Caution urged near creek as residents await slow response from TCEQ
UPDATE - March 16: It has been eight days since nearby residents noticed Baylor Creek was flowing with an abnormal creamy-yellow color near the Fayette coal plant, and we have not heard anything from the TCEQ who said they will send an inspector out within 2-7 days. We still urge members of the public to use caution before swimming or fishing in Baylor Creek (west of the power plant road on Hwy 71 near Mary’s Vineyard). We will keep close watch on the situation and update you when we hear something.
ORIGINAL STORY - On Tuesday, March 10, Sierra Club received an alarming report of possible toxic contamination of Baylor Creek near the coal-fired Fayette Power Project. Sierra Club members in Fayette County and members of the watchdog group Texans for Responsible Energy & Water (TREW) contacted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, but were told it could take between two and seven days to get an inspector to the site. Therefore, we want to warn members of the public to use caution before swimming or fishing in Baylor Creek (west of the power plant road on Hwy 71 near Mary’s Vineyard).
“When a creek is flowing with an abnormal creamy-yellow color like I saw in the photos and video, and especially since that section of creek is directly downstream of a large coal plant, it is, and should be, a major cause for concern,” said Dave Cortez with the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign in Austin.
Here is the report from our friends down in Fayette County:
“We collected samples of the water, as well as some photos and videos taken yesterday [March 9]. Note the video and one photo (left) are of Baylor Creek (west of the power plant road on 71 (near Mary's Vineyard). The second photo (right) is of Cedar Creek east of the power plant road on 71 - Cedar Creek being the subject of the pending public hearing [on April 9]. Note the difference in color despite these two creeks being fairly close to each other and both being in close proximity to the power plant. Baylor Creek was the one that appeared to be overwhelmingly polluted and flooded yesterday,” said John Mikus, Fayette County landowner and leader with TREW.
Harvey Hayek, local Ellinger resident and rancher, added, “Yesterday [March 9, 2015] I was routing from La Grange to Ellinger and crossed Baylor Creek at the Fayette Power Project which is the creek just West of Cedar Creek (the one they are having a public meeting on a proposed NPDES [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] permit on 4-9-15 at La Grange) and the creek water was a dark creamy color like milk and it was running down to the Colorado River. We had a lot of rain yesterday and the water level was high in the creek. So TREW notified the Fayette County Record, the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden, and the TCEQ in Austin (they said it would take 2-3 days and maybe a week before they could have an agent out at the spill location). We gathered samples of the polluted water and will be sending samples for analyses very soon.”
For more information contact:
Dave Cortez, Sierra Club, david.cortez@sierraclub.org, 512-736-7600
John Mikus, Texans for Responsible Energy & Water, 832-212-1600