CC Caller Times article / 12/ 23

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fishing bait enjoy fish time using site hook good sometimes know works caught chunking artificial keep prayers lures line didn down back waiting bite throw recently doing mullet tried continue expensive chunk something while quote lets water saying people joined partner putting awhile made scum once magic kelly green prohibiting

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[billybobba]

http://www.caller.com/news/2010/dec/22/cedar-bayou-delays-ignore-greater-good/

Article by David Sikes / CC Caller Times / ref.: current permitting status

[Llama]

Is there any way to get the national media involved in this?

[Reef Dawg]

I just sent this to Bill O'Reilly.

Bill,

I wish to draw your attention to the decimation of tens of thousands of acres of wetlands and coastal environment along the middle Texas coast thanks to the corruption of our wonderful government bureaucrats in the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These people have allowed a wealthy Texas family to control their policies and actions for at least the last ten years.

By following the links below you and your staff will be able to learn of the efforts of numerous Texas outdoor enthusiasts to restore the publicly owned wetlands and environment to their former pristine state prior to the criminal blockage of a natural waterway from the bay to the Gulf of Mexico between two barrier islands. Please investigate this atrocity and bring these depredations out into the light for public scrutiny.

http://www.texasflats.net/index.php/board,36.0.html
http://www.caller.com/news/2010/dec/22/cedar-bayou-delays-ignore-greater-good/

Thank You in advance for any attention you can give our situation.

Hope this does some good!

[lynnscb]

I think we all should drop Bill a email along with Todd Hunter at todd@hunterhandel.com. We have been down this path so many times that we all know what needs to be done.The more that O'Reilly and Hunter hears from as many that will send him an line, might just do the trick.

[rriver]

Just sent this to Eye Witness Wants to Know in San Antonio, maybe it will help....

This is not completely about San Antonio but it does involve a lot of people from SA.
 
In 1978 the Army corp of engineers filled in Cedar Bayou to stop the Mexican oil spill from entering the bays, Cedar Bayou is the cut between San Jose and Matagorda islands. This allows a water exchange between the bays/gulf of Mexico and is a valuable source of of fresh gulf water or allows massive amount of rain water to escape the bays.
 
I remember in the early nineties the channel was dredged or reopened. The dredge material or sand was deposited at the mouth of Vinson slough, this was purposely done by the owner of the San Jose Cattle company (Billionaire Bass Family) they had family members heading Texas Parks and Wildlife and most likely paying off the army Corp of Eng to kill a ecosystem. Knowing the south winds would blow the sand into the vital estuary and block the flow increasing the size of their property, and eventually slowing the flow into Cedar Bayou causing it to silt up. Now with no channel the Bass Family is now grazing their cattle on the Matagorda Island State park for Free. (They should be fined per cow, pay restitution for the damage to the park and reopen the pass from bank to bank at there expense)
 
Read and research some the links below but the people of Texas have been trying for years to get a permit just to reopen the pass and are continually block by the Bass family, Corp of Eng. and FWS. Last year the crab hatch was so low that somewhere around 26 Whooping  Cranes starved in 2009/10 again the San Jose Cattle Co. should be fine and pay restitution for the dead Whooping Cranes caused by intentionally. blocking Vinson Slough.
 
We need help locally and Nationally to stop the corrupt Government agencies and a rich property owner from stealing a resource that belongs to all Texans and any one who buys a fishing license in the state.
 
 
Some links:
http://www.caller.com/news/2010/dec/22/cedar-bayou-delays-ignore-greater-good/

http://www.texasflats.net/index.php/board,36.0.html

With the email I included the 1968 picture and a current closed picture.

[jormsby]

Its a shame, if the Bass family wanted this pass open it would have already been done, money buys power! I still do not feel that CCA has pushed as hard as they should, they have a very powerful lobby effort, and they have not used it to push for Cedar bayou to reopen. I do not think I will rejoin them until I start seeing a valant effort on their part to lobby for this cause and I urge everyone else to do the same. We as individuals can send stuff to the media, and it will be ignored, but when an organization as large as CCA starts speaking the media along with our elected officials will also listen.

[Lance D]

I am not pointing fingers at anyone but CCA gets a lot of money from the Bass family and does not want to get their feet to wet in this matter. If they go public in support of this effort how much of the funding they (CCA) gets from the Bass family will dry up? I have done some poking around when the time has allowed me and have found the Bass family contributes to several conservation groups, why would they contribute if it was not to buy the silence from the groups.

[lynnscb]

I would like to share with you the response to the issues raised by the agency's. EPA: 1. Regarding direct and secondary impacts to seagrass. Answered May 2008, 2. Requesting a copy of the seagrass survey of the mitigation project area. Answer: will be provided if requested. 3. Regarding compensatory mitigation for impacts to tidal flats. Answered: August 17, 2010. 4. Requesting a map showing new intertidal habitat along with monitoring and adaptive management plan. Answer: The location of these habitats are indicated on the plans that have already been submitted. 5. Pointing out the discrepancy on sheet 2 of 3 indicating the starting point for the project. Answer: As indicated on the plan note on the same page, the contractor will begin dredging from the Gulf of Mexico side of the project. 6. Requesting information on how the contractor will avoid and minimize impacts to the Gulf of Mexico . Short Answer: No permanent loss of open water habitat would occur. FWS: 7. Recommending that staging areas and work corridors be specifed . Answer: The applicant has identifed the locations of staging areas and haul routes, identified on the plan sheet provided in Aug. 17, 2010. 8. Recommending that the discrepancy between the final BO mitigation site and current mitigation site be rectified and that the applicant address the issue of seagrasses at the new mitigation site. Answer: A mitigation site plan has been provided to the USACE, another copy will be provided if necessary. 9. Recommending that the discrepancy between the final BO tidal flat impact acreage and the revised tidal flat impact acreage be rectified and that applicant develop a plan to verify the creation of new tidal flat . Answer: Will be provided to FWS. 10. Recommending that the USACE notify the FWS regarding the acceptability of the new mitigation site. Answer: N/A to be addressed by the USACE. 11. Recommending that resource agencies be provided with a copy of the project;s 401 Water Quality Certification. Answer: N/A to be addressed by the USACE. 12. Requesting that the service be provided with any easement agreements My question: what do they need that for??? Answer: N/A to be addressed by the USACE. I am going to oist this round. The next round I will post right after this one.

[lynnscb]

13. Recommending that the applicant insure studies properly assess the effects of the project on blue crabs and other species. Answer: The applicant has been coordinating with the University of Texas and Texas A&M marine studies centers and will be supportive of any efforts by these researches on studies related to Cedar Bayou. NMFS 14. Claiming that the applicant's consultant has overstated the importance of Cedar Bayou t blue crab recruitment and productivity and disputing the project's benefit to blue crab populations and to the whooping crane population . Answer: To clarify, neither the applicant nor the applicant's consultant has made an independent claim that the re-opening of Cedar Bayou would improve the blue crab population or definitively benefit the whooping crane wintering population. The information related to the potential benefits to the blue crab population and the whooping crane comes from the cited opinion of recognized experts from the USFWS and TPWD(for specific references see the Aug. 17, 2010 submittal to the USACE and other previous submittals). As stated in the original application, the purpose of the project is to re-establish Cedar Bayou as a route for migrating marine species. We've provided inforamtion to support that goal, including the expert opinions on the potential benefits of the project to marine species and to the whooping crane. The NMFS letter mentions the lack of a relationship between blue crab recruitment and abundance and how the blue crab population is not recruitment limited but is influenced by other biotic processes. There is no disputing that there are a number of factors that contribute to the productivity of blue crabs. Recruitment is only one factor and its influence is debatable griven that another report cited in the NMFS letter (Slack et al. 2009) also states that "the rate of blue crab recruitment is a seemingly logical source of variation in crab density and as such, we hypothesized crab density would increase with increasing rates of megalopal and juvenile recruitment. As indicated by the cited information, blue crabs are one of many species that could benefit from re-opening Cedar Bayou. The purpose of the project is not specific to a particular species but is intended to serve the marine ecosystem as did Cedar Bayou when it was open and as do tidal inlets in general (as shown in the previously cited literature). 15. Questioning the proximity of the mitigation site to CORPS easement. Answer: addressed by USACE. 16. Questioning the potential impacts of future pipline crossing the mitigation site. Answered, 17. Noting the potential existence of seagrasses on the mitigation site and questioning its suitability. Answered again. TCEQ 18. Requesting and explanation of why the placement areas haved changed and how turbidity in the new area will be minimized. Answer: The placement areas were moved as a result of comments received from the adjacent landowner. Impact to turbidity would be short-term and localized. 19. was the same question of 16, and 17. Answered again. 20. TPWD Recommending that seagrass and oyster surveys be conducted and that a mitigation plan be submitted for review. Answer: Will provide to the USACE as requested. This concludes the response to the issues for which you state information was incomplete.
As I was typing this out, I was thinking , how many times do we have to answer these issues? And we pay these people !!!!! I think now you have a better understanding as to why Sikes was so ticked off. I am calling it a night on that thought.

[Reef Dawg]

It's beginning to sound like it's time for a neck-tie party!

[Old Plugger]

Its a shame, if the Bass family wanted this pass open it would have already been done, money buys power! I still do not feel that CCA has pushed as hard as they should, they have a very powerful lobby effort, and they have not used it to push for Cedar bayou to reopen. I do not think I will rejoin them until I start seeing a valant effort on their part to lobby for this cause and I urge everyone else to do the same. We as individuals can send stuff to the media, and it will be ignored, but when an organization as large as CCA starts speaking the media along with our elected officials will also listen.

This is one of the reasons I left CCA a few years ago. And I agree with you 100%. They are a very powerful organization. Unfortunately, sometimes they withhold their influence for the wrong reasons. I still believe that the only hope we have is going to be through the courts, that is provided that there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Otherwise, this cat and mouse game will never end.

[lynnscb]

2011, what a year it will be. Ever since the County took over the permit, it left me with the time I needed to do what should have been done a long time ago. I will be working with Rep. Todd Hunter the next few months on some of the issues that we have talked about on this board. The end comes to all things and this is the year to end it. I will be putting together a 6 man team to work on this. Judge Mills and Jeff Dean will be one of those and we will be getting down to business some time next week. Rep. Hunter will be in the lead on this and I encourage all of you to express your feelings on this by emailing him at todd@hunterhandel.com. After the next meeting with the Judge and Hunter, I will be able to give you a up date and tell you as much as I can. I know how all of you feel about this God awful mess, but it will be made right again. Any one or organization, federal of state employee that has benefited from keeping these passes closed will be dug out of the sand. Lets see how the cards fall. Happy New Year to all, and God bless.

[Reef Dawg]

Here is what I just sent to the Corps and Bill O'Reilly, hopefully it will get a response. If I do get a response I will post it up.

To Whomever may be interested in restoring the honor of the United States,

 

I want to know specificly why the Bass family representatives were allowed to pose questions and comments on the permit to open Cedar Bayou and Vinson's Slough in Texas after the deadline for questions and comments had expired.

 

I have been following the attempt to get a permit to allow the dredging of the above mentioned fish passes for the last 10 years and I have witnessed numerous instances where the USACE, USFWS, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have been influenced in favor of the wishes of the Bass family.

 

Currently the Bass family's cattle are roaming on Ballou island and Matagorda island where they have no rights to utilize the Texas public land for their cattle business. I understand that they have the right to utilize San Jose island through ownership or a long term lease agreement with the state of Texas. Their efforts to continue the free use of state lands for their personal gain has hampered the public interest in restoring the natural fish passes to the condition that they were in before being closed to keep the oil spill in 1978 from affecting the bays. Their actions and influence in denying the dredging permit have caused tens of thousands of acres of wetlands and estuary to be lost. This has also resulted in the deaths of over 25 Whooping cranes, an endangered species, in 2010 as well as a loss of fish, bait, and other marine and wildlife population numbers.

 

It is sickening to witness the lack of integrity displayed by the beaurecratic office holders in positions of power in these agencies.

 


Sincerely Disgusted,

James E. Brown

[neptune]

Wonder why the oil and gas companies can get permits to drill in Mesquite Bay, and dredge canals and build new spoil collection sites within the Bay?  Anybody who fished or boated in Mesquite Bay knows there were two huge oil rigs there last summer, and they had to dredge canals to get the equipment in there. 

Maybe the secret to getting the Bayou open would be to convince an oil company there is oil straight down from the gulf side of the bayou.  Apparently, they wouldn't have any trouble getting permits to dredge the bayou to get to the oil. 

[doublek]

After reading the David Sikes article it's obvious that everyone is trying to prove "who can be the biggest and baddest environmentalist".  It's like saying "we can't clean up Love Canal for fear of disturbing the natural environment".  To all of us, this is fairly simple, open that bayou and to hell with everything else.  The environ will quickly repair and replenish itself with a whole new landscape.  The Corp and USFWS is worried about repairing damage done while trying to bring a dead patient back to life.  One Hurricane can and will do more un-permitted, unapproved, and unstudied adjusting to the landscape than anything experienced in the dredging effort (and that's out of their control). 

While I appreciate the dedication and concern for the environment on behalf of the Corp and USFWS, but I'd really like to know where their concern was when this atrocity was being commited; how they can sit still and study this to death while more and more damage is being done while the flow is cutoff.

It's amazing the amount of money wasted so that we can study something to death.  This is just a small example of much larger disfunction permiating our society.  If my child wandered into the middle of the street, I would hate to have a beaurocrat deciding whether to save them from the path of a speeding car.