Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

in the suit on their behalf. As
of this writing, the other entities
who filed motions to overturn
Executive Director’s initial decision
to approve the expansion
have not decided whether to join
in the litigation. The case should
go to court some time late this
year. A victory in this case would
set an important precedent affecting
the fate of future permits for
CAFO expansions in the Leon
River watershed, which is currently
seeing an explosion of
requests for new and expanded
dairies.
Central TX Sierrans Tour
Dairy Locations
On July 13 members of the
Central Texas Regional Group of
the Sierra Club took a tour of dairy
locations in the Leon River watershed.
Lone Star Chapter Director
Ken Kramer and I drove the
members to an area with a high
concentration of dairy CAFOs,
stopping by several facilities to
give the group a first-hand look at
the facilities. Many of the tour
group participants were surprised
Photo courtesy of Ken Kramer
at the size and density of these
dairy facilities and their environmentally
destructive potential. It
was a good introduction to the
actual state of the dairy industry
in this area for those who had
never seen it.
A graphic demonstration of the
pollution potential of the dairies
was a dead cow in a creek bed by
the side of one of the county roads
the tour group traveled. The dead
cow had probably been dumped
upstream, and the body had
washed down to its final resting
place. The dead cow was sighted
at practically the same spot where
the bones from another dead cow
that had been seen on an earlier
visit were located.
Central Texas Sierrans had an
opportunity during the tour to visit
at the home of Carolyn and Paul
Smith, some of the adjacent
landowners in Comanche County
who are opposing the expansion of
the Wildcat Dairy. Carolyn Smith
has lived in this area outside
Gustine, Texas all of her life. As a
girl she swam in South Leon River
(which feeds into the Leon River)
and her son grew up fishing in the
Central Texas Sierrans and Justin Taylor visit with Carolyn and Paul Smith,
adjacent landowners apposing the expansion of the Wildcat Dairy.
Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 9
Your Environment
same spot. Now she says that
her cows will not even drink
that water, much less does any
human go into the water,
which is the repository of runoff
from the Wildcat Dairy.
More Water Sentinels
Campaign Activities
The Water Sentinels Campaign
is continuing to work
with landowners, concerned
citizens, and cities downstream
of these dairies to keep them
educated and informed of new
developments and assist with
opposing new permits as applications
are filed with the state
environmental regulatory
agency (as of September 1 the
TNRCC officially became the
Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality or TCEQ). On
August 10 the project held a
volunteer monitoring training
program, where volunteers
were trained to sample and
analyze water quality from the
Leon River and Lake Belton.
In addition to activities in
the Leon River watershed the
Water Sentinels Campaign
is also working with
volunteers, area teachers
and students, and the City
of Waco in addressing
concerns about dairy
CAFO pollution in the
Bosque River watershed.
Lake Waco, an impoundment
on the Bosque
River, is the drinking
water supply for the City
of Waco, which has been
an active leader in efforts
to curb dairy CAFO
pollution.
For more information
on the Water Sentinels
Campaign, contact Justin
Taylor at the Sierra Club
State Conservation office
in Austin at 512-477-1729
or via email at
justin.taylor@sierraclub.org.