Mutual Aid In Harvey's Wake: Perspective From West Street Recovery
Disaster recovery is usually a fairly top-down process. Over the last ten weeks, West Street Recovery has tried to help families in Houston recover from Hurricane Harvey with an alternative community-based approach. The Lone Star Chapter recently donated funds we raised during Harvey to help West Street. with their tireless work getting people back into homes before winter comes.
Read this amazing reflection from volunteers Ben Hirsch and Leah Ayer on West Street's work and the relationships they've fostered over the past few months.
Photo provided by: West St. Recovery
BREAKING: Starr County Approves Anti-Border Wall Resolution, Joins Growing List Of Texas Cities
While Congress tries to push through border wall funding, multiple Rio Grande Valley cities and counties have stated their formal opposition in the form of resolutions. Starr County just became the latest to join the growing list, which includes: Alamo, Alton, Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, La Joya, Laguna Vista, McAllen, Mercedes, Mission, Palmview, Pharr, Port Isabel, San Juan, SullivanCity, Weslaco, and the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr.
And the solidarity extends beyond the Valley. The cities of Austin, El Paso, and San Diego have also passed anti-border wall resolutions.
Photo: The August 2017 anti-border wall protest in Mission, Texas.
Hold San Antonio Leaders Accountable: RSVP Today For Dec. 7 Climate Action Public Meeting
This month, our San Antonio Organizer Greg Harman reached out to local activists and artists to put together a night of film, music, poetry, and discussion about a coal-free San Antonio. We had a great turn out (more than 50!) and heard stories of how our fight for a clean energy future, from San Antonio to Dallas to Eagle Pass, is interconnected.
Now we are calling on all of our climate allies to come to the City of San Antonio's Dec. 7 kickoff of its planning process for the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, a partnership between the City, CPS Energy and UTSA. A strong turnout will demonstrate San Antonio's support for the creation of an aggressive and community-led climate plan that puts the needs of our most vulnerable communities at the forefront.
International Bank Ditches LNG, Cameron County Taps Taxpayers
It's been a busy couple of months for community members organizing to save the Rio Grande Valley from three polluting liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
Last month, Cameron County ignored their constituents and granted a 10-year tax break to the company seeking to build NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG project. Days later, the Texas LNG project lost public support from its one and only financial advisor, BNP Paribas, because the international bank determined that LNG is a bad business practice because it relies on fracked gas, which is a danger to the climate and pollutes communities.
Check out this LNG news recap by our Valley Organizer Bekah Hinojosa.
And just this past weekend, 25 "kayak-tivists" came out for a "Paddle to Protect the Laguna Madre" event in a show of solidarity and appreciation for the South Texas coastline's natural resources, wildlife and sacred spaces.
Solidarity From Ireland: Fight Against LNG In Rio Grande Valley Is International
It's not just the Valley that's speaking out and organizing against LNG.
This summer, Rio Grande LNG signed an agreement with the Port of Cork, Ireland to build an import facility to receive RGV gas. In response, Irish environmental activists recently published a sign-on letter opposing Rio Grande LNG in the Brownsville Herald.
Was It Beauty Or The Beast That Killed Three Large Dirty Coal Plants in Texas?
Vistra Energy, the new owners of Luminant Energy, Texas's largest electric generation company, announced recently that they intend to retire three large coal-fired power plants, including seven separate boiler units, in early 2018.
Photo: Big Brown in Northwest Texas
With Three Beasts Down, What Does It Mean For ERCOT's Energy-Only Market?
In the second part of the two-part series, our Conservation Director Cyrus Reed explores what this actually means for Texas energy markets. What happens next? The retirement of these three large coal plants-Big Brown, Monticello and Sandow-in early 2018 will eliminate more than 4,400 MW of power from the grid, as well as millions of tons of carbon dioxide and millions of pounds of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. So what does this actually mean for Texas energy markets?
TOPS ON FACEBOOK
1. Sierra Club Borderlands Co-Chair Scott Nicol requested border wall location documents through the Freedom of Information Act and shared them with The Texas Observer.
2. In response to [Rick] Perry's heinous comments on fossil fuels and sexual assault, we're calling for his resignation. Add your voice!
3. BREAKING: Texas Parks and Wildlife is making moves to end the unlimited commercial trapping of our state's wild turtles, in response to a petition filed earlier this year by Center for Biological Diversity, Texas Rivers Protection Association, Texas Snake Initiative and us.
4. [Hartnett White:] "I'm not a scientist, but in my personal capacity, I have many questions that remain unanswered by current climate policy." Here's an idea: Listen to the scientists.
5. Austin Energy's Quest to Bring Solar Power to Renters and the Less Wealth
Photo: U.S. Army Corps/FOIA Request
Renewables Get Real At GridNEXT 2017
At this year's GridNEXT conference, hosted by the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Alliance (TREIA), leaders from across the clean energy industry (including former VP and Keynote Speaker Al Gore!) proudly announced that renewables have arrived and are here to stay in the Lone Star State.
Read our Clean Energy Coordinator Drew O'Bryan's takeaways from the two-day event.
Photo by Sierra Club Volunteer Ling Zhu
Austin Chronicle: Austin Energy's Quest to Bring Solar Power to Renters and the Less Wealthy
"From the top of a Downtown skyscraper, looking west, there's a better chance of catching the twinkling reflection of a rooftop solar panel than if you set your gaze to the east. Austin Energy's solar incentive program has made great strides recruiting affluent residents to its zero carbon emission agenda, but it has historically been less successful at straddling the city's economic divide."
Stay tuned for a blog from our Clean Energy Coordinator Drew O'Bryan on the new solar savings.
Photo: Peter Rivera at La Loma Community Solar Farm in East Austin (Photo by John Anderson)
TOPS ON TWITTER
1. Kathleen Hartnett White has questioned human-fueled climate change, claimed that carbon dioxide isn't a pollutant, & called the federal Endangered Species Act "antiquated." Putting her in any influential environmental position is dangerous.
2. No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here @UNITEDWEDREAM youth #walkout in #atx this morning in support of a #DreamActNow Video by @AustinByChuco #HereToStay #DACA
3. "I'm not a scientist, but in my personal capacity, I have many questions that remain unanswered by current climate policy." Here's an idea: Listen to the scientists.
4. Lucha con la luz! In a bi-national effort, @OLBSD used light projections on border wall prototypes to show #NoBorderWall resistance over the weekend. This type of #artivism is derived from graffiti but can't be criminalized (yet!) because it causes no permanent damage.
5. #DisasterRecovery is usually a fairly top-down process. Over the last 10 weeks, @weststrecovery has been helping #Houston rebuild from #Harvey w/ a community-based approach. Here's their reflection on the work & relationships they've fostered.
Denton, You Are Ready For 100% Clean Energy
Just 16 months after Denton City Council adopted a power plan that directed the city's utility to achieve at least 70% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2019, a new report from an independent consulting firm says that getting Denton to 100% renewable energy faster might be easier and more affordable than city leaders had been led to believe.
How did we get here, and what's next?
Lawyering Up For Colorado River Protection
Sometimes the work of the Texas Living Waters Project - a collaborative project of the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and Galveston Bay Foundation - gets a little confrontational.
While admittedly not as scintillating as scripted court hearings on cable TV featuring professional actors and colorful plot lines, we use the state's contested case hearing process, when necessary, to fight for Texas rivers and bays.
Read the nitty-gritty details of the process here.
Friday (Dec. 1) in the Rio Grande Valley: Sen. Cornyn Is Here! Let's Protest! / Protesta de Senador Cornyn
Senator John Cornyn is visiting the Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco tomorrow morning to give a State of Congress address.
Join community members in a protest hosted by the Lower Rio Grande Grande Sierra Club, the Save Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, The Progressive Young Democrats, Fuerza de Valle and La Union de Pueblo Entero (LUPE) to give him the State of the Valley:
-We don't want a border wall.
-We want a clean Dream Act to protect Dreamers.
-Border communities are safe and we don't need more border militarization.
-The border wall would be bad for business and would separate border residents from their land and homes.
TOPS ON INSTAGRAM
BREAKING: @texasparkswildlife is making moves to end the unlimited commercial trapping of our state's wild turtles, in response to a petition filed earlier this year by @centerforbiodiv, TX Rivers Protection Association, @texas_snakes, and us.
Photo of Texas spiny soft shell turtle // Photographer: Gary M. Stoiz
#turtles #conservation #victory#weloveturtles
Do you have a photo you'd like to share with us?
Tag us @texassierraclub or send it to Larisa Manescu at larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org. We'd love to share it with our growing Instagram community.
Donate To The Lone Star Chapter
When you donate to the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter, you support local efforts to:
• Protect wild and treasured places, from the Big Bend area to the Big Thicket
• Keep our air and water clean
• Ensure adequate water supply for people and environment
• Ensure a clean energy future
• Reduce climate disruption
• Keep pressure on politicians and corporations to ensure safe and healthy communities
Your financial help allows us to meet the challenges of protecting and preserving our treasured Lone Star State!