Director's Message
Texas Legislature 2015
Reed: Here We Go
January marked the beginning of the 84th Legislature - a body that has a lot of new faces and a lot of competing agendas. While this isn't our first rodeo, we always feel enthusiastic about this time of (every other) year. There are several issues we will focus on for the next 140 days under the pink dome. We'll be talking about them a lot and we'll need your help fighting to protect Texas' environment and people, so stay tuned! To get you started, here are our legislative priorities.
Texas Legislature 2015
Legislative Update: January 2015 – Gloves Already Off
The 84th Legislature has begun… kicking and screaming. After swearing in, the new leadership went about consolidating their political power. Governor Greg Abbott suggested modifying cities’ ability to protect themselves, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick – who declared “a new day in Texas” – made it easier for partisan legislation to pass. Meanwhile, the gears of the legislative process have rumbled to life with new committees, the budget, bills, and more.
Texas Legislature 2015
What ERCOT Reports Can Tell the New Lege
It’s a new year, which gives wind and solar power another chance to break more records. According to recent reports from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of the state, wind power broke a few of its own records in 2014, and solar is gaining ground too. The latest monthly reports from ERCOT showed that wind power provided approximately 10.6 percent of all electricity used in ERCOT. This was the first time wind power broke the 10 percent barrier. But what’s coming down the line in 2015 and beyond?
Action Alert!
Take Action: Restore the Rule of Law in Our Borderlands!
A small group of lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep Mike McCaul (R-TX), have introduced militarization-only borderlands bills that are bad for border communities and the environment. The "Secure Our Borders First Act of 2015" (H.R. 399 and S. 208) would spend $10 billion building a massive industrial complex of walls, roads, towers, drones, bases, and other unnecessary infrastructure in our U.S.–Mexico and U.S.–Canada borderlands, including double walls for Del Rio and the Rio Grande valley, 192 miles of roads in Big Bend, and forward operating bases in every Texas border patrol sector. What’s worse, the new border bill would waive environmental laws on all federal lands within 100 miles of the northern and southern borders, expanding previous legislation that exempted some projects from environmental and cultural regulations. These bills would only harm special places, wildlife, and communities along our border with Mexico while contributing nothing to increase border security. Please take one minute to urge your Congressional representatives to oppose this destructive legislation!
Texans Urge EPA to Set Strong Smog Pollution Safeguards
At a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing on January 29, scores of Texas residents, asthmatics, parents, and doctors from across the region spoke out in support of new smog pollution protections, one of three such events across the country. In October 2014, the EPA proposed a new plan for smog pollution and is seeking comment from the public through mid-March, as required by the Clean Air Act. Burning fossil fuels causes smog. Oil, gas, and coal are some of the biggest contributors to our smog problems. Smog threatens our health, especially children who develop asthma or other serious respiratory illness as a result of breathing in this toxic pollution. The EPA proposal is more in line with what science tells us is safe to breathe.
Big Turnouts in Austin and OKC for EPA Regional Haze Hearings
On January 13, nearly 150 Texans turned out for a public hearing in Austin on the EPA's newly proposed Regional Haze Rule to clean up sulfur dioxide pollution from Texas power plants that sullies the air in Texas as well as in neighboring Oklahoma and Arkansas. Two days later and 400 miles to the north, some 100 Oklahomans, Arkansans, and Texans turned out at the EPA haze hearing in OK City. Above, Sierra Club activists at the Austin hearing; below, the Sierra Club crew in OKC.
Sierra Club Hires Reggie James as Interim Director of Lone Star Chapter
Earlier this month, the Sierra Club hired Reggie James as Interim Director of the Lone Star Chapter. James will lead the chapter for a six-month term, at which time the chapter’s Executive Committee expects to hire a permanent Chapter Director. With more than 25 years of experience, James is an innovative non-profit executive with experience in consumer and environmental policy and advocacy. As former director of the Southwest Regional Office of Consumers Union in Austin, he has worked on legislative and regulatory advocacy for improved public and environmental health and safety, and for better low-income legal representation.
“Impunity” – A Poem by Mayté Salazar
In December, Sierra Club issued an expression of solidarity for organizations protesting the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and other victims of injustice that drew many comments, some racist, vicious, and crude. In response to some of the incredibly insensitive comments, Beyond Coal Texas organizer Mayté Salazar wrote this poem.
Regional Round-up
- With the help of the Alamo Group and the Lone Star Chapter, the City of San Antonio has become the first city in Texas to adopt the most up to date building energy code. While it is a significant step forward for energy efficiency citywide, a few key aspects of the code that could have been improved it were not adopted by city council. The Sierra Club will have more to share in the coming days on this big step forward for the Alamo city!
- The Fifth Annual Central Texas Water Conservation Symposium will be held on February 11 in Austin. The symposium will teach attendants how to design successful demand management programs, develop regional and local strategies and guidelines for drought tolerant landscape, advancing innovative approaches to efficient water use at a large commercial facility, and to connect water and energy consumption to promote water conservation programs. The symposium will also focus on using social media and innovative software to engage customers as allies in water conservation.
- Globally recognized zero waste expert Gary Liss is holding a workshop on zero waste and resource management on February 6-7 in Irving. Liss will educate attendants on the best practices, policies, and procedures for transitioning a business into a community zero waste leader. Zero waste businesses have diverted more than 90% of their waste from landfill and incineration.
- The Star of the Republic Museum, part of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, is hosting several events to tell the history of African Americans in Texas. The museum is opening a yearlong exhibit, “Enduring Spirit: African Americans in 19th Century Texas”, on February 1 to recount the challenges African Americans faced in Texas in the 19th century. The exhibit will include slave records, freedmen contracts, and much more. There will also be several programs throughout February at the museum to compliment the new exhibit.
- Texas state parks are good for the economy, according a recent study from Texas A&M University. State parks generate $774 million annually in retail sales; they contribute $351 million in economic benefits and create 5,800 jobs statewide. According to Dr. John Crompton, the research team leader, “the take-away message from this study should be that the state park system is an important contributor to the Texas economy, particularly in rural areas and that the state’s net investment in parks is returned many times.”
- Registration is open for the 19th Annual Great Texas Birding Classic. The event is a great event for beginning and avid birders, naturalists and neighborhood groups. The event runs April 15 through May 15, 2015 with many different categories to choose from: you can bird for one day in a 17-foot spot in a part or your backyard, a half-day event, a full day of birding, or even a weeklong category traveling the entire state.
- The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved more than $8 million in competitive grant funds for community parks all across the state. Twenty-five localities out of 55 applicants were awarded grants. The funding comes from a portion of the sales tax on sporting goods through the Texas Recreation and Parks Account and Texas Large Country & Municipality Recreating & Parks Account, and from offshore gas royalties through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The purpose of these funds is for the acquisition and development of outdoor recreation areas and facilities.