Texas Environment Commission Changed Test Results to Hide Radiation in Water

[The Straight Story]

Texas Environment Commission Changed Test Results to Hide Radiation in Water

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) spent two decades under-reporting radiation levels in local water supplies, which helped water districts avoid fines, but exposed residents to potentially harmful radioactive elements.

An investigation by KHOU news in Houston found hundreds of water providers near the Gulf Coast that delivered drinking water containing radioactive contaminants, all with the blessing of state officials, using a reporting method that came to be known as “Texas math.”

At the center of the controversy was TCEQ’s manipulation of water-testing reports from the Department of State Health Services. When given a range of possible radiation levels in a water supply, TCEQ officials automatically went with the lowest possible figure based on the margin of error. This practice went on until 2009, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered what TCEQ was doing and told it to stop.

Alpha particles from uranium, radium and other minerals appeared repeatedly in water-testing reports compiled by TCEQ. “The alpha particle—this is the 800-pound gorilla of radioactive particles,” Dr. David Ozonoff, an environmental health professor and chair emeritus of the Boston University School of Public Health, told KHOU. “The word that comes to my mind is ‘cover-up’.”

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Texas_Environment_Commission_Changed_Test_Results_to_Hide_Radiation_in_Water_101126

[Uben]

1. And who is in jail for this?

THAT is the problem!

[Ilsa]

2. I'm sure the officials were joking about

Visiting the coast, but don't drink the water. Yeah, the joke is on the millions of people who could develop cancer because they wanted some cities or other agencies to save a few bucks.

Someone(s) needs to be in prison for this. God I hate living in Texas.

[SugarShack]

3. That is one reason for high rates of breast cancer

I wonder if that is why it's so high in fla? Like Morgellons disease, prevelent in TX, CA, and FL.

Also...there were reports in the beginning of 2003, of rocket fuel leaching into the ground water in TX. They did a study of 50 pregnant women, to test them, and learn if they should be breast feeding their babies. They expected approximately 1/3 of the women to test positive. Guess what?

The tests results came back and ALL 50 WOMEN WERE TOLD THEY COULD NOT BREAST FEED THEIR BABIES! They were contaminiated! This crap gets into "fatty tissue" very easily, and I wonder if all of this tainted water they keep hiding, refuse funding to clean up, is the reason for all the high rates of breast cancer in this day and age?

:shrug:

[Frustratedlady]

4. Their water purity will improve greatly the next time a Pug is in the WH.

They keep getting caught, but go right back when no one's watching.

I've never seen a state that violates the rules like Texas does. What is it? Too big and too many bullies that want to do what THEY think is best, rather than what is best for the state? I wonder how much worse it got in the early 2000s?

They sure do want to go by their own rules...the Repugs, not the people.

[FreakinDJ]

5. Nothing out of "Bush Country" surprises me

No one will be arrested or do time for this. In fact they'll probably do more to arrest the persons reporting on this travesty of justice then any thing else

[Turbineguy]

6. It's how you keep your taxes low.