The Sierra Club In Texas

Background

The Sierra Club is a national environmental protection group with local chapters across the nation. Founded in 1892, the club serves as a watchdog for clean air, pro-environmental land use, environmental sustainability in trade and renewable energy. The organization’s current focus is on “climate recovery” by cutting coal usage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and squaring away land to restore natural habitats. The Sierra Club is a nonpartisan organization that supports pro-environmental candidates for office. The club also organizes free outdoor recreational activities including, conservation walks, hikes, cycling or skiing.

The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club represents approximately 24,000 Texans and 10 regional groups from Big Bend to Houston. The Texas Chapter focuses on public parks, public transit, smog reduction and water conservation. Advocacy and education efforts center on several of the chapter’s environmental priorities: Beyond Coal to Clean Energy, Clean Energy Solutions, Green Transportation, Safeguarding Communities: Clean Air & Water, A Texas Land & Wildlife Legacy and Water for People & the Environment.

Austin’s Regional Sierra Club has listed water conservation and water quality as one of its priorities. Other local priorities include improved transportation, the Longhorn Pipeline and an anti-Fox News coalition called Fox Attacks. The regional branch also supports the Global Population and Environment Program, which argues for public health family-planning initiatives across the world.

In June 2011, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in conjunction with Environment Texas against ExxonMobil in Houston for violating the Clean Air Act.

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May 17, 2013

Under New Approval, More Natural Gas Will Be Sent Abroad From Texas

As a drilling boom continues in Texas and other states, the U.S. finds itself with so much natural gas that some companies now want to export domestic fuels abroad. Today, the federal Department of Energy (DOE) announced approval of a second facility, the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, to export natural gas in liquid [...]

April 16, 2013

As Water Plan Legislation Gets Closer to Reality, Little Opposition Found

The bottom of the lake after the water has dried up at the Benbrook Lake Dock in Benbrook, Texas, near the peak of the drought in August 2011.

While there are different routes proposed to get there, one goal is clear this legislative session: lawmakers want to do something to address the state’s water woes. Texas faces shrinking water supplies, persistent drought and a growing population. One major initiative that would likely take $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to start [...]

March 8, 2013

List of Texas Water Projects Draws Concerns Over Conservation

As the state looks to fund water projects, concerns are being raised that not enough conservation is being encouraged.

Within days of the announcement earlier this year that the state legislature could get serious about funding new water projects in Texas, folks started having questions. Where will that money go? Why not make more of the water we have instead of building more reservoirs? And what’s to prevent the proposed $2 billion ‘water bank’ [...]

February 11, 2013

Sierra Club Takes Aim at Coal Plants in East Texas

The Sierra Club is going after several coal plants in Texas.

From the Texas Tribune: FAIRFIELD, Texas — Staring across a lake at the oldest coal-fired power plant in Texas, Mayor Roy Hill thinks back to the early 1970s, when his father helped bring the plant to the area. “Quite honestly, this plant saved Fairfield,” Hill said. Should it close, he said, the economic impact would [...]

January 29, 2013

Governor Joins Chorus Calling for Water Funding

The Texas Governor said "none of us can deny the need" for improved water supplies and roads.

In his biennial ‘State of the State‘ speech today, Texas Governor Rick Perry called for spending billions to fund water projects and build and repair roads, advocating for taking $3.7 billion from the Rainy Day Fund “for a one-time investment in infrastructure programs.” Current proposals in the Texas House and Senate that appear to have growing support call [...]

January 15, 2013

Report: As Drilling Grows, Fracking Using More Water

$Engineers on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, England.$

From The Texas Tribune: A new University of Texas at Austin study has found that the amount of water used in the drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing has risen sharply in recent years as oil and natural gas production has surged. But the 97-page study, funded by the Texas Oil and Gas Association, also found that [...]

November 20, 2012

Where the Country’s Coal is Going (It Might Surprise You)

Coal exports are on the rise, largely due to demand in Europe.

Coal is on the decline in the United States. As a domestic drilling boom has opened up vast supplies of natural gas and coal has become more expensive to mine, coal power plants have become less and less viable. New environmental regulations that require coal plants to upgrade their equipment are also a factor. There [...]

September 21, 2012

Hear Some Big Conversations This Weekend on Water, Energy and the Environment

Some big issues and ideas on energy and the environment will be examined this weekend in Austin.

If you’re in Austin this weekend, there are going to be some engaging conversations on energy and environmental issues at the Texas Tribune Festival, an annual confab of some of the big names and thinkers in the states. Our very own Mose Buchele will be moderating a panel on issues of eminent domain and landowner [...]

September 18, 2012

Feds Pour Funds Into Texas’ Drinking Water

The EPA is giving more than $57 million to Texas to build and maintain safe drinking water supplies.

In our recent interview with Al Armendariz, the former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (now with the Sierra Club), he pointed out the role that the EPA plays in financing safe drinking water throughout the state. “You know, the majority of water and wastewater plants throughout Texas and neighboring states have been funded [...]

September 17, 2012

Life After the EPA: What’s Next for Al Armendariz

Al Armendariz was the regional administrator for the EPA. He resigned after comments he made about enforcement came to light.

In April, a video surfaced of Dr. Al Aremendariz, the regional director for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), speaking to a group of locals in Dish, Texas about how to enforce pollution rules. “It was kinda like how the Romans used to conquer those villages in the Mediterranean,” Armendariz told the group. “They’d go into a little Turkish [...]