Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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10 Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 Your Environment On the Air Front Lone Star Chapter Working to Reduce Air Pollution Many parts of Texas continue to be plagued by air pollution problems, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently questioned the efficacy of state air quality clean-up plans for two major metropolitan areas, in part due to lack of a viable source of funds for making air quality improvements. The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, however, continues to make the reduction of air pollution in Texas a high priority, and the past few months have seen a flurry of activity related to that goal. Clean Air Director Neil Carman and several volunteer leaders, including Chapter Air Quality Chair George Smith of Houston, are conducting those efforts. To assure the most and efficient use of resources the Chapter is working closely with Sierra Club regional groups in affected areas as well as with community activists and other environmental organizations. Environmental partners in this work include Environmental Defense, the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), Public Citizen, and Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, and Texas Campaign for the Environment. Houston-Galveston Clean Air Plan This summer the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) has been considering significant changes to the air quality clean-up plan (known officially by the acronym SIP, or “State Implementation Plan”) for the Houston-Galveston region. The Sierra Club and the groups noted above, plus others, have concerns about those some of those changes – especially a proposed relaxation of pollution controls for the area’s largest industrial pollution sources – while supporting other changes. These groups issued a “2002 Citizens’ Clean Air Agenda” urging the TNRCC to strengthen rather than weaken the Houston- Galveston clean air plan in order to meet federal health standards for air quality by the 2007 deadline imposed by the federal Clean Air Act. The recommendations of the Citizens’ Clean Air Agenda include: (1) support for the state’s proposal to set strong pollution control limits on highly reactive volatile organic compounds (VOCs); (2) opposition to any rollback of controls on industrial point sources of nitrogen oxide (NOx), a rollback which was proposed by TNRCC under pressure from industry; (3) support for replacing the 55- mph speed limit with more effective, less inconvenient measures; and (4) a call for TNRCC to adopt specific reduction commitments for NOx emissions rather than just a description of how reductions might be calculated. In August Clean Air Director Carman submitted comments on behalf of the Lone Star Chapter on proposed TNRCC changes to its rules governing VOC emission controls in the Houston-Galveston clean air plan. The comments emphasized the need to improve the proposed revisions of the VOC control rules because there currently is no complete inventory of industrial emissions in the Houston area to be able to gauge the total air pollution problem and there has been no demonstration that the clean air plan will actually meet federal human health standards for air quality. Working with Citizens in Other Areas In addition to major efforts on the Houston-Galveston air quality problems the Chapter this year has continued to work with affected communities and neighborhoods in other areas of the state that are impacted by smog and/or toxic air pollution. Major emphasis has been on helping citizens in areas affected by air pollutant emissions from refineries and chemical plants, especially in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area but in many other parts of the state as well. For more information about the air quality work of the Lone Star Chapter contact Clean Air Director Neil Carman in Austin at 512- 472-2267 (neil_carman@greenbuilder.com) or Air Quality Chair George Smith in Houston at 713-862-1669 (geoterrysmith@att.net).
Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 11 Your Environment Conservation of Texas Land and Water Resources Highlighted at Chapter Conference Conference Marks First Anniversary of Wide Open Spaces Campaign The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club celebrated the first anniversary of the Wide Open Spaces Campaign with a well-attended sixth annual Chapter Conservation Conference at the Armand Bayou Nature Center in Houston on July 20. This year’s conference, which drew in excess of 100 people, focused on the need to increase parkland and to protect open space and wildlife habitat in a variety of ways statewide and in East Texas. Keynote Presentation – Texas at the Crossroads The keynote speaker, Texas Tech University President Dr. David Schmidly, shared historical and current information over the past century using a time-lapse style presentation to document the changes in Texas population, landscape and wildlife diversity. Dr. Schmidly’s presentation, Texas at the Crossroads: A Historical Perspective on the Biological Diversity of Texas, emphasized the present critical stage of the State’s environmental movement. Dr. Schmidly compared primary data from a biological survey conducted a century ago by Vernon Bailey with current data from The Texas Parks and Wildlife for the 21 st Century report prepared by Texas Tech for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) in 2001. Based on this comparison Dr. Schmidly identified the most important threats facing biological diversity in Texas. The threats include (1) urban sprawl (the migration to and expansion of urban areas), (2) lack of ethnic diversity in the environmental movement, (3) land fragmentation, (4) non-native plants and animals, (5) loss of valuable terrains (i.e., wetlands, hardwood bottom forests, prairies) and (6) an increase in numbers of rare, endangered, and extinct animals in Texas. Dr. Schmidly provided some guidance on how to address these Brian Sybert, Natural Resources Director for the Lone Star Chapter and director of this year’s conservation conference,talks about the Wide Open Spaces Campaign. threats through what he termed “The Ten Commandments of Conservation.” These include finding a common ground, developing an adequate information base, recognizing the changing nature of the clientele, avoiding single species approaches to conservation, and focusing on sustainable resources and ecosytem management. The other “commandments” include strengthening scientific research, making conservation education a priority for the public, increasing participation of private landowners, expanding protected area acquisition and management, and promoting regionally-based conservation planning. State Land and Water Plan Dr. Schmidly’s presentation was followed by an overview of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s statewide Land and Water Conservation and Recreation Plan by Jeff Francell and Emily Armitano. Francell is the Land Acquisition Director for TPWD and Armitano is a Policy Analyst for TPWD. Francell discussed how this plan was different from the Texas Tech study presented by Dr. Schmidly and the recommendations of the Governor Bush’s Task Force on Conservation. According to Francell this plan is different because it is actually being created by TPWD staff and will be adopted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, the governing body for TPWD. The plan was mandated by the Continued next page
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Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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