View from the Chair

Success in Delta Chapter Scenic Rivers Strategy

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has agreed to prioritize work on three new management plans under the requirements of the State's Scenic Rivers Act. This comes after Delta Chapter sent letters to Robert Barham, Secretary LDWF and to the Governor, demanding that the state comply with language of the Act and file a management plan for the West Pearl River, and after meetings between LDWF and our advocates Hugh Penn and Richard Exnicios along with our science advisor Barry Kohl. In addition to the plan for the West Pearl the Department has agreed to undertake management plans for Bayou Manchac and Bayou Lacombe. This is a victory for all three river systems because after years of negligence it draws LDWF back in to active planning and management of the river segments for preservation and enhancement of their scenic and water quality characteristics.

The Delta Chapter has obtained almost 1000 pages of documents from LDWF and will be examining their compliance with the Scenic Rivers Act. Our intention is to push regulatory agencies into meeting their responsibilities under applicable regulatory statutes. The Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act is one of the best statutes in the country for helping to preserve and enhance natural streams. The Act was passed into state law in the early 1970's and if administered with adequate resources could be one of our most effective tools in helping to protect natural places in Louisiana.

Delta Chapter also has two state legislative initiatives related to scenic rivers. One is HCR 49, a concurrent resolution introduced by Rep Stephen Ortego, requesting LDWF to study inclusion of Bayou Teche into the state scenic and historic rivers system. The other is SB 439, introduced by Sen A.G. Crowe, to authorize certain parishes to create a conservation district. See separate article in this newsletter about the conservation district legislation.

This work is funded by the donations that the Chapter receives directly from our members. Please consider a donation to the Chapter today through the March Appeal campaign. All of the funds stay here in Louisiana.

Woody Martin

Sierra Club National Board Meets in NOLA

On February 26, 2012, the Delta Chapter conducted a boat tour of cypress forest in the Atchafalaya for the Sierra Club Board of Directors. Delta Chapter Excom Member and Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson provided boats and expert commentary. The Board was meeting in New Orleans. Members of the board and national staff including President Robin Mann, Allison Chinn, Lane Boldman, Jim Dougherty, John Barry and others (pictured below) decided to take the extra time to tour with us and learn about the issues we face in trying to protect cypress trees and forested wetlands

Tracey Nelson, Executive Director of the CSED and Robin Mann, President of the Sierra Club National Board.

The Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED), founded in 2006 following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, was honored Friday for the organization's initiatives to restore Bayou Bienvenue and the community since the storms. National Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune and President Robin Mann were on hand to present the award to CSED's executive director, Tracy Nelson, at the view platform overlooking Bayou Bienvenue.

The Times-Picayune's Katy Reckdahl covered the event in "Lower 9th Ward is making environmental strides, Sierra Club declares":

"Six years after it was enveloped by floodwaters, the Lower 9th Ward includes three urban farms and perhaps more "green" houses than any other neighborhood in the country. Alongside typical New Orleans pleas for more repaired streets and fewer blighted lots, Lower 9 residents now regularly lobby for sustainable development. They've also pushed to restore the long-neglected Bayou Bienvenue, which bounds the neighborhood on its Florida Avenue edge.

On Friday, the national environmental group Sierra Club cited these achievements as it honored one of the area's post-Katrina engines, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development.

"I think we're turning a corner," said the center's former co-director, Charles Allen, who now is the city's director of environmental affairs.

During the years after the failed Industrial Canal levees opened up onto the Lower 9th Ward, Allen and co-director Pam Dashiell, who died in 2009, worked from dawn to dusk organizing neighbors, pushing for structurally sound levees and demanding environmentally sensitive construction.

The Sierra Club gathered on the bayou on Friday to highlight achievements and future challenges. The group, with the support of Lower 9 neighbors, is pushing to get the restoration of Bayou Bienvenue included in the master plan drafted last month by the state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

Contributed by Tracy Nelson, Executive Director of the CSED. For more information and to subscribe to the CSED newsletter go to http://blog.sustainthenine.org/2012/02/index.html

Spring Back into Action with Sierra Club!

Spring is a time of regeneration, growth, and new beginnings. It's a busy time for nature, and for many people, too. This spring is an especially busy one for the Delta Chapter. We're as active as ever at the State Capitol as we continue to push for laws that protect the natural resources and citizens of Louisiana. We are working hard to recruit new leaders and plan new activities for our local Groups. We are planning on tabling at Earth Day events, festivals, and community events across the state. And we are trying our best to be the best grassroots environmental organization in the state. But to achieve these goals, we need your help. Help can come in a variety of ways, from volunteering to help make phone calls to supporters on important legislation, to helping to plan or lead outings and activities, to tabling at events to help spread our mission, to taking a leadership role in your Group or Chapter ExCom.

Take a minute to look through the list of upcoming events and volunteer roles and decide if there's anything you can do to help keep the Sierra Club alive and vibrant in 2012 and beyond. You can also contact Woody Martin at 337-298-8380 or hrmartin2sc@gmail.com to ask about other roles you can fill. For our families, for our future!

Remember the Gulf this Earth Day

As a Sierran, you probably have plans to celebrate Earth Day. So do we! But this Earth Day, let's not forget the tragic events that happened only two years ago off our coast-the explosion (4-20-10) and sinking (4-22-10) of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig, leading to the death of 11 workers and enormous damage to the ecosystems, economy, and people of the Gulf coast. We will be tabling at Earth Day events in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans to educate people about the Club and our continuing work for environmental justice and to recruit new members to the cause. Help us to spread the message-volunteer at one of our tables, organize an event in your community, or post a message on your facebook page asking out of state friends and family to "Remember the Gulf" this Earth Day. Search for "Remember the Gulf" on Facebook for more ideas on what you can do to help restore the Gulf. 

A Glimmer of Hope on the Pearl

SB 439 Would Create a Conservation District for the Region

Update: It's been more than six months since the Temple-Inland paperboard plant in Bogalusa, Louisiana had a major malfunction and discharged undisclosed amounts of "black liquor," which led to the widely reported Fish Kill on the Pearl River system in August of 2011. Since then, some semblance of normalcy has returned to the Pearl River region. Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries (LWF) completed its investigation and fish count in November and assessed a penalty of $760,000 to help defray the costs of restocking the river, which lost over 500,000 fish and mussels. Local fishermen are reporting that they are catching fish again, although not in the same quantity and quality as before. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) allowed the plant to reopen under the condition that it spend approximately $15 million in infrastructure repairs and upgrades over the course of several years. It has yet to finish its investigation or assess a penalty on the plant, which failed to report the discharge for five days until residents alerted officials about the dead fish in the rivers and slews. Meanwhile, the plant was bought by rival company International Paper and is in the process of transferring its operations to its new owner. International told DEQ that it will assume liability for the incident, but we'll have to wait for DEQ to finish its investigation and assess a penalty to find out what International will be liable for.

So things are back to normal for the residents of Washington and St. Tammany Parishes, right? Not exactly. While environmental disasters are nothing new for the sacrifice zone known as Louisiana, the residents of the Pearl River region are ready for change. A new sense of ecological awareness has arisen, and citizens are calling for more protection and an emphasis on conservation for the Pearl. They want to make sure that their rivers and swamps are recognized as the treasures that they are and promoted as such. They want to ensure that young people are educated about ecology and the region's rich and unique natural and cultural heritage. The Sierra Club Delta Chapter is working hard to make sure that these voices are heard.

To that end, we have helped to craft Senate Bill 439, which is sponsored by State Senator A.G. Crowe of Slidell. SB 439 began as a petition calling for accountability for the paper mill and the creation of a conservation program for the Pearl, and was signed by hundreds of residents during the heat of the fish kill. SB 439 would allow the Parishes of Washington and St. Tammany to create a Pearl River conservation district. The district would consist of public lands and waterways within a quarter mile of the high water mark in the two parishes, and would be run by a board of unpaid commissioners who would be appointed from the Parish Governments, relevant State agencies (DEQ, LWF, DHH, DA&F, DNR), and conservation organizations that work in the area, including the Delta Chapter. They would have the power to seek and accept grants, buy property, and develop management plans with the intention of improving, conserving and promoting the natural resources of the area. The district would be better able to respond to environmental problems as they arise, have local and conservation-focused representation, and have the full force of the law where applicable. In Lafayette, the Bayou Vermilion District has done a tremendous job of reversing the Vermilion river's environmental problems and promoting the river as a recreational, ecological and cultural asset. We hope that the Pearl River Conservation District can do the same, but we need your help to make it happen. You can get involved by volunteering to make calls to petition signers, coming to the committee hearing for the bill (date TBA), or by calling your senators and representatives and telling them that you support SB 439. Stay tuned to the Delta Chapter website or to your email for notice of a public presentation about SB 439 in the NorthShore area to happen sometime in April.

You can read the bill by going to the Louisiana Legislature's website at www.legis.state.la.us, click on the "Search" tab, and search for SB 439, or find out more by contacting Devin Martin, Delta Chapter Conservation Coordinator, at devin.martin@sierraclub.org or calling 985-209-5454.

Earl's Pearls
 

Bringing his unique slant to the war against the environment for over 30 years.

Legislative Update

Delta Chapter Legislative Update, March 30, 2012

Sierra Club Delta Chapter state legislative strategy is getting better all the time. We are working a multi part strategy that includes ongoing discussion and working with our allies in the Louisiana environmental community. It started with active support for election of several state legislators including campaign work for Stephen Ortego, active support for Jack Montoucet, and formal endorsement of J.P. Morrell of New Orleans. This year we put on two social events for legislators, one in New Orleans on March 1, and one in Baton Rouge on March 21. We are receiving excellent feedback and recognition among legislators for these events. The purpose of these events was to get ourselves and allied legislative advocates in the same rooms with legislators to enjoy a casual evening of food and conversation. Our legislative lobbyist Darrell Hunt deserves major credit for coming up with the idea and for doing the cooking at our event in Baton Rouge.

Some legislative issues we are watching closely include legislative comment and approval of the state's recently released Coastal Master Plan and legislative review of the state's recently released report entitled "Managing Louisiana's Groundwater Resources." We are also watching the legacy oilfield battle between oil industry and landowners. There are a dozen proposed bills on this subject but the one to watch is SB 528 by Sen Long. The sponsor keeps holding it back from going to hearing because of rumored negotiations going on between industry and landowners. We'll be watching and letting you know how it comes out.

Another big one to watch is SB 436 by Sen Gerald Long which would require Sabine River Authority to obtain approval for out of state water sales from each parish in its territory. This goes back to the flap a few months ago about possible sale of water from Toledo Bend Reservoir to out of state (Texas) investors. The State of Louisiana has never had a consistent plan how to deal with in state or out of state sale of water. A related bill by Sen Long is SB 495 revises powers and duties of the Ground Water Resources Commission to include surface water, not just groundwater. Compared to other states Louisiana is just getting started on how to manage its ground and surface water resources.

Three more bills to watch:

HB 957 provides for the disclosure of the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids. This bill would write into law and strengthen requirements that already exist in rules recently promulgated by DNR Office of Conservation.

SB 439 by A.G. Crowe Authorizes certain parishes to create a conservation district. See separate article this newsletter.

SB 450 Walsworth prohibits dumping of electronic waste such as computers, televisions, cellular phones and other electronic devices into landfills and requires DEQ to adopt by March 10, 2014 a plan and standards for the collection and recycling of all electronic waste in the state.

In order to see our legislative updates you can go to the Delta Chapter blog at http://deltasierraclub.blogspot.com/