Comments from the Chair
Charter amendments will reform our public utilities
Our local San Antonio area (Alamo) Sierra Club group has joined with other like-minded groups, in two separate coalitions, to Put the “Public” Back in our Public Utilities. Please visit the SAWS Accountability Act website for a City charter amendment proposal to reform SAWS. In addition, you can visit the group's Facebook page. Vista Ridge may be a “done deal” but its poisons continue to pollute our local governance.
This amendment is a call to reform SAWS Governance by cutting CEO salary to something reasonable, enforcing term limits on Board members, establishing ethics and lobbying rules for SAWS, and independent audit requirements for huge projects like Vista Ridge. We need 20,000 signatures, by registered San Antonio voters, to put this on our May, 2021 municipal ballot.
Over a decade ago groups fought against the Spruce 2 coal plant, and lost to the conservative business interests that continue to run SA. We were right in warning of climate change and rapidly advancing renewable energy technology, but to no avail. Now CPS refuses to discuss shutting Spruce down early, saying its too expensive. Who’s fault is that?
CPS vetoed most of the actionable targets in the SA Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP) after volunteers spent thousands of hours to develop a CAAP with specific goals. CPS is run like a private business and wants minimal public input, and listens to it even less.
In this time of developing pandemic, economic downturn and growing climate crisis, we have joined with the like-minded Our Power Coalition to overhaul CPS management, cutting million dollar CEO salaries, removing the Board of Trustees and putting power directly in the hands of City Council, with an Advisory Commission providing technical and policy assistance on all aspects of CPS operations.
We must rein in mismanagement and climate denial at CPS. We can no longer tolerate CPS polluting our air, harming our health and destroying our climate. The time to act to regain control of our public utilities is now.
Council shoots down best SAWS Board candidates
SAWS had three open positions on its Board of Trustees for replacing Pat Jasso, Pat Merritt and Berto Guerra. The last two trustees had served over two years beyond their term limits.
This was a chance to get some people on the BoT who know something about water, and at least two excellent candidates appeared in Jim Smyle and Robert Potts. Two minority women with considerable government experience were chosen instead.
I sincerely hope they will speak out for rate equity and social and environmental justice, and conservation. I do recall Pat Merritt doing so on occasion. I don’t recall Pat Jasso ever doing so. On many occasions, I heard Mr. Guerra speak in feel-good platitudes without ever showing any leadership on equity and justice, instead always working to further the business interests of the Hispanic Chamber, which he used to Chair, and similar groups.
Both CPS and SAWS boards have heavy “business” representation and almost zero knowledge of water or energy issues, equity, climate change, conservation, etc. They believe and promote the Ponzi scheme of endless growth and trickle-down economics, which has left our city one of the poorest and most economically segregated large cities in America.
Mr. Potts found his nomination, and expected vote for approval, sabotaged by CM Pelaez and CWM Viagran, and he finally withdrew his name. The preferred candidate to represent South SA was a Hispanic businessman from The Dominion. Mr. Reyes has now withdrawn his name also.
It turns out the history of our Boards of Trustees is embedded in our past racist history, these boards having initially been created to limit minority input over the utilities, explaining why some neighborhoods had to wait decades to get utility service, while efforts and money went into expanding service to the north. We may now have minority representation on our utility boards, but for the most part they have shown little to no interest in equity or in dismantling social and environmental injustice in SA.
Monthly meetings continuing online
Eco Centro remains closed into fall, so we are continuing online with our monthly Zoom meetings on the usual third Tuesday evening of each month. Our September 15th general meeting features Gina Ortiz Jones, Democratic candidate for Texas's 23rd congressional district. Please check the Alamo Group Meetings calendar, and your email, for updated information.
Help needed to publicize campaigns
Our group has accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Meetup. We seek volunteers to manage and contribute to these accounts, especially Twitter. We are trying to make these sites more useful, timely and interesting for viewers. Please help us!
Send stories, spread the word “liking” stories etc. This will be very important for charter amendment campaigns. We need 20,000 valid signatures from registered San Antonio voters before the end of 2020. This will put these Charter Amendment proposals on the May, 2021 ballot, which will finally force our elected officials to pay some attention to our concerns.
Get ready for the most important election of your lifetime
Voting is a fundamental democratic right and a privilege and responsibility all Americans should value greatly and exercise regularly. Many voting restrictions and misinformation are out there to discourage and confuse voters. I urge everyone to be absolutely certain, wherever they live, that they are registered to vote, and they know they can meet the identification requirements Texas imposes on voters. Sierra Club will be running Charter and candidate advocacy campaigns and we need volunteers!
Go to “About Us” and reach anyone for assistance. Thank you!
Texas nuke waste dump returns
This issue is back again. A few years ago Congress got the bright idea (from the nuclear power lobby) that since we still don’t have a federally-developed permanent geologic repository for nuclear waste, we (i.e. we citizens) should develop an interim storage site for this high level radioactive waste (HLRW).
These materials, consisting mainly of spent fuel rods, are currently stored on-site at the hundred or so nuclear power plants around the country (a number of which are shut down and in the process of being decommissioned. For example, the Vermont Yankee plant will be completely taken apart and eventually all of the thousands of tons of cement, metal pipe, etc. will be shipped for permanent storage at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) private dump in Andrews County in far West Texas. This is classified as “Low Level Radioactive Waste” (LLRW) even though much of it is highly reactive.
Tell the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission you don’t want thousands of shipments of HLRW coming through SA. The NRC extended the comment deadline for the WCS Draft Environmental Impact Statement. It was Sept. 4th, but has been extended until November 3rd, thanks to Rep. Lloyd Doggett. Let The NRC know that you oppose WCS' radioactive waste dump by submitting this easy to complete form.
by Terry Burns, M.D., Alamo Group ChairAn Evening with Gina Ortiz Jones on Zoom
Our online September general meeting features Gina Ortiz Jones, Democratic candidate for Texas's 23rd congressional district.
In 2018, she was the Democratic Party’s general election nominee for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, and came within fewer than 1,000 votes of winning. Ms. Jones is concerned about the interconnected issues of social justice, health care, economic opportunities, and the degradation of natural resources. She is committed to using the full weight of her office as a member of Congress to champion them.
Tuesday, September 15th
6:00 p.m.
Online via Zoom
About our speaker
“As a national security professional, I have seen first-hand the national security challenges caused and worsened by man-made climate change. I have served in places where local conflicts were exacerbated based on diminished access to natural resources -- a circumstance caused by man-made climate change.
"On a personal level, I grew up in Texas, a state where 1 in 11 kids has asthma, and that number is 1 in 7 in my hometown of San Antonio. In communities like the one I grew up in, poorer communities of color, that number is more like 3 or 4 out of 7.
"The public health and economic risks due to poor environmental policies are further compounded when communities lack the means to access affordable, quality healthcare. Therefore, for me, these aren’t just environmental priorities -- they’re socio-economic, public health, and national security priorities.”
Please join us and Gina Ortiz Jones on ZOOM (complete details below).
| Informal meet and greet: | 6:00 - 6:15 pm |
| Announcements: | 6:15 - 6:30 pm |
| Program: | 6:30 - 8:00 pm |
Link to Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 933 0035 1100
Passcode: 875772
We look forward to seeing you on September 15th!
Sincerely,
Your Alamo Group Program Committee,
Karen Weehler and Joan Cunningham
AlamoGroup@LoneStar.SierraClub.org
Zoom meeting details
Join Zoom Meeting at this link.
Meeting ID: 933 0035 1100
Passcode: 875772
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As always, this meeting is free and open to the public.
Remembering Eloise Stoker
The Alamo Group lost one of its founding members on August 9th with the passing of Eloise Yantis Stoker. In 1968 Eloise and Jim Stoker along with Lee and Richard Carr organized the San Antonio Chapter of the Sierra Club that latter became the Alamo Group of the Lone Star Chapter.
One of their first activities was lobbying for the designation of the Rio Grande as a Wild and Scenic River. Eloise was involved in many of conservation and outing activities in the years that followed. Eloise served as chairperson for the Alamo Group and on the National Sierra Club Board.
She was a gracious host for many organizing meetings, the Group Executive Committee and Group Retreats at the Stokers' Guadalupe River cabin. Eloise was an outings leader on trips that included an annual canoe outing to Caddo Lake.
Eloise was a fine artist who received a BS in Art from UT-Austin in 1957 and BS in Graphic Design from New Mexico Highlands University in 1962. She met her husband Jim at UT-Austin and married in 1957. She was a Professor in the Art Department at the University of the Incarnate Word from 1970 to 2005. Eloise worked in various art forms but her favorite was working with clay to form pottery, plates and sculpture. Eloise was a naturalist who used many forms from nature to create imprints in her bowls and plate. She donated art pieces to the Alamo Group Christmas auctions allowing some of us to be blessed with her work.
We encourage you to share your memories and pictures of Eloise by emailing them to Richard Alles at alamosierraclub@gmail.com. We will post them on our Remembering Eloise Stoker webpage.
by Jerry Morrisey, Outings ChairWanna Get Away? Consider Parks in Nova Scotia
One of a couple in Nova Scotia, Kejimkujik National Park is quite varied, having both a large inland area and a section on the Atlantic coast. It is in south central Nova Scotia, a day's drive from the east corner of Maine, or a few hours from Halifax. Here is the park's Wikipedia page, a website about the indigenous Mi'kmaq people, and a Wikipedia article about these people.
There are also many provincial parks in Nova Scotia. Camping at both national and provincial parks is pretty civilized; many have real bathhouses with showers and wifi at the visitor centers or entrance stations.
In the inland section of Kejimkujik there are lots of short trails plus others up to 40 miles in the backcountry. And “some of the best paddling in Atlantic Canada”; canoes and kayaks can be rented in the park.
I visited in June 2016 but didn't spend nearly enough time on the inland trails, as I was in a hurry to get on to other national parks in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. So I must go back.
We Need Adults to Help Youth Write Postcards to Get Out the Climate Vote
Many young people are scared that climate change will rob them of a decent future. Many are doing something about it. They want you to help.
Since May, youth in Texas have been writing personal postcard messages to send in October to encourage the climate vote through the Texas Postcard Project (a program initiated by the Sierra Club working with youth). This is a highly targeted, low-cost, effective way to increase climate voter turnout in key areas of Texas. The postcards will be mailed to registered voters in Texas districts with competitive races who did not vote in the last two elections but who consider climate an important issue.
Our youth have written over 5,000 postcards and plan to write thousands more, but with COVID and late school starts, we won’t reach our goals. We’ve decided to ask adults to help write postcards to reach the 40,000 climate “nonvoters” we’ve targeted and printed addresses and postcards for. It takes about two hours to write 25 cards and we have systems set up for contact-free delivery and pickup. If you can help write cards, belong to a group that can help, or have some spare postcard stamps or cash to contribute, please email us at postcardprojecttx@gmail.com or text Victoria Hendricks at 512-567-5985.
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.
Changed your mailing address?
Have you moved? Let us know by sending your old address, your new address and your member ID (see: Locating Your Member ID) to: address.changes@sierraclub.org.
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