Strange in San Antonio has been keeping up with the burning pile of mulch in Helotes, which is northwest of San Antonio.  Just go read that linked article to get a good update on all the head-butting and utter confusion among the various agencies involved in this.

On Christmas Day, a huge mulch pile starting burning.  No one yet has figured out why, but "authorities" immediately claimed arson since they couldn't think of anything better.The Texas state agency that inspects and okays big piles of mulch had been inspecting it and okaying it for years, so the owner wasn't culpable.  Then suddenly that agency said they had not been okaying it all those years (I suspect this was basically a lie, since they still haven't taken action against the owner and it's not like he could just hide this thing behind his garage all that time).

SAWS, one of the S.A.-area water companies who covers the Helotes area, said they'd supply the water to put it out.  Then they said they wouldn't.  So now BexarMet, a different water company that does not cover the Helotes area, said they would supply the water.  After all, the smoke from this thing has been choking the Helotians for several weeks now.

But there are other governmental agencies who say they can't, because run-off would contaminate the Edwards Aquifer, which provides water for most of Bexar County.

Meanwhile, the smoke continues to pollute the air in Helotes while all these agencies run around like a bunch of battling tops.

Typical.