Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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2 Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 The Lone Star Sierran (ISSN 0195-1995) will be published four times this year; in spring, summer, fall and winter issues for $1 per year for members and $15 per year for nonmembers by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, 54 Chicon, Austin, TX, 78702, (512) 477-1729. Member/Subscriber: Send address changes to: P.O. Box 1931, Austin, TX 78767 Advertising rates are available upon request from: Jennifer Walker, Lone Star Sierra Club P.O.Box 1931 Austin, TX 78767 (512) 477-1729 phone (512) 477-8526 fax lonestar.chapter@ierraclub.org Lone Star Sierran The Newsletter of the Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter Vol. XXXVIII, No. 3, Fall 2002 The Lone Star Sierran will be published quarterly. Tentative publication dates for 2002 are March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1. Submission deadlines are 4 weeks prior to publication. Feature 3 Citizens Rally to Oppose the Proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir 5 Water for People and the Environment Your Environment 6 Padre Island Gas Drilling Debate Flares Up Again - Turtles At Risk 8 Texas Water Sentinels Campaign Continues Efforts to Protect the Leon River Watershed 10 Lone Star Chapter Working to Reduce Air Pollution 11 Conservation of Texas Land and Water Resources Highlighted at Chapter Conference 13 Texas Parks & Wildlife Release Land & Water Conservation Plan 15 New Economic Study Places Value of Recreation & Restoration on Texas National Forests Above Commercial Logging Environmental Education 16 Sierra Cubs Camp Expands Throughout Texas State of the Sierra Club 18 Intern Justin Murrill Lends His Enthusiasm to the Work of the Lone Star Chapter 19 Lone Star Chapter Presents Awards for 2001 at Dinner in Houston 20 Get a Commanding View of Austin, the Texas Legislature & Upcoming Environmental Legislation 21 Join Us October 19 & 20 for Sierra Celebration 2002 General 22 Lone Star Chapter Directory 23 Regional Group Volunteer Leadership Directory 24 Lone Star Chapter Calendar 2002
Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 3 Feature Citizens Rally to Oppose the Proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir Diverse Coalition Pushes Conservation over Development By Ken Kramer, Director, Lone Star Chapter “Meet the faces of a new coalition,” said Rita Beving, conservation co-chair of the Dallas Regional Group of the Sierra Club, as she stood and spoke on July 22 to a rally of 150 people from North Central and Northeast Texas united to show their opposition to the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir. “They are loggers, farmers, ranchers, and private landowners…from Dalby Springs to Dallas, from Denton to Texarkana…in all my years as an activist I have never seen such dedication from a group united for a single cause,” added Beving. Indeed it was an impressive sight. Over 50 people had come by bus from Northeast Texas to Grand Prairie to join with 100 citizens from the Metroplex to attend a meeting of the Region C Water Planning Group, the water planning group for the region that includes the Dallas/Forth Worth metropolitan area. These somewhat unlikely allies were there to promote water conservation over water development, to argue for saving the taxpayers’ money as well as saving water. The Proposed Reservoir The immediate target of their passion was the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir. The reservoir, which is included in the current regional water plans for both Regions C and D, would be located in Region D (Northeast Texas) in the Sulphur River Basin. Although the reservoir is proposed to be located in Northeast Texas, 80 percent of the water from the reservoir would be transferred by Citizens opposing the Marvin Nichols Reservoir vow “No Nickles for Nichols.” pipeline to the Dallas/Fort Worth region. Water customers in that region would be the ones primarily responsible for the $1.7 billion price tag for the project. The proposed reservoir project would be a large one by any standard. It would inundate about 72,000 acres of forests, ranchland, and farmland along the Sulphur River in Red River, Bowie, Franklin, Titus, and Morris counties. The reservoir would yield 619,100 acre feet of water per year. (An acre foot of water is the amount of water needed to flood one acre of land to a depth of one foot – it is equivalent to approximately 325,000 gallons of water). The water from the reservoir going to the Dallas/Fort Worth region would travel in a pipeline about 170 miles long. The project would be built and managed by the Sulphur Basin River Authority (SBRA), a regional water authority created by the Texas Legislature in 1985. SBRA has the authority to control, store, conserve, and distribute surface water in the Sulphur River basin consistent with surface water rights granted by the State of Texas to varied water users in the basin. SBRA has contracted with two Texas engineering firms for studies of the feasibility of the reservoir. In its regional water plan, however, the Region D Water Planning Group did not identify any unmet water needs in its own region within the next 50 years. Thus, water from the Marvin Nichols Reservoir would primarily benefit only Region C for the foreseeable future, although some of the water in the reservoir would be available for Northeast Texas in the distant future. Photo courtesy of Justin Murrill The Opposition The citizens from Northeast Texas who oppose the reservoir do Continued next page
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Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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