Toxic Racing

[carl lewis]

All,

I'm not trying to hijack this thread but this is a rather disturbing video about the Village of DePue.

http://www.villageofdepue.com/


Regards, Carl

[cthirlby13]

Just think about all of the first time national champions over the years getting their first taste of beautiful lake depue or all the crashes we've had with people getting open wounds??? I remember a few years back my brother had a pretty decent cut on his leg when we went to depue and it took over 6 months for the cut to completley heal afterwards.

Pretty soon you will recognize all the national champions with a third arm and 12 fingers...:D

[Allen J. Lang]

I have heard from some of my old racing buddies who will NOT race at DePue in the pro catagory. To shallow to run a capsule if you should go over and the Asian carp . Something has to be done to clean up the lake. :cool:

[Master Oil Racing Team]

A few memories of the silty bottom from days past. I was told that the river was originally 20 or 30 feet deep, but the silt from the zinc smelter filled it in.

In 1970 I stepped on a seashell while being chased down the beach at Padre Island and a piece broke off in my instep. That was a week before we left for DePue. Back in those days I raced with no shoes. (It was legal then). I tied a plastic bag on my foot to keep the water out, but it didn't work and it got infected. Some of you may remember an old post about this when the battery fell over and was shocking me in the turns and spilling acid on the cut.:D The acid probably kept the infection from getting worse.;)

In 1972 I was leading my qualifying heat in C hydro. On the backside I looked back to see how far back the other boats were and I saw Billy Seebold chasing me. Suddenly my Marchetti took off. That was the only time in my racing career that I blew over, and it was high enough for a dozen blowevers. I guess I fainted and fell out of the boat because I don't remember falling. When I came to my senses I was up to my waist in silt and the water came up to my shoulders. The pickup boat guys couldn't pull me out of the mud because of the suction so one got in the water and pushed while the guy in the boat pulled. Glad I landed right side up.

In 1974 the lake was so low that an outside perimeter had to be staked out so boats wouldn't get into the shallow area. Alan Ishii has talked about throwing up mud when milling down below prior to the start.

I remember Sean McKean talking about how he had to stomp his capsule canopy open last year when he was imbedded in the mud.

DePue has a rich history, but also some real problems.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

Based on you and your Dad's experience with EPA, Texas Environmental authorities, etc., back when you were trying to get a site for safe disposal of oil field waste, I would certainly place great emphasis on what you have to say about the safe/unsafe disposal of industrial or other type waste and how it might impact lakes, rivers, and other waterways.

That being said, right here on BRF we have a really good baseline for experience of what wading around, possibly ingesting, and other methods of exposure to the waters of Lake DePue for possibly a week or more once a year, for up to and in excess of 30 years for some of us. It would be very informative to hear what others have in the way of health problems from this type of exposure over the years.

I will start the poll by stating that I have no problems of a health nature that I would or could attribute to that type/time of exposure from 1968 thru 2004.
I have had skin cancer problems since the age of 30, but that started prior to exposure to the waters of Lake DePue and was diagnosed as overexposure to the sun when I was a young child and into my early 20's. Another possible side effect is hearing loss, but that came from many other places, in addition to Lake DePue. I am also know by some as a PITA, but that was from birth, also no connection to Lake DePue.

If any other boat racers with that type of experience/length of time exposure to the waters of Lake DePue has any problems they can attribute to it, it would be interesting to hear. We do have a good number to survey (boat racers) plus any others such as DePue residents with lengthy exposure, to draw some information from.


ADD: It was always my understanding that the fill in of Lake DePue by silt, came from the flooding and other "backwash" problems associated with the Illinois river. It very well may be that the mine tailings contributed to this problem, but I have never heard that as a reason. Perhaps that was kept quiet to not ruin the perception of Lake DePue as a boat racers "nirvana". Long story short, whatever infirmities I have at age 73, I cannot and will not attribute to exposure of the waters in Lake DePue.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Wayne:

Based on you and your Dad's experience with EPA, Texas Environmental authorities, etc., back when you were trying to get a site for safe disposal of oil field waste, I would certainly place great emphasis on what you have to say about the safe/unsafe disposal of industrial or other type waste and how it might impact lakes, rivers, and other waterways.

That being said, right here on BRF we have a really good baseline for experience of what wading around, possibly ingesting, and other methods of exposure to the waters of Lake DePue for possibly a week or more once a year, for up to and in excess of 30 years for some of us. It would be very informative to hear what others have in the way of health problems from this type of exposure over the years.

I will start the poll by stating that I have no problems of a health nature that I would or could attribute to that type/time of exposure from 1968 thru 2004.
I have had skin cancer problems since the age of 30, but that started prior to exposure to the waters of Lake DePue and was diagnosed as overexposure to the sun when I was a young child and into my early 20's. Another possible side effect is hearing loss, but that came from many other places, in addition to Lake DePue. I am also know by some as a PITA, but that was from birth, also no connection to Lake DePue.

If any other boat racers with that type of experience/length of time exposure to the waters of Lake DePue has any problems they can attribute to it, it would be interesting to hear. We do have a good number to survey (boat racers) plus any others such as DePue residents with lengthy exposure, to draw some information from.


ADD: It was always my understanding that the fill in of Lake DePue by silt, came from the flooding and other "backwash" problems associated with the Illinois river. It very well may be that the mine tailings contributed to this problem, but I have never heard that as a reason. Perhaps that was kept quiet to not ruin the perception of Lake DePue as a boat racers "nirvana". Long story short, whatever infirmities I have at age 73, I cannot and will not attribute to exposure of the waters in Lake DePue.

Like Bill, I always heard it was from the back wash of the Illinois River. I raced on the Seine in Paris. Now this was a serious water issue. I believe that it was my 1st year there that 2 Mercury drivers got cut & were exposed to the raw sewage water of the Seine, one was Don Clark who cut a leg really bad, got infected. The other was the affable Don Preuitt. He also got cut, can't remember the details, & also got an infection.

[Skoontz]

A couple things here. Rather than waste time andeffort on Turbine Durbin and the congres critters serving now, go after the one you are going to elect who will get this job done.

Follow the money and you will find ties to those current in office wasting your tax dollars and if you think you can outspend Exxon, you're dreaming.

But your right bring out a soil cooker and start moving dirt, and you can cook the crap right out of the dirt. The other way is airation, pile the dirt and keep turning it until it evaporates....

We have done some of this work when we mitigate wetlands on a contaminated site. So, thats what yer dealing with

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I don't know who told me about fill coming from the plant, but it's more logical what you and John said Bill Van. I only raced at DePue 4 times, and have no related health problems. My only injuries were temporary... a cracked rib from the blowover and burnt fingers when some lady was using a cigarette to make me turn loose the light pole so they could throw me in the Holiday Inn pool.:D

Skoontz....cattails are great for contaminated wetlands as you probably already know.

[Skoontz]

Wayne: there are a number of plants you can use to suck out the garbage. If it was fertilizer, you are most likely going to have a very high Anomia count, the biproduct from fertilizer that kicks plants in the tail. There will also be very heavy amounts of toxic organics.

When we were applying fertilzer to lawns as a cash flowing tool, you could add such high levels of amonia by over fertilization that a by product of salt is left in the water and land. This is some of the issue at Salton Sea, the water is trapped and goes no where. The salt content is 30% higher than the Pacific Ocean and, the result is thousands of dead fish and Pelicans who injest the water. It was amazing when we visited last March or so. There was this beautiful white sandy beach....Problem is, there was no sand, we walked on 3' of fish and Peilcan bones on the West shore.

I could see Depue heading into this state if something is not done.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Bill...I have never been there, but always thought Salton Sea salinity was a product of nature due to the elevation. I didn't think there were any agricultural projects around there that ran off into Salton Sea. If there are lots of bones stacked up, then there was lots of life before and something killed it. My first guess would be lack of oxynization.

I have no technical knowledge of this, but during permitting processes in the past century I learned that SAR (sodium absorption ratio) is a big deal with regard to plant life. In the oilfield we ran a lot of salinity tests figuring out parts per million chlorides. For many years I thought that chlorine was the grass killer, but I could not figure out why fertilizer had such large amounts of potassium chloride. I finally learned that the test for sodium was too complicated for field tests and oilfield brine was sodium chloride. The field tests for chloride were simple and quick and from that you could tell what the sodium amount was. In the 1980's a solution called calcium amendment was put on the market that could bring back salt contaminated land. For those not familiar......NaCl is sodium chloride and is table salt. KCl is salt lite and also used extensively in fertilizers. Anyway, the calcium amendment solution was like a bowling ball where the larger calcium molecules knock the sodium molecules off the chloride. I really don't understand this concept, but I have seen it work. Sorry to get off the subject of DePue, but the environmental cleanup issues interest me because more money goes to the lawyers than getting down and dirty and doing the cleanup. Nature will clean EVERYTHING on it's own time frame.....but you know how impatient we humans are. As a drinker from a water well, I appreciate the filtration capabilities of the earth.

[ferv888ipba]

Grew up in DePue after my Dad died. Mom would tell us all kinds of stories about the lake and the fun she had when a youngster. We grew up on and in the Lake as kids.

The Lake is actually just that a Lake. It does have a passage out to the Illinois River, but was not considered a back water of the river as some might think of it now. It is spring fed, and when you think about this, you might have been in the water and felt a cold circulation of water come by. This would have been a sping that might have been uncovered during the week of activities at the lake.

Bud used to come to DePue and pull ice chunks out of the lake for that yellow stuff, no, not the yellow snow!!! That is how pure the water once was from the Lake.

I remember as a kid, on Labor Day Weekend, the Chicago Outboard Club used to have races on that weekend. There was always an armada of boats just off the first turn, which came in from the Illinois River passage into the Lake.
Now the lake only accessible from the river if the water is way up because of the silting in of the lake. We were always as kids able to access the river from the lake and now as I understand it, the kayaks were getting stuck last year at the mouth.

The issues for the lake are really the topsoil issues that flow into the lake and then the back up of all the water from the river during flooding which then lays down the silt when the water begins to recede. This was really enchanced when the Creek at the east end of the lake began to flow into the lake dropping thousands of pounds of top soil into the lake.

The pollution problems have been identified as the tailings of the heavy metal and have been in the water, but even heavier in the silt at the bottom of the lake. This is dangerous to the community and to the use of the lake. It is an absolute shame that this continues from the days of the Lake Depue Preservation Association efforts with the Mayor Don Bosnich's Dad as the leader. His group brought great identity to the lake and the clean up. Now with Steve Solario/Eric Bryant and the Men's Club carrying the torch, hopefull something can be done.

I rememer Bobby Viera from Oakland, Ca coming in after dumping a hydro and when he pulled his helmet off, the whole side of his face was mud, with the inside of the helmet full of the muck. Alan Ishii went upside down on the backstrech thowing up a mud tail the whole way.

We need to do everything we can to contact the EPA and our elected officials to get this moving. What a disaster for the people of DePue if this is not cleaned up, never mind the boatracing.

Ray

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

I am in complete agreement with you and others that whatever can be done, should be done to clean up Lake DePue. Like all things political in Illinois, it seems it takes forever to get someones attention about this problem, and will probably take even longer given the poor state of the economy and especially the State of Illinois financial situation, even though the Feds (EPA) will probably bear the majority of the cost. I believe I have read that this is a Superfund site, although many others across the country are also, and that does not seem to hurry up the work in a lot of cases, in fact exactly the opposite because of the politics involved.

The reason for my skepticism is the amount of work/time spent (politically) that went into just getting the Lake dredged in the late 70's/early 80's to increase it back to racing depth, and consequently the time the boat racing community was without one of the favorite places to race in the US. I can just imagine what will be required with the EPA and any state environmental agency's involved as far as time to mitigate the problems that exist there now. And just so there is no mistake about my comments about the length of time the Lake would probably be "out of service" for boat racing or other recreational activities, the safety of the citizens of DePue and future generations demand something be done, sooner rather than later. Daley (Father and Son) have probably wasted 10 times more money in Chicago the last 30 yearsthan it would have taken to do the job right. The destruction of Meigs field on the lakefront in the wee hours of the morning a few years ago is a perfect example of the problems with politics that eminate from the Windy City. That makes all the work done by Don Bosnich, the Lake Preservation Society, and now the Men's Club members all that more impressive given the hoops they have had to jump thru just to get attention given to the problem, much less some remedial action.

Whatever the solution to the problems there, correction will probably eliminate DePue as a Boat Racing destination for some time because of the work on the lake property that will be required, but the health of its citizens comes before that consideration.

Just in case of anyone misunderstanding my earlier post, I was not making light of the problems with the Lake, only stating what my personal experience over a goodly period of time healthwise had been, regards my own exposure to the water of Lake DePue. As previously stated I would be interested in hearing of any ill effects on boat racers that could be laid to exposure to the water there. I have not heard of any, and in the litigious society we live in today you would think there would be some publicity if it had occurred. Other than some injuries from the racing itself, and an incident at a pig roast years ago (no fault of the lake unless the water was contaminated with alcohol and it was ingested thru the skin), the record does not seem to indicate much that I am aware of. If anyone has knowledge of something this would seem to be a good place and time to make it known to our racing community.

[Gene East]

Bill,

Are you suggesting Illinois politics is corrupt?

Just remember this, Ray, Skoontz and I didn't vote for any of those crooks!

For those of you who are not familiar whith Illinois politics, (if that's possible), you may want to read Paul Christner's post on this forum posted earlier today re: "Christmas Treason".

Paul also is from Illinois and knows how crooked our state government is.

One needs only to look at Washington and see how many of our fearless leaders got their political start in Illinois to understand how the NATION got so screwed-up.

I probably should move my *** back to Missouri where we found great Americans like Truman, Pershing, Disney, and Mark Twain.

For you Illinoisians who tout Lincoln,

HE WAS FROM KENTUCKY!!!

[Tim Chance]

Bill,

Are you suggesting Illinois politics is corrupt?

Just remember this, Ray, Skoontz and I didn't vote for any of those crooks!

For those of you who are not familiar whith Illinois politics, (if that's possible), you may want to read Paul Christner's post on this forum posted earlier today re: "Christmas Treason".

Paul also is from Illinois and knows how crooked our state government is.

One needs only to look at Washington and see how many of our fearless leaders got their political start in Illinois to understand how the NATION got so screwed-up.

I probably should move my *** back to Missouri where we found great Americans like Truman, Pershing, Disney, and Mark Twain.

For you Illinoisians who tout Lincoln,

HE WAS FROM KENTUCKY!!!

Hey Gene - Missouri is no better. Don't forget we elected a dead guy to the US Senate over on this side of the river a few years back (On November 7, 2000, voters in Missouri elected Mel Carnahan to the U.S. Senate. The unusual part of this is that he died in October in a plane crash). Of course we let dead people vote over here too. So I guess it is just logic: dead Democrats will vote for a dead Democrat.

But back to Lake Depue. I have never had any personal problems with the quality of the water or from the mud. But I do know it is a serious problem. A total cleaning the lake is probably cost prohibitive while dredging to race depth, while not saving the lake can keep the site as a race venue.

This past year I was towed the length of the front straightaway and two people sat in the front of the pickup boat and knocked the Asian Carp away with tennis rackets. They must of knocked 30 - 40 out of the air, and some of these were really, really big fish! I don't want to have one slam into my head at 90 mph. The carp problem needs to be dealt with immediately.

[Skoontz]

"Bill,

Are you suggesting Illinois politics is corrupt?"

Well my friend...When I lived in Chi town, South and North sides, when you needed something done on your street, trash can replacement, pot hole, maybe street light out?

And you called....The first thing they did was look at your voting record in the primaries. If you had a D next to your name, they would send 10 trucks down with 30 guys the bnext day for any of those chores. If however, you had an R next to your name, it would take months.

KT's mom and grandma were walking home from the store when her mom was about 10. The fat slob with a lassie turd fired up and hanging from his yap yelled out "hey you Marossy, next you vote it better be Fing Democrat...."

Her mom walks over to this guy ( now mind you, she was in a bunker in 1945, and later kissed George Patton on the cheek for liberating them) and tells this guy she would vote for whoever the hell she pleased, she was an American now.

Needless to say, they never were able to get a single thing done on their house or street until after they sold it....

No, Illinois politics aren't corrupt...Walker, Ryan, Blagoiavich, Rostenkowski, Reynolds, only a few of recent years who have spent time in the slammer....

Anyhow, time to take KT to the bait shop for dinner. Did not want to jack the thread. Just wanted to add insight toward what those directly and indirectly are up against.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You nailed it Skoontz. People need to really pay attention now because "Pay to Play" as Blago testifies is the "Chicago Way". Beyond that is the hard stuff. The hard knuckles and baseball bats stuff. Raum Emmanuel is pulling all the punches now. He's pulling all the stops to get the recalcitrunt Dems on board to pass nationalized health care. They have the votes. If it was so good....then why didn't they vote already. The latest is that Ben Nelson is threatened with taking out the No. 1 SAC base if he doesn't go along. This is Chicago politics. He not only threatens Senator Nelson with removing a multimillion dollar per year airbase,, but callously disregards the importance of that base to our national security. I was outraged when I heard that. The White House denies it. But............isn't that the way Chicago politics works?:mad:

[Mark75H]

Just like everything else in politics, some of it is bluffing and show.

"Here, I'll give you an excuse you can take home to the folks. Tell them we threatened you and they will believe it."

[racingfan1]

Shortly after the Nationals last year , an informational meeting was set up by all the parties involved in the clean-up of the entire superfund site , not just Lake DePue. It was not what the people were expecting. There were no REAL answers given. The two representatives from the owners of the property , EXXON-Mobil and Viacom , seemed annoyed with the fact that had to be there in the first place. They spoke very little and when they did , nothing was said!!
The one thing that came from this " meeting " was that whatever is done , the lake is the last problem that will be addressed. One of the studies presented , showed a timeline of what was to be done and when it would be completed , the lake was last on that list. The gentlemen stated that the plan calls for all the sources of the contamination to be cleaned up so when the final phase , the lake clean-up , is started and completed, no more contaminates can enter the lake. But just what the end result of Lake DePue is , was never really addressed. Not one of the people there would say what will be done with the lake. They will " STUDY " all the optionals and do what was best. One of those optional is do nothing with the lake. The Illinois EPA representative , Mr. Lange , told a large group gathered around him that to do nothing is not an option to him and he would make sure that does not happen. His statement was that in two or three years the people of DePue will be complaining to him about the sound and smell of diesel engines involved in the clean-up rather than complaining about the lake itself. All the people there assured him that will not be the case.
I thing it is safe to assume that boat racing will leave Lake DePue again for awhile until the problem is solved. Lets hope it returns.

[Ron Hill]

Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 277


http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif EPA Control Over Water
I was listening to the BEST of Mark Levin and heard about the EPA's "NEW" rules... As Marks says, First it is air, then water, our bodies are next."

The EPA is the ones that banned DDT, DDT has saved.....well read about DDT on Performance Boat Magazine.

QUOTE: the EPA: A PowerPoint presentation on the November 2009 Rule Amendments is now available.
Presentation: SPCC Rule Amendments: November 5, 2009, 74 FR 58783 (PPT) (63 pp, 2.4MB)


EPA Announces Final Amendments to the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Rule
On November 5, 2009, the EPA Administrator signed a notice amending certain requirements of the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule in order to address additional areas of regulatory reform that have been raised by the regulated community. The November 2009 amendments revise the December 2008 amendments as a result of EPA's review of comments and consideration of all relevant facts. EPA is either taking no action or providing minor technical corrections on the majority of the December 2008 provisions. However, this action modifies the December 2008 rule by removing the provisions to: exclude farms and oil production facilities from the loading/unloading rack requirements; exempt produced water containers at an oil production facility; and provide alternative qualified facilities eligibility criteria for an oil production facility.

Additionally, because of the uncertainty surrounding the final amendments to the December 5, 2008, rule and the delay of the effective date, EPA will propose to extend the compliance date.

This rule is effective January 14, 2010.

Regulation: Oil Pollution Prevention; Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Rule - Final Amendments


The way I read this is the EPA NOW has control of all water in the USA. If everyone starts talking about Lake DePue being polluted, the EPA may ban outboard two strokes from the lake.

From what I've seen at DePue, what the lake needs is more boat going around, more often and send that top soil run off down the Illinois River....Need some Jet Boat racing to blow the stuff out of the lake...

I'd say stay under the radar and hope the EPA never knows there is a Lake DePue!

[racingfan1]

Sorry Ron but the EPA is already a major player in the clean-up and they have been since the start. The problem is they are one of probably 10 different groups that have a say so in the superfund site plan.