Bad news in west bay!!!!!!

[Gater]

Has any of the video been sent to local TV?

There are other locations (such as the Flower Gardens NMS) that have an advisory group comprised of concerned groups (recreational and commercial fisherman, other citizens, environmental, etc). Maybe we (or CCA if they were doing their job) should push for an advisory board that would have input for situation like this or any other (such as new developments) that come along.

Lori CCA has been involved with this ever since the news broke and I have been in contact with them sharing information back and forth. It's not CCA's job, your job, my job or anyone else in the private sector to review permits. Rules and guidelines are in place for things like this to not happen and for whatever reason it slipped through the cracks.

Gater

[Gater]

If any of ya'll are members I'd like to know if CCA has some kind of write up about in next Tide publication . I really think they are more into preperations for their get rich STAR tourney . Conservationist ??? My Gluteus Maximus

Paul, not to get off topic but I'm sorry to say, CCA does not make money off the STAR tournament.
I cannot say what the articles are for the coming Tide issues but thats a great idea I will pass it along.
Not so much the dredging part but an article about the seagrass returning to the upper coast.

Gater

[Lori77563]

HMM let me see. CCA = Coastal Conservation Assoc. ain't saving the seagrass, oyster beds, etc. part of the coast and conservation. Maybe it should be part of their job, they should be proactive not reactive in issues such as this. 17% of CCA Texas finances goes to administration (pretty high for a charitable organization, per Charity Navigator). Maybe if more was spent on protecting not as much would have to be spent on replanting/rebuilding.

Permiting and oversight came about because of pressure being put on government and industry by people. Permiting processes and requirements need to change with the times and it is not until a major incident (anyone remember the little oil spill off the Louisiana coast) occurs when everyone is finger pointing that things are changed. Maybe it's time these permiting procedures need to be changed and they will not change unless we demand it or do we want to revisit this again in 5 or 10 years.

[Ms Addicted]

Kaylyn, the local TP&WD office in Dickinson has been aware of the situation. It was brought to their attention last week.
You are dealing with the Law Enforcement division in LaMarque. Capt. Eddie Tanuz is good people and even though they might not be able to help it's good that they are aware of what's going on. Know matter who you talk with at the TP&WD, they all seem to be just as unhappy as we are but sadly they don't have a whole lot of say. Thanks for making the calls!

Gater

Thanks for the heads up Steve. The phone call caught me by surprise as I had just gotten up (I work nights) and wasnt mentally prepared to ask a bunch of questions. I was just pleased with the personal follow up call from him. I am sure they have very little actual stroke in this mess but the more people who know and who are riled up the better.

[Termo]

This dredging is heartbreaking! I had a friend that went to the areas and said he thinks it may not be as bad as we feared. I pray he is right!

[WestEndAngler]

This dredging is heartbreaking! I had a friend that went to the areas and said he thinks it may not be as bad as we feared. I pray he is right!

Was out there again today they had started to pump again

[WestEndAngler]

Makes sense... I saw a big machine on the land next to your camp Paul, a guy was out there near it had a small fire going.

[RedfishAssassin]

Were they pumping back into the flats or were they pumping into that area me and you saw on the land?

[JimG]

Yesterday around three pm they were pumping onto the flats, stilll up in the corner. Could see lots of flow right near the shoreline. We went through the cut and saw the next outflow pipe already set up over the island on the east side of the cut. No evidence of any intention to pump to the north side of ICW. Did see the big crawler trackhoe near the camp on north side.

Coe, was that you in the mudboat right up on the shoreline?

Jim

[Ibtsoom]

Awesome write up in the paper today..

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/281758

[JimG]

WOW! Excellent work by GDN! Bravo!

[Swells]

I'm starting to get the impression that the state and federal guv'mints weren't talking to each other. The Corps had a 1975 environmental assessment that let them blow dredge spoils anywhere they wanted. The TCEQ and state had a much more up to date assessment done in 2005 - which specifically protected sea grass and oyster beds. You would think there would be some consulting between the guv'mints but there was not.

So I think we need to change all that. We had a problem with the Corps down here in SPI when they dredged the ship channel and cut down into pure, hard, Rio Mud. The dredger contacted the Corps and said "we got a problem here with all the s**t ending up on the beach." The Corps said to go ahead anyway and they'd fix it later. About 50,000 cubic yards of heavy chunks of mud were blasted onto our county park, Isla Blanca. It was so bad they had to rope the area off, and swimmers and surfers got sick in the surf. Obviously not "beach quality sand" for sure.

See the Corps is like the FAA which regulates the airports and airlines - they could give a darn for us lowly people because they promote the shipping trade and their contractors, pure and simple. It is true that there are a lot of towboats on the Pelican Island to Freeport ICW, about 8,000 trips either way every year (Bolivar to Port Arthur has over twice as many but still that's a lot). So the Corps, acting in the interest of a hundred million dollar petrochemical industry, decided to "blow and go" and try to sneak a maintenance dredging job in over the winter.

What they didn't know was that the West End Crew was out there in full force!

I think the lessons to learn here is to get over this stupid project, get some money for sea grass replanting ... and make all those turkeys sit down at the table and come up with a new environmental assessment and maintenance plan. Drafts of these plans should be available for comment by all public parties. Make it so that if the dredger or Corps didn't follow The Plan, there would be corrective and legal actions. We probably need a unified plan for the entire ICW from east or Orange to Port Isabel. So what if it takes a minor war and two years?

We need to get it right.

Merry Christmas, 2011

[WestEndAngler]

Were they pumping back into the flats or were they pumping into that area me and you saw on the land?

Back on the flats they had not moved the discharge

[WestEndAngler]

From what I've heard , they have 2 levees built running parrallel the length of the spoils . They will be pumping into those , and also around our camp starting Tuesday . All second hand info .

The pictures I posted earlier confirm the placement of the 2nd discharge in a low lying area which is more than likely between the 2 spoil banks East of Carranchua cut.

[Lori77563]

Amen!!!!!!!!

I'm starting to get the impression that the state and federal guv'mints weren't talking to each other. The Corps had a 1975 environmental assessment that let them blow dredge spoils anywhere they wanted. The TCEQ and state had a much more up to date assessment done in 2005 - which specifically protected sea grass and oyster beds. You would think there would be some consulting between the guv'mints but there was not.

So I think we need to change all that. We had a problem with the Corps down here in SPI when they dredged the ship channel and cut down into pure, hard, Rio Mud. The dredger contacted the Corps and said "we got a problem here with all the s**t ending up on the beach." The Corps said to go ahead anyway and they'd fix it later. About 50,000 cubic yards of heavy chunks of mud were blasted onto our county park, Isla Blanca. It was so bad they had to rope the area off, and swimmers and surfers got sick in the surf. Obviously not "beach quality sand" for sure.

See the Corps is like the FAA which regulates the airports and airlines - they could give a darn for us lowly people because they promote the shipping trade and their contractors, pure and simple. It is true that there are a lot of towboats on the Pelican Island to Freeport ICW, about 8,000 trips either way every year (Bolivar to Port Arthur has over twice as many but still that's a lot). So the Corps, acting in the interest of a hundred million dollar petrochemical industry, decided to "blow and go" and try to sneak a maintenance dredging job in over the winter.

What they didn't know was that the West End Crew was out there in full force!

I think the lessons to learn here is to get over this stupid project, get some money for sea grass replanting ... and make all those turkeys sit down at the table and come up with a new environmental assessment and maintenance plan. Drafts of these plans should be available for comment by all public parties. Make it so that if the dredger or Corps didn't follow The Plan, there would be corrective and legal actions. We probably need a unified plan for the entire ICW from east or Orange to Port Isabel. So what if it takes a minor war and two years?

We need to get it right.

Merry Christmas, 2011