Promise of Clean Water Act unfulfilled

Industrial facilities dumped 13 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas' waterways in 2007, according to a report we released this fall. "While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in Texas are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals," said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.

According to the report, Texas' worst water polluters are Pilgrim's Pride Chicken in Mount Pleasant, Sanderson Farms Chicken in Bryan and Shell Oil in Deer Park. Much of this pollution is discharged into public waterways. Industrial facilities discharged approximately 27,500 pounds of chemicals linked to cancer into the Brazos River. More than 150,000 pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped in to the Guadalupe River. The Houston Ship Channel is ranked 15th in the nation for most total toxic discharges, with nearly 3 million pounds discharged in 2007.

A recent study by University of Houston associate professor Dr. Hanadi Rifai found that 96 percent of the fish tested in the Houston Ship Channel had dioxin levels well above both state and EPA standards. But despite the alarming statistics, the Houston Ship Channel continues to be a popular fishing spot. "People regularly go crabbing and fishing in the Houston Ship Channel and it's unacceptable that industry continues to treat it as its personal commode," said Ed Parten, President of Texas Black Bass Unlimited.

But instead of curbing this pollution, the Bush administration spent much of the last eight years creating loopholes that enabled it. First, Bush officials exempted various types of pollution--from pesticide spraying to mountaintop mining--from standard clean water protections. Then these officials used court decisions to issue a "no protection" policy, which put thousands of wetlands, headwaters, and streams beyond the reach of the Clean Water Act.

Now Environment Texas is working with Congress and the Obama administration to reverse these rollbacks--so that all of our waterways are protected from all types of pollution under the Clean Water Act.