Lawsuit pits whooping cranes against chemical companies and State of Texas

Fight for the Guadalupe river

Jay Blazek Crossley, Dec 06, 11.

The Aransas Project is suing the State of Texas to allow more fresh water flows into bays at the mouth of the Guadalupe River, according to a story by KUT, noted by the Texas Tribune.

The trial has environmentalists, coastal tourism and nature groups, coastal communities and the whooping cranes pitted against the State of Texas, the chemical industry, municipalities upstream, and agricultural interests, with some wondering how the case might affect chemical operations all along the Texas gulf coast, “the world’s largest concentration of petrochemical plants and refineries, almost of all of which rely on river water” according to Bloomberg.

Plaintiffs claim that the bays are not receiving enough fresh water inflows to maintain populations of blue crabs in the bays that the whooping cranes feed on, while the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says its ability is limited by Texas law requiring them to respect existing water rights above environmental needs, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In related news, two whooping cranes that were part of a bi-national US / Canadian program to reintroduce domesticated cranes to the wild were shot and killed by a pair of teenagers in Louisiana recently, according to the Montreal Gazette.

Video produced by the Aransas Project: