Right Peeler!

EPA Sued Over Unsafe Beaches

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit on Thursday, August 3 in a U.S. District Court claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed in its duty to protect the public against the "substantial adverse health effects" from contact with contaminated beach-water. A law pased by Congress in 2000 requires the EPA to update its beach-water health standards by 2005. The agency missed the deadline and current standards are two decades old, according to court documents. That same day the group issued a report that found beach closings due to hazardous bacterial contamination in Los Angeles County jumped 50 percent in 2005. Across the nation 20,000 beaches were closed or had posted health advisories. EPA spokesman Dale Kemery did not address the lawsuit, but said in a statement "the state of the nation's beach health remains high, even as the number of beaches monitored increased by 11 percent in 2005." The agency "has made significant progress in carrying out its responsibilities under the" 2000 law, he said. The lawsuit asks the court to order the agency to complete the water-quality studies and publish revised safety rules. Many sources were listed for the cause of this pollution including animal waste, factories, septic tanks, sewage, pesticides and oil and metals deposited on city streets. City storm drains send their runoff directly into bodies of water all across the country.

Dicky's "Un-official" Beach Poll!

Picture below: Dicky's "un-official" poll.! (I made it up! but it's just as valid as Shexnailder's!
Today's Corpus Christi Caller/Times has a story on the front page(of course!) concerning the results of a "push poll" paid for by wealthy Austin devloper Paul Shexnailder, the money man behind the proposal to ban driving on part of the City of Corpus Christi's beaches.
This poll indicates that 65.8% agree that the section of beach would be much safer without cars.
It claims that 88.7% believes the city should continue to encourage
tourism related development on the island.
According to this "poll" 65.3% believe that Shexnailder's resort will help other local businesses grow.
60.1 % say they disagree with the idea that removing traffic from the disputed 7,200 feet of city beach is too high a price to pay for pedestrian safety and tourism.
69.5% agree that Corpus Christi has room for both a pedestrian only beach and vehicle access beaches.
This "poll" was paid for by Shexnailder and not surprisingly yielded the results he was looking for. It did not ask how people would vote if the measure comes to an election and it was tilted towards voters who identified themselves as Republicans. It did not mention the
fact that there already are numerous pedestrian only areas on our local beaches. Some of the questions asked on the poll were not released to the public and it appears the poll was targeted to a certain demographic. Basically this is more bogus bullshit!