Vote Like Your Life Depends On It
Growing up in Dallas, Texas, I have fond memories of sailing and kayaking on White Rock Lake, fishing in the creek, and enjoying the nine-mile pedestrian and bicycle friendly path around the lake. From a distance, White Rock sparkles under the sun and the lake serves as a city oasis to the residents of Dallas. Taking a closer look, however, you can see piles of trash littering the shoreline, deceased aquatic life washed up on the boat ramps, animal waste, and even fertilizer run-off in the water. My once beautiful backyard has over the years been polluted, so I set out to find other Texas bodies of water that have been polluted over the years, too, and as it turns out, White Rock Lake is most certainly not alone in the pollution club. Some of the most polluted Texas waterways include:
-Houston Ship Canal
-Brazos River
-Cottonwood Branch
-Corpus Christi Inner Harbor
-Tankersley Creek
-Tehuscana Creek
-Corpus Christi Bay
-Cedar Creek
-Neches River
-Industrial Ship Channel
“Texas is the second-biggest water polluter in the country, in terms of pounds released. But when the toxicity of the pollution is factored in, Texas jumps to the top of the list — and it’s not even close.” (Edelman 1). The TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) is responsible for enforcing environmental regulations, but “has not done its job in terms of either enforcing limits on pollution, or attaching stringent enough pollution limits in the first place to ensure that Texas rivers are clean.” (Edelman 18). Lax state enforcement is a major reason for Texas’ poor pollution policies and record. All Texas voters need to visit their local lakes, rivers, creeks, or the coastline to see the real and very threatening effects of water pollution. Water pollution affects all aspects of someone’s life, from the rivers and lakes you swim in, to the water you drink and cook your food with.
Corporate companies like Ineos USA in Brazoria County are heavily contributing to the pollution of Texas’ waterways. “For instance, between January 2016 and September 2017, Ineos USA’s facility in Brazoria County violated their permit to dump wastewater into Chocolate Bayou eight times. In all cases, the company released waste with high levels of E. coli, bacteria that indicates the presence of feces.” (Sadasivam 2). This facility has only been compliant with the Clean Water Act a total of 12 months of the last three years, and the TCEQ has not fined the facility once. The Ineos facility is one of 269 Texas industrial facilities that has violated wastewater permits and dumped waste into rivers, lakes, or bays that the EPA has deemed as “impaired”. “Enforcement of environmental law is crucial to ensuring that the public health is protected,” (Environment Texas 6). Polluters aren’t facing penalties, giving them no reason to stop polluting or take action to better disposal practices. Individual citizens are not blameless, either. From walking around my local lake and the river in Downtown Austin, plenty of pollution is due to careless individuals littering in our waterways.
To combat the water pollution led by corporations in Texas and by careless individuals across the state, water conscious Texans must vote in public officials who care deeply about preventing pollution and protecting our environment. Citizens must also write to their local and state governing bodies to let them know that lax water pollution regulation is unacceptable and harmful for public health and safety and dangerous for the environment.
Voting is the responsibility of all citizens and is very important for any democracy. Americans must realize that water pollution is one of the world’s biggest problems — about 80% of the world’s wastewater is dumped (largely untreated) back into the environment. Voting in an environmentally conscious person is important because it has everything to do with all the major issues our elected officials have to face. In an article written by Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, he states that, “Every job and every economy depend ultimately on the health of the natural world of which we’re a part.” (Chouinard 2).
There is no doubt that there are excuses not to vote:
- I don’t have time.
According to Vox, voting takes about 12.5 minutes. HERE is a list of activities that take longer than voting. You can do it!
2. My vote doesn’t matter.
Here’s an article that tells you why your vote matters, and lists the elections decided by a single vote!
3. I don’t know who the candidates are or what they stand for.
Start here! Visit The League of Conservation Voters’ environmental scorecard to learn more.
Furthermore, letters are an extremely effective way of communicating with your elected officials, according to ACLU. Here are some tips to increase the effectiveness of your letter and letting your elected officials know you mean business about protecting Texas’ water:
1. Keep it brief. Letters shouldn’t be more than one page.
2. State who you are and what you want. Identify the issue you are writing about — water pollution in Texas.
3. Choose three important points that will be effective in persuading the legislator to listen to you. Do you live near a polluted body of water? How does the issue affect your day-to-day life? Can you include some photos?
4. Personalize your letter. Have you ever voted for the elected official? Have you ever contributed to their campaign? Make them feel close to you so your argument is more powerful.
We’ve seen that big companies dump toxins and chemicals into Texas waterways with little to no repercussion, and you have seen neighbors, friends, and citizens litter at your favorite parks, rivers, and lakes. Vote for officials who take water pollution seriously and who will crack down on those who don’t care to take care of our precious resources. Vote like your life depends on it. Because it does.
Works Cited
Edelman, Gilad. “Texas Among Nation’s Worst Water Polluters.” The Texas Tribune, The Texas Tribune, 19 June 2014, www.texastribune.org/2014/06/19/texas-among-nations-worst-water-polluters/#:~:text=The%20top%20overall%20water%20polluter,Northeast%20Texas%2C%20the%20report%20says.
“Getting out the Environmental Vote.” Environmental Voter Project, 7 Mar. 2016, www.environmentalvoter.org/news/getting-out-environmental-vote.
Katakam, Anand. “Map: How Long Does Voting Take in Your State?” Vox, Vox, 9 Oct. 2014, www.vox.com/2014/10/9/6951251/map-voting-time-by-state.
Sadasivam, Naveena. “Dirtying the Waters: Texas Ranks First in Violating Water Pollution Rules.” The Texas Observer, 20 Apr. 2019, www.texasobserver.org/dirtying-the-waters-texas-ranks-first-in-violating-water-rules/.
Yvon ChouinardYvon Chouinard is the founder of Patagonia. “Vote the Environment.” Patagonia, 10 Feb. 2020, www.patagonia.com/stories/vote-the-environment/story-19154.html.
