Texas Sierra Club Responds to Departure of National Leader

Photo by Conservation History Association of Texas/Courtesy of Ken Kramer

Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter Director Ken Kramer

What did the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club have to say today about the news that the group’s national leader, Carl Pope, will be stepping down next year? Pope had drawn criticism from Sierra Club and others for reaching out to labor and industry.

The announcement that Pope is leaving shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, as he had already turned over many of the reigns. Lone Star Sierra Club Director Ken Kramer says in an email to StateImpact Texas, “Michael Brune really took over as the staff leader of the organization when he replaced Carl as Executive Director last year.” Kramer says that Pope stayed on as Chairman — a role rarely used by the group — in order to help the new leader transition. “It was really always the plan for there to be this transition period in order to make the change a smooth one, which it has been,” he says.

Kramer calls Pope a “visionary leader” and says that both he and his successor “have been supportive of the environmental advocacy of the Club’s Lone Star Chapter as well as the Club’s national staff working in Texas.”

He continues:

“In fact the Sierra Club is putting more resources into Texas than ever before, and that will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. The Lone Star Chapter is very appreciative of the dedication that Carl Pope brought to making the Sierra Club a formidable force for environmental protection throughout the country.”