· WATER OR ENERGY?
· COMMUNITY GARDENS
· CALENDAR OF EVENTS
· FARMER’S MARKETS
Welcome to H2O To Grow, a newsletter from a San Antonio Native for local Rainwater Harvesting and Gardening Enthusiasts.
The Forecast is calling for rain in our future, and I hope for once the weather person is right.
This heat and drought has been terrible.
Water or Energy?
In the latest series of threats to our American drinking water, the Keystone XL Pipeline is currently seeking approval from the State Department; headed by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to complete Phase III & IV of the Keystone XL Pipeline. This pipeline is being built and maintained by TransCanada, a Canadian company, and plans to run thru one of the largest aquifers in the world right in the middle of America.
Ogallala Aquifer
Also known as the High Plains Aquifer, the Ogallala Aquifer is an ancient deposit of erosion dating back to when the Rocky Mountains in the south were still forming. This erosion of the mountains filled in millions-of-years-old riverbeds and channels, forming the Aquifers sponge which holds the water.
The present day replenishment of this aquifer occurs incredibly slowly. In fact it is so slow, that the water at the bottom may be from the last ice age, thousands of years ago. Now that’s high quality H2O.
The Ogallala Aquifer is so big it encompasses and provides water for eight states and irrigates the “breadbasket of America”. The Northern border starts in South Dakota and the bulk of it resides in Nebraska & Kansas. The Southern border extends thru Oklahoma into the Texas Panhandle. According to Texas Impact “The Ogallala provides 30% of the groundwater for American agriculture—as well as about 80% of the drinking water for people who live within the aquifer’s boundary; a spill here would be disastrous.”
“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm ... As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others”
- Audrey Hepburn
EPA GETS INVOLVED
In fact, the dangers are so great that, on July of 2010, the EPA had to step in and “pump the brakes” on the approval of Phase III of the Keystone Pipeline project.
The reason it stepped in was that they felt the State Department’s initial draft for Environmental Review of the project was “inadequate”, the lowest possible ranking given to a review.
Luckily, any federal agency, including the EPA, can force a review of an (EIS) by the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), thanks to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 was set up to regulate the procedures for federal agencies to submit Environmental Assessments (EA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for review. NEPA’s procedural requirements apply to all federal agencies in the executive branch.
So why was the EPA so eager to review this pipeline approval?
Could it have anything to do with the April 20, 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
I hope it does, because it feels as though “WE THE PEOPLE” are being taken for a ride by the international energy conglomerates.
Regrettably, our government speaks “legalese”, a language the average Joe like me is not familiar with. And our government also likes to kick up a fuss but in reality, it feels like smoke and mirrors.
I am hoping that is not the case in this instance, but I don’t see how you can stop a $12 billion project once it gets going. It develops a momentum of its own where all the players have tunnel vision and all they want is to win.
WHAT IS BITUMEN?
Now let’s talk a little about what is being taken out of the ground. According to Wikipedia, “bitumen is a mixture of organic liquids that are highly viscous, black, sticky, entirely soluble in carbon disulfide, and composed primarily of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”
What the what? Obviously this goes beyond High School science.
Basically, millions of years ago microscopic algae and other tiny animal life died and sank to the bottom of a body of water. They were buried in silt deposits and after a lot of heat and pressure, the results were bitumen. But it could just as well have turned into tar or oil, like the La Brea Tar Pits in California.
And mankind has been using this material, also called “pitch”, as a waterproofing agent since at least 3000B.C. namely, by the Sumerian and Indus civilizations. Later civilizations; Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, also used the material as a binding agent in homes and ship building.
In its natural form, it appears like a gooey chunk of shiny tar. That is what is mixed in with all the sand in Alberta, Canada.
This stuff is so viscous (gooey) that the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia is running a famous experiment called the Pitch Drop Experiment. Started in 1927 by Professor Thomas Parnell “to demonstrate to students that some substances that appear to be solid are in fact very-high-viscosity fluids. Parnell poured a heated sample of pitch into a sealed funnel and allowed it to settle for three years. In 1930, the seal at the neck of the funnel was cut, allowing the pitch to start flowing. Large droplets form and fall over the period of about a decade. The eighth drop fell on 28 November 2000, allowing experimenters to calculate that the pitch has a viscosity approximately 230 billion (2.3×1011) times that of water.”
The problem with mining this stuff is that it is so heavily reliant on water for extraction.
EXTRACTING BITUMEN
The start of extraction is not much different from strip mining. “To extract each barrel of oil from a surface mine, the industry must first cut down the forest, then remove an average of two tons of peat and dirt that lie above the oil sands layer, then two tons of the sand itself.”
Then, “to separate sand and clay from bitumen, industry uses approximately 12 barrels of hot water mixed with caustic chemicals to produce one barrel of bitumen. In the process, approximately three barrels of contaminated water end up in tailings ponds. No one predicted that it might take hundreds of years for the clay to separate from the water.”
After they have strip mined or extracted the bitumen in situ, by melting the deposits with superheated steam underground, the pre-processing can begin.
Hydrodemetallisation (HDM), hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN). Hydrogenation through carbon rejection or catalytic hydrocracking (HCR)
Ok, so I’m not sure what any of that stuff means, but it all starts with HYDRO, and that means water.
Lots and lots of water being used to wash off impurities. Steam to melt the bitumen. But where are they getting all this water when the ENTIRE PLANET is losing drinking water? And where does it go when it’s used?
“The Nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets, which it must turn over to the next generation INCREASED, and not impaired, in value.” —President Theodore Roosevelt
GETTING DIRTY
The EPA has stated that carbon pollution from Canadian tar sands is “82% greater than the average crude refined in the U.S., on a well-to-tank basis.”
That means on one hand; we can sacrifice our dependence on Middle East crude oil, strengthen national security and continue driving our gas guzzler cars while putting off solar energy & bio-fuel development.
But on the other hand, we will all be choking on the smog and burning up from the Greenhouse Effect. As the heat rises and our crops die we will look for water but it won’t be there. Our water will be contaminated and we will be forced into conservation efforts not seen in the history of mankind.
And yes, Climate Change is occurring. It’s past the point of denial.
No, I don’t worry if it’s manmade or environmental. All I know is it’s getting hot in here!
As far as the liquid tailings, or leftovers, of the extraction process, they get placed in a tailing pond.
When the waste comes out of the pipes it separates itself by gravity. The heavy sand and other large particles separate immediately and begin forming the retaining wall for the pond. The lighter particles float away with the rest of the liquid to the middle of the pond, where the residual bitumen floats up to the top.
What ever microscopic particle that has not been separated by that point will possibly take years, if not decades, to finally settle to the bottom and form a highly toxic sludge laced with carcinogens. This is known as mature fine tailings. And all the while the heavily poisoned water is allowed to evaporate into the atmosphere.
But what’s the big deal? A couple of ponds of poison for millions of barrels of oil are a great payoff isn’t it?
Well, maybe, if it were a couple of ponds. But what if 12 of these ponds encompassed 80 square miles of land?
It’s estimated “these industry-made impoundments now contain 187 billion gallons of sludge.”8
That is the equivalent of over 57,000 acre/feet. That is the equivalent of about 4.4 billion barrels. That is the equivalent of 22 ¼ million 18-wheelers. That is one heck of a convoy, even for Texas.
To give you an idea of how big some of these tailing ponds get; “Until recently, the U.S. Department of the Interior rated Syncrude’s Tailing Dam as the world’s largest dam in terms of volume of construction material (706,320,000 cubic yards). Now China’s Three Gorges Dam holds the title.”
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the migratory birds flocking home for the summer often mistake these ponds for healthy bodies of water and end up flying to their deaths when they land on them. And all the moose and bison and other wildlife that manages to sneak under a fence get to drink the poison as well. I mean that really bothers me.
But what can you do other than contact your Senator or Congressman and e-mailing them what you think. Trust in the system, it might work.
“By Polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water”
-Aeschylus (Greek Poet) Born: 525 BC
CAN TRANSCANADA TAKE MY LAND?
So we’ve heard that the majority of people living along the pipeline’s path have already been approached to lease their land mineral rights or have had their land purchased from them.
Even though Phase III has not been approved by the State Department as of yet. More time is needed to look for options that don’t include contaminating the Ogallala Aquifer.
But what happens to those Texans that don’t want to lease, sell or move? Can TransCanada take their land?
That was a very interesting question that led to more questions once I found the answer. And the answer wasn’t pretty.
Yes they can take your land, but...they have to use eminent domain.
After all, this is a Canadian Company. How is it even possible that they would try to use eminent domain in the United States of America? Well, as it turns out, they have a lot of rights in our country and are registered to do business in the US. But still, using eminent domain to take land from Americans sounded fishy.
As with all questions, the answer is complicated. TransCanada is a common carrier of utilities, in this case Natural Gas and SynCrude. In the US “as a common carrier of utilities, TransCanada has and will most likely continue to be granted the power of eminent domain to acquire the necessary easements for the construction of the Keystone pipelines…”
In the case of pipelines, the government regulatory agency that approves the bestowal of eminent domain to a utility company, whether it’s private or public, is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). And this right has been bestowed twice already for the Keystone Pipeline project.
THE CHOICE
After sorting thru numerous articles on everything from migratory patterns of birds to deforestation in the Texas hill country to the history of oil spills I can see the point of view from both sides. I don’t necessarily agree with either side, but I see where they are coming from.
One side wants to provide an energy source to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The Oil Industry is willing to spend billions of dollars in building and maintaining an infrastructure to get energy to our homes.
But all figures say the price will actually increase at first due to start up expenses. I’ve never seen prices come back down once they go up.
The other side is trying to save our Drinking Water, our Wilderness, our Wildlife, our Earth.
And the major bone of contention between environmentalist and the Oil Industry seems to be the waste, water usage and the possibility of spills.
What I have not seen is an effort to meet in the middle. Both sides seem to say it’s their way or no way. Either we build the entire pipeline or we pull out of the deal. Either you move the entire pipeline or we fight the deal. Either we get all the rights or no deal. Either you guarantee no spills or no deal.
Well, here are my suggestions;
· Water: Use the same “conversion” method used by the Land and Wildlife Conservation Act. When property is leased or sold, equal space must be converted for “public” use elsewhere. This way the American People don’t lose their Federal Land.
o Have the Oil Industry “convert” an amount of water equal to what they use in their extraction/refining processes per location.
o For example; if the Eagle Ford Shale extraction processes of Company XYZ use 100,000 gallons/day in their operation; they must provide an equal amount of drinking water to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex per day. This would come in handy during droughts!
· Waste: find a more efficient way of processing out the different materials in order to allow for safer and quicker disposal and recycling. This will reduce the amount of water used, decrease the amount of trailing ponds created and lower the frequency of spills.
· Instead of letting the tailings settle by gravity, slowly letting the sun evaporate and condense the mixture. Create a centrifuge process to separate the more dense substances from the buoyant fluids. Recycle the fluid in future operations and compact the denser substance for disposal.
I CHOOSE WATER
Ever since the “Industrial Revolution” the world has become a fuel driven society. Never before in the history of mankind have we been so dependent on fuel for our everyday existence. Our entire society eats, breathes and dreams about fuel.
And yet I have never heard someone say, “I’m dying for a drink of oil.”
You see, civilizations around the world can change power based on minerals and deposits located within their borders.
Hooray for you, you have diamonds or uranium or oil or natural gas or gold. Welcome to the table of Superpowers. That is the fickleness of politics.
What Never Changes is the fact that without Water, there is no civilization. Period.
It won’t matter what party is in political power. It doesn’t matter who won the last war or the last Superbowl. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor.
All that matters is the thirst.
So if you ask me to choose between a depleting fuel-source that we will be forced to replace in less than a century or WATER; I choose water.
COMMUNITY GARDENS SPOTLIGHT
Visit one of these San Antonio Community Gardens to get inspiration and information on starting your home garden!
We will publicize 5 gardens per issue until we circle back to the beginning of all the community gardens in San Antonio.
Each Community Garden is unique and offers its own twist on the everyday vegetable gardening.
Many of these community gardens are part of Green Spaces Alliance Network of Community Gardens so please support this non-profit even if it’s just with an “atta boy’ for doing such a great job.
1. The Dinner Garden, Saatea Lounge Community Garden@ 741 W. Ashby Pl, 78212
2. International Community Garden @ St. Francis Episcopal Church, 4242 Bluemel, 78240
3. Mahncke Park Community Garden @ 315 Parland Pl, 78209
4. Roots of Change Organic Community Garden @ 1416 E Commerce, 78205
5. Jefferson Community Garden @ 2350 W. Gramercy Pl & Wilson, 78201
(I haven’t visited all the gardens yet, so if there are any changes to addresses or corrections, please e-mail me to update the information. Cesar@h2otogrow.co)
"Your descendants shall gather your fruits."
— Virgil
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Aug. 17th, (Wed) – Call 210-564-6402 for reservations: Wild Wednesdays: Chompers and Clompers: (7-11 year olds) Friedrich Wilderness Park, 21395 Milsa Dr, 78256: Cost: Call Ahead
Aug. 20th, (Sat) – 9am – 12pm: Rainwater Harvest Workshop: 140 City Park Road San Antonio, TX
Sep. 17th, (Sat) – 9am – 12pm: Permaculture Work(ing)shop: Pittman-Sullivan Community Garden, 1000 Dakota @ Palmetto – Cost: FREE
Oct 15th (Sat) – 10am - 4pm: SAN ANTONIO LIVE GREEN FEST: Olmos Basin Park, 651 Devine Rd, 78209 – Cost: FREE
Nov 5th (Sat) – San Antonio Arbor Day Celebration: San Pedro Park, 800 W Ashby Pl, 78212 – Cost: FREE
FARMER’S MARKETS
Every Tuesday, 8am – 12pm - Main Plaza 115 Main Plaza, San Antonio, TX.
Every Tuesday, 7:30am – 1pm – Olmos Basin 100 Jackson Keller, 78216
Every Wednesday, 7:30am – 1pm – Leon Valley 6427 Evers Rd, 78238
Every Wednesday, 8am – 1pm – St. Jude Church 130 S. San Augustine St., 78209
Every Wednesday, 4pm – Pearl Brewery – Pearl Park parking lot (say that 3 times real fast!)
Every Thursday, 8 am – 1pm – SA Botanical Gardens 555 Funston Pl, 78209
Every Friday, 8am – 1pm – St. Matthew’s Church 11121 Wurzbach Rd, 78230
Every Saturday, 7am – 11am - Bracken Farmer’s and Artisans Market 7561 E Evans Rd, 78266
Every Saturday, 7:30am – 1pm - Olmos Basin 100 Jackson Keller, 78216
Every Saturday, 9am – 1pm - Pearl Farmer’s Market – At Pearl Brewery along the banks of the San Antonio River.
For back issues of H2O To Grow Newsletters, simply send a request to
Cesar@h2otogrow.co
Please specify what month you are asking for.
FOR A FREE RAIN WATER HARVESTING EVALUATION CONTACT Cesar@h2otogrow.co
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August 14th, 2011
Fuel is what gets the food on the table. Fuel is what gets the kids to school and you to work. Fuel is what powers your air conditioner and your internet.
