Texas officials covered up dangerously radioactive tap water for years

[onestepforward]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/texas-tap-water-contaminated-radiation-independent-tests-find/

Texas officials charged with protecting the environment and public health have for years made arbitrary subtractions to the measured levels of radiation delivered by water utilities across the state, according to a series of investigative reports out of Houston.

Those subtractions, based on the test results' margin of error, made all the difference for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ): without the reduction, demonstrated levels of dangerous radiation would have been in excess of federal limits for years.

This was being done in direct contravention of an order by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which told state regulators in 2000 to stop subtracting the margin of error.

-snip-

Thanks to the TCEQ's under-reporting of radioactive content, one particular water provider in Harris County was able to skirt needed maintenance for years, even though uncensored tests showed radiation was almost always above legal limits.

Independent tests, the station noted, showed that some of the radiation contained harmful alpha particles, which can cause cell mutations and increase the risk of cancer.

-snip-

There is a 2-part video about this at the link. Texas vs. EPA, again, and Texans lose.

[MelissaB]

1. Watching the videos now.

Thanks!

[sonias]

2. TCEQ has never represented the interests of Texans

They have always been in the back pocket of the polluting industry. They are nothing more than a captured agency doing the bidding of the energy industry. Air and water be damned.

That's why I support the EPA and a national law to clean up our air and water because Texas will never do it voluntarily - so long as the Lege is bought and paid for by polluting industry.

:kick: