What's the plan?

Oh that's right, there ain't one.

Where's the water?  THEY don't know.

WHO is they? YOUR water planners. 

Read about the latest in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

An Austin judge's opinion is the latest wrinkle in the Metroplex's quest for a long-term water source.

State District Judge Gisela D. Triana issued a preliminary ruling last week signaling that a state agency will have to resolve a dispute between two regional water planning groups over whether to build the Marvin Nichols reservoir in Northeast Texas.

The Dallas-Fort Worth planning group has the reservoir in its long-term plans; the Northeast Texas group does not.

Siding with landowners, Triana said the Texas Water Development Board should mediate or resolve which plan is used in the state's master plan for meeting water needs for 50 years.

The Northeast Texas property owners want the Metroplex to explore other options for water. But the area has had setbacks in other initiatives.

Notably, last month the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request from the Tarrant Regional Water District to rehear its lawsuit to obtain water from Oklahoma. That leaves the district to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. It has until Jan 19 to decide.

"We want to know with far greater clarity what our options are by 2015," said Wayne Owen, Tarrant Regional's planning director.

Area water providers say they are open to the idea, but it will require an Army Corps of Engineers study that has not been fully funded.

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How much does fuzzy math cost YOU?

Same story, different state.

An industry "study" includes made up job numbers.  Shocking!  Not.  What is shocking is a reporter actually got to the bottom of it.

Read about the Washington Post Keystone Pipeline bust here.

What is shocking is that we can somehow figure out how to run a dangerous pipeline across our great nation, but we can't figure out how to pipe water from the states that are flooding to those in a drought...huh.  How many jobs would that create?

In an explosive story posted online in the Washington Post this afternoon, pipeline company TransCanada admitted that it has grossly misrepresented the number of jobs the controversial Keystone XL project would create.

The 20,000 jobs involved in pipeline construction? A fabrication supported by misleading mathematics. The 250,000 indirect jobs? A number based on one oil-industry funded study that counted jobs for “dancers, choreographers and speech therapists,” according to the Post.

“Thank heavens some reporter actually questioned this jobs number, instead of just repeating it,” said Bill McKibben, who is leading a major protest against Keystone XL this Sunday at the White House. 

In fact, in the only jobs study not funded by TransCanada, the Cornell Global Labor Institute concluded that any jobs stemming from the pipeline’s construction were likely be outweighed by the environmental damage it caused, along with a possible rise in Midwest gasoline prices because a new pipeline would divert that region’s current oversupply of oil to the Gulf Coast.

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Another flood "study"...

This one in Arlington concerning Rush Creek Watershed.

Once it's completed FEMA and the Corp will get involved.  YOU know what that means.  Cha-ching.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Then watch the Arlington flooding that happened Wednesday, though no one is sure the cause for the water main break.  Those living near the waste water plant have been flooded many times in the past several years.  Maybe they should study that, too.  Check it out on Fox 4 news.  What all runs downhill?

In September 2010, Tropical Storm Hermine sent several feet of floodwater raging through dozens of west Arlington homes and the Willows at Shady Valley condos. The city, saying that no amount of dredging would stop Rush Creek from flooding, bought 48 of the affected homes and the condominium complex as part of a $16 million program to address chronic flooding.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, interim Public Works and Transportation Director Keith Melton outlined a planned Rush Creek watershed study that aims to identify its true 100-year flood plain, which hasn't been updated since the 1970s.

Many of the homes in the Shady Valley area were built before those flood maps were adopted. Over the years, development upstream has increased storm-water runoff flowing into the creek and through the downstream neighborhoods, causing millions of dollars in flood damage.

Arlington wants to determine how high Rush Creek storm water could rise once the watershed is fully developed. Rush Creek, which encompasses about one-third of the city, is the largest of the city's nine watersheds and has the most undeveloped land within it, Melton said.

The study, set to be presented to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers in 2013, will help the city identify possible drainage and storm-water-retention projects to protect structures, interim City Manager Bob Byrd said. The studies could help FEMA determine a new 100-year Rush Creek basin flood plain, which could affect homeowners' flood insurance premiums.

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Some Arlington homeowners said they were shocked and completely helpless when a water treatment plant mishap sent water rushing through their homes.

“I’m a realtor and was working at my computer and happened to look out the door and saw water coming 90 miles an hour down the hill,” said Carol Cash.

She said this is not the first time water from the plant has flooded their home. And her family has been trying to negotiate a settlement deal with the city.

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What's new in Cowtown?

Not much.  New Mayor, same strings.

Read about the "Land of Pretend" on FWCANDO.

WHO owns YOUR city?

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