CPS Energy’s Clean Energy Target is Not Consistent with Our Climate Goals

In order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avert the worst effects of climate change (such as heat waves more intense than last summer’s), the IPCC tells us that we need to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. CPS Energy’s commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050 is not consistent with this target.

The IPCC’s target applies to all sectors of our economy, some of which will be more difficult to decarbonize than others. For example, zero-carbon jet fuel is currently 3-4 times more expensive than conventional fuel and is not expected to play a significant role in reducing aviation emissions until the 2040s at the earliest.

In contrast, electricity generation is easy to decarbonize. We already have the technologies we need---wind, solar, and storage---and green electricity is already cheaper than dirty electricity in much of the US. We need to decarbonize electricity generation first to buy ourselves time to develop and scale the technologies needed to decarbonize other sectors. This is why President Biden has set a nationwide goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.

This past October, the Sierra Club released a report analyzing the climate pledges of 50 American utility companies. CPS Energy received a score of 40%, corresponding to a C grade, in part because of its plans to keep operating gas plants. Let’s pressure CPS to instead invest in green electricity, as this will save us money in the long term, avoid the health risks associated with natural gas, and support our decarbonization goals.

Trying to Make the Best Use of the Space Occupied by an Urban Freeway

In December 2023, National Public Radio had a story about Hunter's Field Playground in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is underneath an elevated section of Interstate 10, locally known as Claiborne Expressway.  The playground is over nine years old, but it is in good shape because children do not play there.  It is too noisy and unpleasant of an environment.

Motor vehicles, after all, produce noise, water, soil, and air pollution.  Several studies have found that people living, working and going to school near such facilities are statistically less healthy.  California banned new-school construction on land within 500 feet of freeways in 2003.  As done elsewhere, the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability discourages motor vehicle idling near schools.

Clearly, encouraging people, especially children, to gather and engage in physical exercise under a freeway overpass is not a good idea from a public health perspective.  Physical exercise  increases the volume of inhaled air, so “…it is crucial to avoid exercising in places with a high concentration of air pollution (i.e. near to a high traffic road).”   A careful, detailed study of pedestrians aged 60 years and older found that, while walking had positive cardiopulmonary effects, walking along a busy street with high levels of air pollution eliminated these benefits.

But, land in the core of a city is a valuable asset, so what can be done to capture this community value?  The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has had some success in the promotion of the conversion of urban highways to more community- and environmentally-friendly boulevards.  Bandera Road (SH 16) in Leon Valley and San Antonio may soon be a local example.

For urban residents, highways have a “barrier effect” from the “…delay, risk, noise and air pollution exposure that motor vehicle travel imposes on walkers and bicyclists, which degrades nonmotorized travel conditions, reduces active travel, and causes travelers to shift to less preferred modes, which tends to increase user and external costs such as traffic congestion, road and parking facility costs and pollution emissions.”

In 2023, the federal government established a new Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program intended to reduce the impact of urban freeways on urban neighborhoods by, in part, reducing the barrier effect.  An approach to this is to depress the highway and put a walkable cap or lid on it. Klyde Warren Park in Dallas may be one of the best examples of such a cap. 

Klyde Warren Park by Bill Barker, 11-25-2023

When I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1973, Dallas leaders had recently finished a lengthy campaign to get the new Woodhall Rogers freeway built as a depressed highway.  This two-mile stretch of road was intended to connect Interstate 35 with North Central Expressway and Interstate 45 and thereby complete a freeway loop around downtown Dallas.  A common urban freeway network design strategy is to provide a loop around a central business district to make sure every downtown destination can be accessed by highway.  Unfortunately, this type of freeway loop can be an obstacle to close-in neighborhoods connecting with downtown.  Dallas leaders did not want to cut off near northside Dallas neighborhoods from downtown.

On a visit to Dallas in 2023 – 50 years after my first visit – I explored the “rooms” of the 5 acre park Klyde Warren Park and was totally impressed with how this freeway footprint was transformed into the most popular park in Dallas with the obvious positive economic impact of the surrounding area.  Pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and transit users – including riders of the heritage streetcars of the McKinney Avenue Trolley - can easily cross the freeway using the cap. 

Klyde Warren Park by Bill Barker, 11-25-2023

This urban oasis includes 37 native plant species and 322 trees.  A Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta economist concluded that “…the Klyde Warren Park lid over the freeway in downtown Dallas made the city a more attractive place to live and work.”

Klyde Warren Park by Bill Barker, 11-25-2023

The motor vehicle emissions are still there, of course.  They are confined to the roadway “tunnel”.  Another National Public Radio story in October 2023 included a discussion of the air quality impacts of a cap built as part of the expansion of I-70 in Denver.  Unsurprisingly, air quality is worse at the edge of the cap overlooking the highway and better in the center of the park built on the cap. 

A report from the Tufts University Community Assessment pf Freeway Exposure and Health partnership found evidence that moderate reductions (<40%) in air pollution are observed in areas adjacent to freeway decks.

I keep thinking that something like Klyde Warren Park over a depressed I-37 at Commerce Street in downtown San Antonio would stimulate an amazing transformation of this area!

The City Nature Challenge 2024

The Alamo Group plans on participating in a great worldwide naturalist event, City Nature Challenge 2024, which is staged on iNaturalist.  See the City Nature Challenge website for information.

The iNaturalist app on a cellphone is an excellent tool to identify the plants and animals observed on an outing.  With good cellphone photos the app gives in order the best fitting species of flora or fauna.  Observation can also be made with digital cameras and added to the iNaturalist website.   Both types of observations are on a website to be reviewed and confirmed by other observers including curators.  Once confirmed as research grade they form a database that can be used by biological scientists for many purposes.

Lindheimer's Morning Glory by Jerry Morrisey

The outings program of the Alamo Group will incorporate training for this wonderful tool in naturalist outings this spring.  This will be a great opportunity for participants to better learn the plants, birds butterflies, insects, spiders, and other fauna of the area.  Another reward of becoming a regular iNaturalist observer is the development of iNaturalist friends.  Users can become followers of other observers and help confirm their observations and vice versa.  Outings together can follow.

The City Nature Challenge 2024 is an event staged by iNaturalist on April 26 through April 29 where observers in Metro areas around the world submit observations.  These observations help document the state of biodiversity in the world.  Part of the format is competition between Metropolitan Areas for the most observations and most species observed.  This competition helps recruit new observers to iNaturalist who in turn can help document the diversity and distribution of species worldwide.

The San Antonio Metro Area has competed for 5 years in City Nature Challenge with increased observations each year.  We barely passed the Austin Metro Area in observations and were at less than half those of Dallas-Ft Worth and Houston-Galveston in 2023.  A Challenge Team for the San Antonio Metro Area has put together an organizational effort to greatly increase the number of observers and observations.

Registration, training, observational events, internal competition, and awards for participation are included in the website.  One of the internal competitions on the site is between teams that are formed.

The Alamo Group would like to put together teams that pair our experienced iNaturalist observers with less experienced or novice observers.  If interested in being a member of an Alamo Group team, you can contact Jerry Morrisey at jlmorrisey@aol.com.

Big Bend National Park: a Couple Spots Not Often Visited and a Book, Death In Big Bend by Laurence Parent

The most popular places in the park include Chisos Basin, the Rio Grande Village area and Lost Mine trail. A few alternatives are Pine Canyon, Oak Creek and Cattail Falls.

Pine Canyon

The turnoff south from Rio Grande Village road is 5.5 miles southeast from the visitor center. Then Pine Canyon road goes west 6 miles to campsite #5. Site #1 looked easily reachable for RVs and one was there. Some high clearance spots along the road but not bad.

Pine Canyon Trail is 2 miles one way, gains 1000' to base of Pine Canyon Falls. Here's the park page and another with good pictures. There is a sign somewhere about there having been a ranch up the canyon, presumably due to the water from the falls and likely a spring, though didn't see any remnants of a ranch.

On the way back looked at the appealing low-angle hikes to ridges just north; geez only a mile or whatever each way, surely grand vistas, though would have to dodge lots of prickly vegetation. For example, the third picture.

Pine Canyon campsite #5. The road is just to the right and continues another 1/2 mile through the gap to the trailhead. Not much traffic to/from the trailhead and site #4 was 1/4 mile away, so nice solitude.

Pine Canyon Falls. Appeared to be flowing couple gallons per minute.

From Pine Canyon trail. Looking about exactly toward Lost Mine Peak which is a mile behind this lesser one. From the ridge there should be a good view of Lost Mine Peak and maybe see some hikers at the top of Lost Mine trail.

Oak Creek and Cattail Falls

We can do the Window trail from the Chisos Basin campground west to the Window, then down Oak Creek trail to Ross Maxwell road, 5.2 miles total. Have a buddy promise to pick us up at the road a few hours later. AmericanSouthwest.net has a good page with map and pictures.

Much of the water used in the Chisos Basin for the lodge, cottages, dining room and visitor center comes from a pump at bottom of Oak Creek (3rd pic below) via a pipeline up through the Window. So the supply is strictly limited particularly during droughts. I got a message years ago asking for input regards water restrictions in the Basin. I replied that all hose bibs should be spring-loaded, all showerheads and faucets low flow and toilets ultra-low flush. And informational signs pleading for water conservation everywhere. We can refill containers at the north entrance station and Panther Junction for use in the Basin.

Hiking up from Ross Maxwell road we can visit Oak Creek a bit and then visit Cattail Falls. The junction for the trail to the latter, heading south then east, is clearly signed though this destination is not shown on park maps. I've read on a few websites that the park is trying to limit traffic to Cattail Falls due to this spot being ecologically fragile. If we visit let's stay on the trail, not touch the vegetation and stay out of the pool.

Looking east from Ross Maxwell road. The trail up to the Chisos Basin Window comes from the road left out of the picture and goes up left of the draw left of center, which is Oak Creek Canyon. The trail to Cattail Falls forks right off from the Window trail and winds up through the draw right of center. The lower falls (last pic) are beyond and to the left of that draw.

Nearly below the Window. Maybe a little spray coming over through the gap.

The pump at the bottom of Oak Creek. Water goes up to Chisos Basin. This bit of overflow fills a small pond below.

Death In Big Bend — True Stories of Death and Rescue in Big Bend National Park

This is a book by Laurence Parent, published 2010. Seventeen stories. Forward by a former park ranger and appreciative acknowledgment of staff assistance with park files.

Very educational stories, some of which ring bells for us as we remember doing that road or trail. Though not the route described below I'm sure.

The chapter titled Bryan Brock is about the death of a climber by that name during an attempt to descend the sequence of high falls ending with Cattail Falls (last picture). This was in December 1984.

Two buddies, experienced and strong, started out down the route from Laguna Meadows above the Basin with 80 lb packs including 765' of rope and technical gear. One rope was 600', so doubled for retrieval below that allows descent something less than 300' max. One pouroff is said to be 435', required tying in the second rope.

One guy got down finally with the assistance of the other above, though was getting hypothermic due to being in a waterfall. The other guy get stuck and died hanging in a waterfall. The first guy had desperately hiked out for assistance but it was too late.

Lower Cattail Falls, the lower falls of a sequence of five. There is a large pond at the bottom of the falls. This one is said to be 80' high.

From the e-Mailbag

From time-to-time, the Alamo Group receives messages concerning local environmental issues. If you have thoughts on any of these issues, send us a message and we'll forward it to the writer. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or opinions of the Alamo Group or its members.

Security and sustainability forum

This morning I attended a Webinar "Recalibrating Our Economic Compass: Embracing Circularity for a Healthy Planet” presented by the Sustainability Forum.  It is one of a series, and is magnificent. I would like to publicize this series to Sierra Club members. 

This session contrasted the linear (consumer-to-garbage) economic model with the circular model where products are designed so that resources are re-used.  So many good ideas, such as the rather radical suggestion to tax materials (consumption; finite) rather than labor (potentially infinite).  And to sell services rather than goods, such as renting washing machines rather than selling them (the company therefore is incentivized to use most durable products that require least maintenance); the consumer becomes a user.  

Underying concept: we are guardians of resources (and Earth), rather than owners with no responsibility to future generations or other members of community/world. So obvious when stated clearly and without moralizing.  The three invited speakers were all European, and they gave examples of how these ideas are being implemented there.  Refreshing!

The webinar was recorded, and the archive of past Security and Sustainability Forum webinars is at www.ssfworld.org.

Outings: The Call of the Wild

Visit the Alamo Sierra Club Outings page on Meetup for detailed information about all of our upcoming Sierra Club Outings.

The Alamo Sierran Newsletter

Richard Alles, Editor
Published by the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club, P.O. Box 6443, San Antonio, TX 78209, AlamoSierraClub.org.
The Alamo Group is one of 13 regional groups within the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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