More than 100 Texans gathered at Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters in Austin for a peaceful demonstration to speak out against Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren’s presence on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Energy Transfer Partners is attempting to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline (aka, “DAPL”) from North Dakota to Illinois and the Trans-Pecos & Comanche Trail Pipelines in the Big Bend area and El Paso County.
Many Sierra Club members joined in the rally in support of Alpine-based Defend Big Bend, as well as Native leaders from Texas and North Dakota. The Sierra Club supports removal of Kelcy Warren from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, and seeks to play a positive role in supporting and strengthening Parks and Wildlife efforts to learn more about oil and gas development’s impacts on state parks and wildlife areas.
At the rally, Reggie James, Director of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, expressed that “Warren’s presence on the Commission is a huge distraction from Parks and Wildlife’s positive role in protecting our treasured natural areas in Texas and it would be a shame for this great agency to end up like the Railroad Commission, beholden to fossil fuel interests and not the people of Texas." He thanked the staff of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and promised to "continue to hold [them] it in high esteem as we [all] work to loosen the chokehold Big Oil & Gas has on the Lone Star state.”
