drafthouse today and noticed an inordinate amount of sand/dirt in the parking lot. I asked the manager about it and was told that they get the erosion every time that it rains. I'm not an engineer, nor do I play one on televsion and I don't really know about the drainage solutions that I saw. However, what I saw does concern me. Over time, judging from the dirt in the lot, there will be a considerable amount of erosion. 

This picture and the one below are from the retaining wall between the entrance to the theater parking lot and the hillside topped by the apartments. Note the stain and rocks from erosion.

Apparently EPT's solution to the instability of the hill next to the theater, was to put some kind of fabric on top of the slope and drill horizontal pipes into the hillside. As the pictures show, the erosion doesn't come down the slope, it feeds through the pipes.

I do wonder whether similar drainage solutions are being used by EPT at the Top Golf site and, if so, I better understand what Bob Bielek is saying.

I certainly would not live in the apartments above Alamo Drafthouse. 

Will the City of El Paso Destroy Cement Lake?

Cement Lake

The City of El Paso's apparent failure to address a critical drainage issue at the Top Golf construction site might very well destroy one of El Paso's rare gems, Cement Lake. Moreover, according to TxDOT Regional Engineer, Bob Bielek, the failure of the City to address the matter with the developer of Top Golf, EPT Land Communities, might also "overload the structure and compromise the stability of the embankment upon which I-10 sits.  This could have additional effects on the lake such as excess siltation."

Bielek also says that "it does appear that the developer is underestimating the contribution of the development to the overall runoff, and there appears to be insufficient retention on the developer’s site to adequately meter the flows in a way that will protect the embankment and the drainage structure."

The City of El Paso has apparently provided the developer with a permit to construct Top Golf but has failed to consult with TxDOT regarding drainage requirements including not just the embankment of the freeway but Cement Lake. The developer has furnished no credible plan to TxDOT.

Bielek told City Council about this problem last March. Elpasonaturally has asked him three times since then whether they have recived a credible plan. Mr. Bielek's last reply came nine days ago on July 24th in an email: "Still waiting on an acceptable design."

Bielek did contact the City Manager, Tommy Gonzalez, months ago and yet there is still no "acceptable plan". It would seem that the City has permitted the developer to undermine the integrity of I-10 and destroy Cement Lake. Bielek says, "that we [TxDOT] will consider the City equally responsible for any damage to the I-10 embankment or our drainage structure because of this oversight."

El Paso Water, city environmental and open space activists have sought for many years to preserve El Paso's natural Cement Lake.

Something to Brag About

From this . . .

To This

All of us get the El Paso Electric Newsletter with our monthly bill. This month EPE is touting their new community solar facility. I was impressed by these two sentences:

"After the first year of operation, generation from this 3,000 kW facility will prevent more than 11 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from entering our atmosphere. This is equal to saving almost five million gallons of water and planting more than one hundred twenty-eight thousand trees."

Without getting into the debate about rooftop versus community or the current rate case and the contention that EPE is hobbling their rooftop competition, the above facts are something to brag about.

I repeat what CEO Mary Kipp said in the newsletter:

"We're very excited to bring this new facility online and begin generating credits for our customers who wanted to invest in solar energy without any equipment or embedded subsidies . . . We have several utility scale solar facilities that are part of our generation mix, and this latest project allows us to keep supporting innovation in renewable energy, and make it more accessible to our customers through our Community Solar Program."

They Aren't Asking for a Big Sacrifice

This is Lineman Appreciation Month
Linewomen Too?

Last week KFOX14 ran this story: Residents frustrated after El Paso Electric asks them to cut back after recent outages. Reporter, Kaylee Heck, quoted resident, Elizabeth Lopez. "'The bills keep going up higher each month because of the heat, but now we don't have the service we're paying for,'" Lopez said. 

They don't have the service they are paying for? No. They paid for the service that they got. EPEC doesn't charge for the future delivery of electrons. It charges for the electrons that you demanded and got. 

They gave the residents of this eastside El Paso community a list of ways to conserve electricity while they replace a transformer. I know how frustrating and aggravating it is to be without power or water or gas. I did it for a week while I was living in Washington State. The cats and I survived. In this case, no one is going without power as the work is done. Asking for energy conservation buys the insurance that no one will go without power. 

Here's my main point. The list of conservation tips that they gave the neighborhood is exactly the same list of conservation tips that they recommend for everyone else:

• Set your thermostat at 78°F or higher - every degree of extra cooling will increase energy usage six to eight percent.
• Use ceiling fans and portable fans to circulate the cool air.
• Install patio covers, awnings, and solar window screens to shade your home from the sun. Shade south and west windows with plants or trees to block the heat during the summer.
• Close interior blinds, drapes, or shades to block the sun and heat during warm weather.
• Consider using a clothesline instead of a clothes dryer.
• Outside air conditioning units, or condensers, should be shaded.
• On warm days raise your thermostat to 80°F or higher if leaving for more than four hours.
• Setting your thermostat to a lower temperature than normal will not cool your home faster.
• Try to save heat and humidity-generating activities (cooking, laundering, and dishwashing) for early morning or evening hours.

I use ceiling and portable fans. I have shade trees. I close the interior shades. I use a clothesline (except in inclement weather). I do not run applicances like the dishwasher or clothes washer while running my AC. Etc.

I'm not bragging but concurring. I know that EPEC is especially unpopular now because they are asking for a rate hike. Nevertheless, they encourage energy conservation and, Ms. Lopez, they bill you for the amount of electricity that you use. The tips are good for cutting down that amount and making sure that everyone has uninterrupted service.

Get the inside scoop on what's happening at Hueco Tanks State Park

Attention all nature park lovers - get the inside scoop on what's happening at Hueco Tanks State Park when Superintendent Ruben Ocampo gives his "State of the Park" report at a Greater Big Bend Coalition Meeting on Saturday morning, July 15 at 11am at the Northeast Regional Command Center in El Paso on Dyer. Ruben will cover the park's interpretive program, erosion and d-stretch. The d-stretch method is used to find new pigments in the park. This image enhancement technique helps brings out very faint rock art. Learn more about the meeting at https://greaterbigbend.wordpress.com/…/state-of-the-park-h…/

God of the Mountain

Sunrise Hikers before a trek to Schaeffer Shuffle. Karl Putnam is the second person from the left.

If memory serves me correctly, it was Michelle Tan who deemed Karl Putnam "God of the Mountain". It was on one of our early Sunrise Hikers outings. She also decided that, if Karl was the GOM, I was his Moses. Moshe became my hiker moniker. I probably got the name because I would tell the Sunrise Hikers that our destination was just around the corner and then we would wander farther in the desert mountains.

Karl died yesterday as a result of a thirty foot plunge off a cliff. He had taken yet another group up to the site of the 1944 B-24 crash in Red Rock Canyon. At the site is a cross, which Karl erected since the original had rotted. Also there is a plaque which Karl restored. It bears the names of the airmen who perished in that crash. The cross sits above a cliff. During a group picture by the cross, Karl apparently passed out and tumbled over the precipice.

[Go to www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com to view video if you don't see it here.]

GOM had favorite hikes - the B-24 crash sites, the B-36 crash site, Kenyon Joyce Canyon and the Knife Edge on the ridge of Mt. Franklin - the most dangerous part of the ridge to cross. Karl was an intrepid climber who even made it to the top of the Mammoth's tusk using belts and, only later, more sophisticated gear.

Here's the main thing I want to say about Karl. He was a friend. When I began to have heart problems, I couldn't walk and climb as fast as I once did. Others in the group would let me fall behind. Karl didn't. He stayed with me. When the group scaled up the rocks of the Thunderbird, I realized that I wouldn't make it. Karl grabbed my arm and pulled me up. 

The Sunrise Hikers played an important role in getting more and more people interested in group hikes. However, thanks to Michael Romero, who founded the El Paso Hiking Group, the number of hikers ever since has grown geometrically. Karl was one of the principal organizers.

He loved sharing his hikes with others and always wanted people to enjoy the outings. He always asked me how someone from the early days of the Sunrise Hikers was doing. He cared for each of them individually, along with everyone else he led on subsequent hikes. He was just that kind of guy.

Something tells me that he will live on in the Franklins. From now on when I look up at the mountains, I will think about Karl Putnam, God of the Mountain.

This Fall's Celebration of Our Mountains will be dedicated to him.