Don’t Stop Now – Help Us Keep Winning – DMN Urges Gas Vote

Four years ago, when the Dallas Drilling Fight began in earnest, the issue was not familiar to most of the city's residents or its major daily newspaper. Then, it was just a handful of residents like Ed and Claudia Meyer, Raymond Crawford and others who were raising objections to sites being considered so close to their neighborhoods.

In 2013, things have changed a lot, thanks to you.

We've defeated the Trinity East permits twice now – once last December and again in March – despite opposition from the Mayor, most of the Council, and City Hall staff. That was your doing –  showing up in unprecedented numbers to City Plan Commission meetings and raising so much constructive hell that they couldn't ignore you or the issue.

We've convinced the Dallas Morning News to editorialize against those permits, and as of today, call for a full council vote on them that would probably result in their definitive denial.  That's also thanks to you.

Like a dog tugging a single thread from a blanket, we've held on and unraveled one of the largest City Hall scandals in recent memory – discovering a secret memo signed by the Dallas City Manager pledging her support and the support of her staff to see that Trinity East got permission to drill in parks and flood plains. Your persistence in the fight created the time to unearth this critical document.

Because of that persistence, this Spring there's not a single Dallas city council race questionnaire that doesn't ask the candidates where they stand on the drilling issue. You've helped us put it at the top of everyone's public agenda.

From an afterthought to front page news, you've helped us win this fight so far. So we're asking you to do a little bit more to bring it home.

1) If you haven't aleady, tell the current city council to Vote on the Trinity East permits and vote No. It takes all of 30 seconds to send a quick e-mail to the Mayor and Council.

2) If you're a Dallas resident, please vote for a "no drilling in parks" candidate in the municipal election scheduled for May 11th (early voting begins April 29th). These are the five strongest candidates:

Scott Griggs in District 1

Adam Medrano in District 2

Claudia Meyer in District 3

Leland Burk in District 13

Phillip Kingston in District 14

3) Please consider a donation to Downwinders at Risk. We're launching our mid-year appeal for funding. It's your generosity that's kept us in the game. We depend on grassroots funding from ordinary citizens such as you. We don't have a DC or Austin office. We just do work in DFW. And we only do these fundraising events twice a year – once in December and once in April, so your participation is important.

The one last December was our most successful effort yet – generating enough donations from you to be able to fund four months of continual campaigning. That was your money paying to turn citizens out for the Plan Commission meetings, to host news conferences, to spend on gas for appoitnments all over town, for a briefing book on the environmental health effects of drilling that was handed out to every Plan Commission member. Your contributions went directly to the front lines of the drilling fight.

But your money also went to our work in Frisco, helping residents there campaign for a more protective clean-up after 50 years of fallout and waste from the Exide lead smelter. We’ve been holding the company and regulatory agencies accountable because nobody else is willing or able to do the job.

Your December contributions also paid for the first baby steps to establish a local pool of medical expertise that could provide support to citizens fighting public health threats from pollution. This is a resource that’s much needed, but nobody else was stepping up to provide it until we began our fledgling effort.

You also paid for us to participate in national strategy sessions about how to keep the cement plants in Midlothian from becoming larger and larger waste disposal operations and challenge EPA’s approval of the new weakened emission rules for kilns.

Now it’s April. That means the start of “ozone season” here in DFW. For the last two years, DFW has seen smog get worse. We also saw the failure of yet another state “clean air plan.” With this year’s drought, we could again see lots of bad air days. We’re the only group that’s doing local anti-smog work and that means the next six months will be busy.

And that’s what we're asking you to help us pay for this time – the next four, the next six, the next eight months worth of organizing work in Dallas-Ft. Worth on clean air issues – wherever and whatever the battles are – Dallas, Frisco, Midlothian, down the street from you, wherever.

You know we work hard at putting your money to work for your lungs. We're asking that you grade us on our last four months of that work, and if you agree we've done a pretty good job, then please drop a bill in the jar. We need the money to keep fighting. Thanks.

Give securely online at https://www.downwindersatrisk.org/donate. Thanks.

Jim Schermbeck, Director, Downwinders at Risk