November 13, 2009
Goodenough Springs Exploration Project (GSEP): Notice of complaint against Texas divers Steve Cushman and Colin Irons.
The GSEP, a formally chartered cave diving research and exploration group, has conducted work at Goodenough Springs near Del Rio, TX since the year 2000. This site is located on federally-owned property and is open to public access.
Over a ten-year period, our volunteer, privately-funded organization has incurred direct expenses in excess of $100,000.00 to conduct exploration and research activities at Goodenough Springs. Our project has also installed and maintained an extensive mooring system that is available for public use at this site.
The GSEP has worked closely with many scientific and governmental organizations including: Texas State University, Texas A&M University, Texas Water Development Board, Edwards Aquifer Authority, City of Del Rio, Texas, Texas Speleological Survey, National Speleological Society, and the National Association of Cave Divers. We provide water sampling, flow/velocity measurements, and year-round instrumentation/monitoring at no cost to interested agencies. Our work has been published in the Hydrogeology Journal and noted in the History of Texas Caving as well as recreational publications, including "Scuba Diving Magazine. The GSEP was awarded the 2009 Exploration Award by the NSS-CDS for its work at Goodenough Springs.
Currently, the GSEP maintains a roster of twenty active participants and more than three dozen individual divers have participated over the life of the project. During our project's existence, we have collectively conducted more than 1,000 dives in this cave system. We continue to bring new participants into our project as need arises and space is available on the team's two full-time dive vessels.
The GSEP Board of Directors regrets to announce that we were compelled to temporarily suspend diving operations and remove elements of our equipment to prevent what we consider as a serious hazard to our project activities at Goodenough Springs. Our project was informed by reliable sources that a group led by Texas divers Steve Cushman and Colin Irons planned to use GSEP-owned equipment and resources to pursue a deep dive during our ongoing research-related efforts. This information was also verified by postings on participants' Facebook pages. Additionally, the sources expressed serious concerns that the Cushman/Irons groups stated intention to conduct a dive to 600 feet of depth could likely end in injury or death to the principal participants.
Historically, the GSEP has made no efforts to prohibit persons from diving at the site; GPS coordinates of the springs location and other relevant information are posted on our project website. When recently contacted by Mr. Irons, the GSEP provided cooperative responses to his inquires for other site-specific information; depth references for significant cave features were provided as well as photo-documentation of sub-surface topography.
Because our Board of Directors regarded the above-named groups limited familiarity of this high-flow cave system to be inadequate for their proposed dive, the GSEP deemed it incumbent to implement preemptive actions to protect our project interests. Particularly in light of current site conditions we cannot, in clear conscience, provide even tacit support to such a grossly imprudent dive objective.
Poorly-conceived dives, such as the one proposed by Messrs. Cushman and Irons, jeopardize the continued access of the entire diving public. Local agents of the federal government have previously shown little tolerance for diving-related accidents and have prohibited all diving at a nearby submerged dam site following a fatality there.
The GSEP membership is disappointed and insulted by the behavior of these individuals. Their thoughtless interference has impeded our ability to continue our planned activities and is responsible for the temporary suspension of research and exploration efforts at Goodenough Springs.
Encroachment upon the activities of established dive projects has long been considered unacceptable by the established cave diving community. Therefore, the GSEP respectfully solicits your cooperation in condemning the selfish and ill-advised actions of the parties named in this complaint. We are confident that you support our mission and thank you in advance for helping to bring full public scrutiny to this incident.
Respectfully,
Chuck Noe - Director GSEP
GSEP Board of Directors - Robert Laird, Rick Aurich, Mike Gault, Gregg Tatum
PO Box 84194, Pearland, TX 77584
cc:
National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section
National Association of Cave Divers
Technical Diving International
International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers
Global Underwater Explorers
International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery
Texas Aquifer Research Alliance
Public Dive Forums - TheDecoStop.com, Cavediver.net, ScubaBoard.com
Goodenough Springs Exploration Project (GSEP): Notice of complaint against Texas divers Steve Cushman and Colin Irons.
The GSEP, a formally chartered cave diving research and exploration group, has conducted work at Goodenough Springs near Del Rio, TX since the year 2000. This site is located on federally-owned property and is open to public access.
Over a ten-year period, our volunteer, privately-funded organization has incurred direct expenses in excess of $100,000.00 to conduct exploration and research activities at Goodenough Springs. Our project has also installed and maintained an extensive mooring system that is available for public use at this site.
The GSEP has worked closely with many scientific and governmental organizations including: Texas State University, Texas A&M University, Texas Water Development Board, Edwards Aquifer Authority, City of Del Rio, Texas, Texas Speleological Survey, National Speleological Society, and the National Association of Cave Divers. We provide water sampling, flow/velocity measurements, and year-round instrumentation/monitoring at no cost to interested agencies. Our work has been published in the Hydrogeology Journal and noted in the History of Texas Caving as well as recreational publications, including "Scuba Diving Magazine. The GSEP was awarded the 2009 Exploration Award by the NSS-CDS for its work at Goodenough Springs.
Currently, the GSEP maintains a roster of twenty active participants and more than three dozen individual divers have participated over the life of the project. During our project's existence, we have collectively conducted more than 1,000 dives in this cave system. We continue to bring new participants into our project as need arises and space is available on the team's two full-time dive vessels.
The GSEP Board of Directors regrets to announce that we were compelled to temporarily suspend diving operations and remove elements of our equipment to prevent what we consider as a serious hazard to our project activities at Goodenough Springs. Our project was informed by reliable sources that a group led by Texas divers Steve Cushman and Colin Irons planned to use GSEP-owned equipment and resources to pursue a deep dive during our ongoing research-related efforts. This information was also verified by postings on participants' Facebook pages. Additionally, the sources expressed serious concerns that the Cushman/Irons groups stated intention to conduct a dive to 600 feet of depth could likely end in injury or death to the principal participants.
Historically, the GSEP has made no efforts to prohibit persons from diving at the site; GPS coordinates of the springs location and other relevant information are posted on our project website. When recently contacted by Mr. Irons, the GSEP provided cooperative responses to his inquires for other site-specific information; depth references for significant cave features were provided as well as photo-documentation of sub-surface topography.
Because our Board of Directors regarded the above-named groups limited familiarity of this high-flow cave system to be inadequate for their proposed dive, the GSEP deemed it incumbent to implement preemptive actions to protect our project interests. Particularly in light of current site conditions we cannot, in clear conscience, provide even tacit support to such a grossly imprudent dive objective.
Poorly-conceived dives, such as the one proposed by Messrs. Cushman and Irons, jeopardize the continued access of the entire diving public. Local agents of the federal government have previously shown little tolerance for diving-related accidents and have prohibited all diving at a nearby submerged dam site following a fatality there.
The GSEP membership is disappointed and insulted by the behavior of these individuals. Their thoughtless interference has impeded our ability to continue our planned activities and is responsible for the temporary suspension of research and exploration efforts at Goodenough Springs.
Encroachment upon the activities of established dive projects has long been considered unacceptable by the established cave diving community. Therefore, the GSEP respectfully solicits your cooperation in condemning the selfish and ill-advised actions of the parties named in this complaint. We are confident that you support our mission and thank you in advance for helping to bring full public scrutiny to this incident.
Respectfully,
Chuck Noe - Director GSEP
GSEP Board of Directors - Robert Laird, Rick Aurich, Mike Gault, Gregg Tatum
PO Box 84194, Pearland, TX 77584
cc:
National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section
National Association of Cave Divers
Technical Diving International
International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers
Global Underwater Explorers
International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery
Texas Aquifer Research Alliance
Public Dive Forums - TheDecoStop.com, Cavediver.net, ScubaBoard.com
