Seeing Progress On $84 A Day

Like What We Just Accomplished in Dallas? Please Help Us Keep Doing Good Work. Donate Before January 1. Thanks.

"One of the toughest gas-drilling ordinances, not just in the Barnett Shale, but in the nation." That's what the media has been saying about the new Dallas gas drilling ordinance that residents won last Wednesday at City Hall.

Thanks to everyone who ever came out to a Planning Commission or City Council meeting or hearing. Thanks to those who provided a spectrum of heart-felt testimony. Thanks to those who sent e-mails when we asked you to, wrote letters and made phone calls. Thanks for hanging tough with us through the long slog of Trinity East battles, followed by the laborious job of actually writing a new ordinance – all within a system that was rigged against us. Showing up makes a difference.

Do-It-Yourself Democracy is messy and time-consuming. We hope you think the final results were worth it. We do. Combined with the Trinity East permit denials, we think this ordinance was one the most effective counter-strikes against a powerful Barnett Shale Gas Lobby in years. it had the additional advantages of giving local environmentalists political muscle in Dallas politics they haven't had before, and giving hope to others fighting for more protection from gas facilities elsewhere. We've gotten thank-yous and inquires from across the country.

The Dallas gas ordinance is just the latest and best example of the Downwinders at Risk philosophy of using local fights to set national precedents. Stick around, stand your ground, and lead by example. Or as some Greek guy named Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the world.” What residents accomplished at Dallas City Hall last week moved the world.

We don't have to be beholden to Austin or Washington for "change" to trickle down from those capitals. We can make serious grassroots social change right here in the Belly of the Beast that has a national impact. It doesn't happen by accident, or just because we have a righteous cause. It happens because of years of planning and intense campaigning. Of constantly showing up, doing the research, attending the meetings, making the appointments, getting things done.

While this last Wednesday's win was a group effort, there's no doubt that Downwinders at Risk provided the leadership, the strategy, and the experience to mold the movement in Dallas into an effective policy-making juggernaut that it had not been elsewhere in North Texas. It's not a coincidence that this breakthrough came in Big D. Three years ago Downwinders said we were drawing a line in the Shale in Dallas and fighting back against an industry that thought it had a blank check to do just about anything it wanted. Along with the defeat of the Trinity East permits earlier in the year, we think the new Dallas ordinance delivers on that goal.

Since Downwinders at Risk decided in 2011 to expand its mission to protect the entire DFW airshed from toxic air pollution, all we've done is shut down a outlaw lead smelter, stop a wave of new park and floodplain drilling, and pass one of the most protective gas ordinances in the country. What other group do you know of that could turn on a dime and win on all those local fronts – or has the resources or motivation to do so?

We think we've done a good job of proving the same organizing strategy that cleaned-up the Midlothian cement industry can be applied effectively to other important threats to public health.

That strategy starts with paying at least one full time professional staff person to represent citizen interests in clean air fights and work on their behalf. Industry has armies of consultants and lawyers. Government as well. Citizens come to fights like the Dallas Gas Wars with no such pool of expertise. If your group or cause can't afford to hire a lawyer and other specialists, then you're very much alone. Until you call Downwinders at Risk. And then, for no charge at all, you get hours and hours of relentless effort that may, with some luck, change your life and the world. 

We offer this service to all comers on a organizational budget that measures out to about $84 a day.

That amount of money can't buy you much. Larger environmental groups could spend that on copy toner alone. But when Downwinders' spends it, it can buy you 4000 pounds less lead every year in the air you breathe, or a lot fewer gas wells next to your neighborhood.

In 2014, Downwinders at Risk will be 20 years old. We have no idea how we'll change history in the next 12 months, but we do know that we will change it, because we'll keep showing up trying to change it. And persistence is very much part of our success.

We're going to follow-up the Dallas ordinance with the passage of the nation's first local air pollution off-set rule that can plug the loophole the gas industry uses now to escape Clean Air Act requirements to balance their impacts in smoggy areas. We're going to think about whether we can deploy the same coalition model that worked so well in Dallas deeper into the Shale. We're going to keep trying to prevent the City of Frisco from building a permanent toxic waste landfill in the middle of town. We're going to be trying to use a new DFW clean air plan to get new pollution controls for cement plants, coal plants, the gas industry and other large sources.

We're 100% local. Our board all lives here in DFW. Our entire mission is devoted to making air cleaner in DFW. We're completely dependent on local sources of funding. That means people like you. If you don't support us, then we can't pay our staff person to show up. And when he doesn't show up, the system isn't nearly as citizen-friendly.

We think this last year's worth of headlines from the Dallas Gas Wars and the Frisco lead landfill fight is our best case for asking for your tax-deductible donation before the calendar year ends. We need your help to keep making those kind of headlines. We promise to do our part. Please consider a contribution to Downwinders of at least $84 to sponsor a day's worth of DFW clean air organizing. All you have to do is fill out the secure online form by clicking here. We not only really appreciate your support, we can honestly say we can't do our work without it. Thanks.