We've Been Busy This Summer!
Though the Legislature is not in session this year, there has been plenty going on. Our coal and energy work has been demanding this summer, with national, chapter, and local Sierra Club efforts really moving the ball forward on a clean energy future. We filed comments in June with the TCEQ on their 2014 air quality monitoring plan, highlighting the deficiencies of the state's air monitoring network when it comes to lead (Pb) emissions from the Fayette coal plant, problems with ozone monitors in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, and problems with sulfur dioxide monitoring around the three large Luminant coal plants in east Texas.
We have begun to plan for upcoming hearings in the Texas Legislature and at the Public Utilities Commission of Texas about the newly proposed EPA Clean Power Plan (a.k.a. the “carbon rule”).
According to ERCOT, there are 8,600 MW of wind in the construction queue. By fuel type, there is more wind and solar capacity in the queue than natural gas, a trend that began more than one year ago.
Sierra Club Joins With Communications Workers of America and United Auto Workers to Create First Fair Trade Caucus at Texas Democratic Convention
Groups that work together and support each other gain strength. This truism was evident in June when the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, Communications Workers of America and the United Auto Workers co-founded the inaugural Fair Trade Caucus at the Texas Democratic Convention. The results were simply remarkable.
Hal Suter and David Griggs, Chair of International Trade and Labor Relations and Political Chair at the Lone Star Chapter, respectively, led the effort to found the caucus, which was integral in passing a resolution that led to a party platform plank explicitly opposing “fast-track” legislation and demanding transparency in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations (the good stuff starts on page 12). The new caucus drew the attention of Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson and Al Green, and attracted an overflow crowd representing consumer advocacy groups, MoveOn.org, union members, environmentalists, and others.
Plavidal: The Big Bend of Texas: The Last Frontier for Shale Gas in Texas?
As fracking continues to spread to new areas of Texas, local citizens are concerned about its environmental impact and the effect it has on the small town way of life. Big Bend area Sierran Kay Plavidal gives a moving account of how Big Bend/Alpine could soon be on the verge of losing its beauty, uniqueness, and endangering its water supplies. But citizens are organizing themselves.
“It began in Alpine. A handful of Sierrans met at the Railroad Blues Bar on May 23 and created a plan that focused on two things: educational outreach and a ban on fracking in Alpine.”
Austin Energy Generation Task Force Approves Ambitious Plan: An Insider’s View
On July 9, the Austin Energy Generation & Resource Planning Task Force approved its final report that lays out ambitious goals for Austin Energy over the next 15 years. As a member of both this task force and its 2009 predecessor, Conservation Director Cyrus Reed said the plan was ambitious and supported it. If approved, it should make Austin Energy one of the cleanest and most efficient utilities in the United States.
While you won’t be able to read the final task force report until early August, due to a number of additional recommendations that were approved by the Task Force during its final meeting, here are a few details on what they approved unanimously.
Dallas Sierra Club Announces Inaugural Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit
Do you want to dive deeper into energy issues? Explore the present and future of energy development and the associated environmental impacts at the Dallas Sierra Club’s inaugural Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit to be held at the Addison Conference Center the weekend of October 4-5, 2014.
This affordable event is designed for non-experts and experts alike to learn and examine the benefits and risks of traditional and renewable energy resources, as well as emerging energy technologies. High-profile speakers will provide insight on a national and regional scale, as well as the environmental and human impacts of multiple sources of energy.
Send in Your Chapter Award Nominations by September 15!
Each year, the Lone Star Chapter recognizes its hardworking volunteers and other individuals with special awards to show its appreciation for their contribution of time, effort and resources. The Awards Committee is seeking your assistance in selecting those individuals who, on the Group or Chapter Level, have excelled in some administrative, conservation, outings, or media capacity and deserve this special recognition. You do not have to be a Sierran to nominate, and nominees do not have to be a Sierran. The deadline to submit nominations is September 15, 2014.
To learn more about the awards, download the nomination form here, and stay tuned for information about our upcoming awards ceremony!
El Paso Electric Shedding Coal by 2016
More solar, less coal. That was the news from El Paso in June as the city’s electric utility, El Paso Electric, announced it had signed an agreement to purchase power from the new 50-megawatt Macho Springs solar plant and had decided to sell its coal assets. EPE currently owns 7 percent of the Four Corners Power Plant, which consists of five units, three of which have been shut down. EPE announced it would sell its share of the plant by its scheduled retirement date of 2016. However, it added the caveat that it would work with the other current owners (Arizona Public Service is the majority owner) to continue the plant’s operation past 2016.
Nevertheless, this is a great step forward for clean energy. Solar power from Macho Springs is expected to provide power for roughly 18,000 El Paso homes. Its purchase agreement was one of the lowest solar prices to date at 5.79 cents/kWh. In addition, the utility, which serves approximately 395,000 customers, will add another solar facility that will be the largest in El Paso (10 MW) and should be completed by the end of 2014. The two solar plants will bring the utility’s solar capacity to 6% of its energy portfolio.
Taken together, the solar investment and coal divestment puts El Paso Electric in good position to meet the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Sierra Club Helps Improve Austin Water Task Force Report
For six weeks this summer, Chapter Water Resource Coordinator Jennifer Walker met with other Austin stakeholders that made up the Austin Water Resource Planning Task Force. The group was charged with examining the drought’s impact on the city’s water supplies and making recommendations on what should be done to reduce the risk of negative impacts for Austin residents and the Colorado river basin ecosystem, on which many other Texans rely.
Among the recommendations, which can apply to many communities across Texas, were to continue to focus on reducing per capita water use through the implementation of robust public education campaigns and additional programs that will enable customers of all sizes to reduce water use both during and between droughts. In addition to conservation, the Task Force was concerned with maintaining affordability. To address this, they recommended that rates for an amount of water to meet basic needs must be affordable for every Austin resident.
SECO Set to Consider Adopting More Efficient Building Codes
On July 4, the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) asked the public for input on whether or not they should raise the state’s minimum energy code for new buildings. As a subset of building codes, energy codes are minimum requirements for how energy efficient a new building must be. Aspects such as design, technologies, and construction practices determine a building’s energy efficiency. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. residential and commercial buildings account for approximately 41 percent of all energy consumption and 72 percent of electricity usage. Improvements in the energy efficiency of new and renovated buildings can yield significant benefits to the state’s economy and environment, in addition to benefitting the building owner and occupants.
The current energy code in Texas for most buildings is based on 2009 standards. The Lone Star Chapter is submitting comments to SECO supporting the adoption of the 2015 energy codes. To add your voice in support of more efficient energy codes, click here.
Great Water Webinar Series Now at Your Fingertips
“Keeping Rivers Flowing: Innovative Strategies to Protect and Restore Rivers” – a 3-part webinar series designed to inform interested persons about strategies to ensure the future health of Texas’ rivers, bays and estuaries – is now available online! This landmark series was developed by the Texas Living Waters Project, a project of the National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, and Sierra Club, that works to transform the way we manage and allocate our water to better preserve the Texas we love for future generations.
Drawing on practical experience from here in Texas and around the world, speakers discussed innovative approaches for ensuring that rivers, bays and estuaries continue to get the flow needed to protect water quality and support healthy fish and wildlife populations. Without affirmative strategies to protect flows, the natural heritage embodied in Texas’ rivers, bays and estuaries is at risk.
Regional Round-up
- The Sierra Club has created a new national award that bears the name of Dr. Robert Bullard, Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston and one of the founders of the environmental justice movement. The new award will be given annually to an individual or group that has done outstanding work in the area of environmental justice. The first Robert Bullard Environmental Justice Award will be presented Nov. 21 along with the Sierra Club’s other 2014 awards.
- The Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club ran the numbers, and the four proposed Brownsville Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals will produce as much nitrogen oxides annually as all the vehicles on the road in Cameron County. Find out what other pollutants the natural gas export facilities could bring to the Valley in this column by Sierran Stefanie Herweck.
- In Austin, the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter joined with the National Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy to encourage Texans to contact the Texas Water Development Board as it decides how to spend $2 billion in a state water project fund established with the passage of Proposition 6 last year. “Texans have a chance in the next few weeks to weigh in on these rules to assure that water conservation is the top priority in meeting our state’s water needs,” said Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair of the Lone Star Chapter. The deadline to comment is September 1.
- Don’t let the summer heat scare you away. Texas Parks and Wildlife is encouraging the nature lover in you to enjoy canoeing and kayaking in a state park or along a designated Texas Paddling Trail. There are more than 60 designated and well-mapped paddling trails in Texas. There are accessible day trips in a variety of settings and for all levels of paddling experience. Check out their convenient list of trails links here.
- If you live near Dripping Springs, mark your calendar on August 15 for the Better Lights for Better Nights Conference, a daylong event designed to educate and inform attendees about the advantages and importance of using artificial light at night only where and when it’s needed.
- About halfway between Fort Worth and Abilene, the Palo Pinto Mountains State Park will open in a few years’ time. It encompasses more than 4,000 acres of former ranch land in the Cross Timbers region and straddles the Stephens and Palo Pinto County line. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is hosting a public meeting on August 7 to hear from citizens regarding the kinds of facilities and recreational uses being considered.
- The fourth annual National Drive Electric Week will be held in cities across the country, including San Antonio, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Austin. The goal of this event, scheduled Sept. 15-21 and organized by Plug In America, Sierra Club and the Electric Auto Association, is to raise awareness of the fun and benefits of electric cars through test drive events and related activities. Click on the links above to register and/ or volunteer. Don’t see your city listed? Contact Melissa Goldberg at Melissa.goldberg@sierraclub.org.
Message From Director Scheleen Walker
As you can see, there’s no summer slow down at the Sierra Club! I continue to be amazed at the tenacity of our members, volunteers and staff as we work on important issues of water conservation, renewable energy, wildlife protections, and public lands. I am especially excited to see our chapter build stronger relationships with labor, social justice, and other organizations, such as our work with the Communication Workers of America and Texas State Employees’ Union to get opposition to the harmful Trans-Pacific Partnership added to the Texas Democratic Party platform at this year’s convention.
Here in Austin, we are gratified to be part of another new collaborative effort called the Austin for All Coalition – a broad coalition of progressive organizations coming together to show united support for policies to make Austin more racially, socially and economically inclusive. When we support each other, we all grow stronger. I look forward to working with all of our members on new collaborative efforts around the state in the months and years to come. Stay tuned!
Scheleen Walker, Director
Lone Star Chapter