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The Delta Chapter is the Sierra Club in the State of Louisiana.
Delta Chapter looking for a Conservation Program CoordinatorThe Delta Chapter is looking for an individual to serve as its Conservation Program Coordinator. This is a paid position that will serve under the direction of the Chapter Chair. The Conservation Program Coordinator organizes and implements conservation programs, campaigns or initiatives, using such activities to increase club member and volunteer involvement. Program activities may include clean energy, green jobs, air/water quality, wetlands preservation, forest conservation, endangered species and educational outings. See the job announcement and description here. (PDF file 69 KB.) Download the application here. (PDF file 37 KB) Delta Chapter Elections 2009Every year the Sierra Club Delta Chapter must schedule an election for at large positions on the Chapter Executive Committee (Excom). The positions are for two year terms. The election is scheduled every year so that half of the positions can be re-filled each year. Three positions are up for election this year. They are the seats currently held by Dean Wilson, Aaron Viles and Ann Shaneyfelt. Any member of the Delta Chapter who would like to be involved in decision making may qualify for nomination. Interested persons should send a statement of interest and qualifications (approx 300 to 350 words) to chair@louisiana.sierraclub.org.The nominating committee and Excom will approve a list of nominees by email vote November 16, 2009 and ballots with candidates’ statements of qualifications will be sent out to members immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday. Ballots must be returned before the end of the first full week in January 2010 and will be counted Jan 11 or 12. Notification of exact date, time and location for counting ballots will be included in the ballot information. Please be sure to vote by returning ballots to the Delta Chapter nominating committee at the address given on the ballot. For further information you can contact Woody Martin, Chapter Chair at chair@louisiana.sierraclub.org.Legislative Investment in Green Jobs Provides a Hopeful Future For The Damaged EconomyBy Jennifer Grosso Louisiana State Representatives proposed three bills to extend the state’s investment in green jobs. As of late July, Governor Jindal has signed all three bills into law. Green jobs not only provide people of all socioeconomic backgrounds with fair jobs that offer adequate wages and benefits, they also provide the economy with the work force needed to support the goals associated with combating global climate change and adapting to an ever-increasing population. Louisiana House Bill 733 offers companies tax incentives for investing in green jobs. Senate Bill 224, now Act 348, allows local municipalities to issue bonds for local companies to create renewable energy businesses. Representative Erich Ponti of Baton Rouge proposed House Bill 858. The bill expands the terms of an already existing bill concerning wind and solar energy systems; it allows 3rd party residential taxpayers to be eligible for a 50% tax credit, capped at $12,500, on wind turbine or solar panel installation. Supporters hope that the bill will encourage the renewable energy industry to grow and, in turn, create more green jobs. Federally, the Green Jobs and Infrastructure Act of 2009 is making its way through the legislative system. The bill was introduced in January 2009 and has since been referred to the U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The bill was designed to promote economic recovery by providing $50 billion of loans to manufacturing facilities that produce clean technology products and the parts that they are comprised of. These products include “wind turbines, solar energy products, fuel cells, advanced batteries and storage devices, biomass engines, geothermal equipment, ocean energy equipment, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency products…products for retrofitting manufacturing facilities” (S. 224). Interested parties must apply to the Secretary of Energy. The Secretary will then determine if loan recipients have a viable market for their product, proof that the investment can be made efficiently, and evidence that the investment will preserve or create jobs. If all of the requirements have been met, the loan will be granted and must be repaid no longer than 25 years after the initial loan was made. Priority will be given to facilities located in regions of the country with the highest unemployment rates. A publication from the Political Economy Research Institute and Center for American Progress entitled The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy explains how investing in renewable energy creates jobs both directly and indirectly. Most immediately, the expansion of the renewable energy industry will require specially trained technicians to install the new technology. Perhaps not as obvious are the jobs that will be needed to support the industries that renewable energy technologies rely on, including but not limited to construction, lumber, steel and transportation. The studies claim that for every $1 million invested in renewable energy, 16.7 jobs are created as opposed to the 5.3 jobs that are created by an equal investment in non-renewable energy. Accordingly, the Blue-Green Alliance reports that if we were to require 20% of our country’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020, 820,000 jobs would be created in the process. The benefits produced by green jobs extend beyond employment numbers alone. Once employed with green-collar jobs, employees will have the satisfaction of knowing their job is secured in a growing industry with a high demand for employees. Furthermore, environmentally minded people in all regions of the country can have the opportunity to turn their commitment to their jobs into a commitment to the environment, and vice versa. Coalition Settles Federal Suit to Cleanup Mercury ContaminationMONROE, LA (July 2, 2009) - On July 2nd, a coalition of local environmental groups, reached a court settlement with EnerVest Operating LLC of Houston Texas, a major operator of natural gas wells in the Monroe Gas Field. EnerVest has agreed to remove all mercury meters and to clean up mercury-contaminated wetlands and other soils at gas production sites in Ouachita, Union and Morehouse Parishes. Student attorneys from the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic filed a federal suit in May 2007 against EnerVest Operating LLC on behalf of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), the Sierra Club, the Gulf Restoration Network (GRN), and the Louisiana Audubon Council. EnerVest controls more than 4,000 natural gas wells in the Monroe Field and is the largest producer. Close to 800 of its wells, on private property, were equipped with mercury meters, which hold about eight pounds of mercury each. Mercury is a hazardous waste under state and federal law. After the environmental coalition sent a 90 day notice of intent to sue in December 2006, EnerVest, met with LDEQ and coalition representatives to discuss a Cooperative Agreement to cleanup their sites. A federal suit was filed in May 2007 alleging that mercury was leaking from EnerVest meters in the Monroe Gas field. EnerVest and LDEQ finalized a Cooperative Agreement in January 2008. The plaintiffs believed that this Agreement did not go far enough to protect the environment and continued with their suit. As a result of the suit and court adopted settlement, EnerVest has removed over 400 active mercury meters and replaced them with dry-flow meters - which do not pollute. EnerVest has also agreed to a cleanup schedule of mercury contaminated sites, and cleanup standards for soils and wetland sites that are more protective than those in the LDEQ/EnerVest Cooperative Agreement. "EnerVest is setting a good corporate example by settling this case and agreeing to clean up their mercury meter sites, said Barry Kohl, of the Audubon Council. Other natural gas producers in the Monroe Gas Field must come forward with cleanup plans to reverse the mercury pollution. If not, the coalition will continue to seek legal remedies. Leaky meters continue to contaminate private property and public resources.” "Currently there are 48 mercury-in-fish advisories statewide, including seven within the Monroe Gas Field," said Cynthia Sarthou, director of GRN. "The Ouachita River, Bayou DeSiard and Black Lake have “mercury-in-fish” advisories that caution pregnant women, women who are breast-feeding, and children younger than seven years of age to limit consumption of fish." Eating fish with high levels of mercury raises the risk of developmental and cognitive damage in babies and children and has been linked to increased risk of coronary heart disease in men. "The cleanup of the Monroe Gas Field will be the first step in reducing the mercury contamination of soil and sediment which impacts our rivers and lakes, says Marylee Orr, Executive director, Louisiana Environmental Action Network. Mercury contamination negatively impacts recreational and commercial fishing, as well as the local economy in the Ouachita River Basin. In 2002, a local man was poisoned by eating mercury-contaminated fish from Bayou Bartholomew." "We are pleased that EnerVest has become the first gas company to start a cleanup of the mercury at its wells on private property. But there are many other companies responsible for abandoned meters and they owe it to the landowners and the public to clean up the mercury spills," said Delta Sierra Chairman, Haywood Martin. The LDEQ has estimated that there are over 20,000 mercury meters in use or abandoned across the state.
The original suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Western District
of
Louisiana, Monroe, LA. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Barry Kohl Haywood Martin Cynthia Sarthou Marylee Orr Adam Babich Sierra Club Celebrates Little Gypsy Victory After A Two-Year BattleBy JENNIFER GROSSOJust thirty miles west of New Orleans along State Highway 48 is the town of Montz, Louisiana. It is the home of Little Gypsy, a natural gas plant that supplies energy to the residents of Louisiana. In 2007, Entergy Louisiana LLC announced its plans to retrofit the plant to burn coal and petroleum coke (a byproduct of oil refining) instead of natural gas in order to diversify the fuel mix. Entergy designed the plans for Little Gypsy with the intent of both varying Louisiana’s electricity sources as well as mitigating the continually rising costs of natural gas for consumers. However, as the nation experienced significant economic changes, finance and environmental legislation became two important factors for the repowering project. In 2007, Entergy had originally estimated the retrofit to cost approximately $1 billion. In October 2007, their proposal was approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), despite objections made by the Sierra Club. Sierra Club representatives were among the first to predict the financial problems that would inevitably bring the construction plans to a halt. We filed a complaint with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in January 2008 concerning Entergy’s failure to adequately assess future costs and emission regulations. Two months later, we followed up with an additional request to the LPSC to reconsider the permit as well. In June 2008, Sierra Club along with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Gulf Restoration Network filed suit against the LPSC’s approval of Entergy’s plans under the Clean Air Act for exceeding the regulations for toxic emissions including mercury, lead and arsenic. Researchers from the Histecon Associate group, hired by the Sierra Club and affiliates to assess the Little Gypsy construction plans, say that the cost of coal is increasing at a rate of 16% per year. In early 2009, Entergy reported that new environmental regulations, increased costs of construction and labor, and inadequate financing options, Little Gypsy project would be estimated to cost an upwards of $1.76 billion. However, this estimate only includes environmental regulations that have been put in place within the first few months of the Obama administration. In addition to the existing regulations, extensive greenhouse gas emission regulations are expected to be implemented. Considering that coal plants are the number one source of human derived greenhouse gas emissions, these regulations could increase the cost of the retrofit by another one-third to one-half. These substantial fiscal changes convinced Entergy that the benefits of the retrofit to the company and consumers would not be realized for another 13 years or more. Not only are the benefits becoming more distant in the future, but they are also decreasing in relevance. The rising natural gas prices Entergy sought to avoid have since stopped and began to fall with the discovery of the Haynesville shale formation, leaving the company with one less reason to convert Little Gypsy. After filing several additional petitions opposing the Entergy permits to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and Environmental Protection Agency, the LSPC ordered Entergy to review their construction plans to convert Little Gypsy on March 11th, 2009. Less than one month later, Entergy Louisiana LLC formally asked the LPSC for permission to suspend the project for a minimum of three years, at which point the project will be eligible for review. Sierra Club representatives believe that the delay is long enough to allow the continually increasing costs of coal to put the project on hold indefinitely. Newly revised Green Building brochure now availableThis is the newly revised brochure (PDF 386 KB) about building green created by members of the Gulf Coast Restoration Taskforce. Letter from the Delta Chapter ChairMarch 4, 2009 Congressman Charles Boustany Dear Congressman Boustany, This is to express our appreciation for the meeting in the Longworth House Office Building on Feb 26, 2009 with you and Ryan Evans, Legislative Correspondent. The meeting was attended by me as Chair of the Delta (Louisiana) Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network. We work together as member participants in the Clean Water Network. The Clean Water Network (CWN) is a coalition of more than 1,200 public interest organizations across the country, representing more than 5 million people, working to strengthen and implement federal clean water and wetlands policy. We hope to obtain your support for The Clean Water Restoration Act, introduced last year as H.R. 2421 and S. 1870. We are greatly concerned that internal documents obtained by Chairman James Oberstar of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Chairman Henry Waxman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, indicate that USEPA has dropped or de-prioritized over 500 Clean Water Act enforcement cases since July 2007 because of questions about whether the waters that the polluters discharged into are still covered by the Clean Water Act. It appears that EPA was using a restrictive interpretation of Rapanos v. United States to issue guidance in 2007 that resulted in greatly reduced jurisdictional coverage for the Clean Water Act. Information obtained by CWN shows that in Louisiana 24 percent of the population is served by source water areas receiving flow from streams that would not be protected under this more restrictive interpretation of Clean Water Act jurisdiction. We are also concerned about the impact that increased water pollution could have on the Gulf of Mexico hypoxia problem (The Dead Zone) and gulf fisheries. We strongly believe that Congress must act to fix this problem and we ask for your support for Clean Water Restoration Act legislation when it is re-introduced. The second subject of our discussion was the continued funding of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SWSRF) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). Our concern comes from the fact that funding for the State Revolving Funds for water infrastructure had been seriously declining over a number of years. We want to voice our support for adequate funding for these very important water infrastructure programs. We very much appreciate the meeting and this chance to express our concerns for Clean Water nationally and in the State of Louisiana. I would be happy to follow up with any additional information or discussion that may be helpful to you in considering these important issues. Sincerely,
Letter to Governor Bobby JindalHon. Bobby Jindal, Governor Dear Governor Jindal: On March 26, 2008 I sent you a letter expressing appreciation for your early issuance of two executive orders, one dealing with the decision-making process relative to coastal restoration programs, and another dealing with energy efficiency in state government. Energy efficiency and conservation are of great interest to the Sierra Club, given the compelling evidence of the link between combustion of fossil fuels and global climate change that could seriously impact the State of Louisiana. We are suggesting that the governor’s office take a leadership role in guiding the State of Louisiana to a cleaner and greener economy. This can be done by setting an example in operation of state government, and by making it known that Louisiana is open for business in creation of business opportunities and new jobs in fabrication and installation of clean energy technologies. We know from the example of other states that with the right mix of incentives and leadership, the public will respond to a wide variety of pro-conservation measures, especially when they ultimately save consumers money. We know further that in the not too distant future that the most dynamic economies will be those that see no contradiction between economic growth and a clean, healthy environment. We proposed in our earlier letter that you could provide excellent example and create a positive image of the Governor of the State of Louisiana as being a leader in clean energy by making the Louisiana White House into an environmentally friendly Governor’s mansion. Installation of solar panels or other energy conservation measures would get positive attention statewide and nationally. We are confident that companies selling cutting edge energy conservation technology would welcome the opportunity to show off their wares at the Louisiana Governor’s mansion. Another measure that would follow through on your executive order and improve the visibility of your administration on these issues would be for you to direct your administration to include energy efficiency in the annual budget review process for state government. Thanks for your consideration of these suggestions. We have not received a response to our March 26 letter to you. Please take this opportunity to let us know if you will act on these proposals, and what you are doing to enable energy conservation and clean jobs in our state. Respectfully yours, FEMA trailer resident gives birth to severly handicapped babyThe Delta Chapter and the Sierra Club Gulf Coast Restoration Taskforce continue to advocate for residents of
Formaldehyde prone Toxic FEMA trailers, here is one mother's nightmare experience... WBRZ News Channel2 in Baton Rouge shows how to recycle Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL's)Follow this link to see a recent news article produced by WBRZ 2 in Baton Rouge about how to recycle Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs. The Sierra Club is represented by our very own Jeffery Dubinsky who discusses why we don't want to throw these bulbs into the trash. http://media.swagit.com/s/wbrz/The_Advocate/07222008-51.html Taking the tops off mountains at the flip of a switchby Jea Yoon Lee Everyone knows that electricity comes from power plants. Some know
that 40% of the electricity in the U.S. comes from coal-fired plants.
Fewer know that an estimated 7-10% of the country’s total coal
production comes from mountaintop removal (MTR) mines in Appalachia.
Unfortunately, many Louisiana consumers are linked to MTR through their
utility companies which use MTR coal. The tragedy of MTR is not just the abstract notion of “losing” mountains, forests, and streams, however. For West Virginians, Virginians, Kentuckians, and Tennesseans living near the mines, it means undrinkable, rash-inducing water full of arsenic and mercury, flying boulders and earthquakes caused by the blasting, and dramatic depreciation of property value. They also live in the shadow of impoundments -- dams which hold back the wastewater created by washing the debris off coal. Eight years ago in Kentucky, one broke and released a torrent of over 300 million gallons of thick, toxic sludge which destroyed homes, farmlands, and 100 miles of waterways. For the rest of us, more MTR leads to burning more coal, which diverts resources away from alternative energy sources and greater reliance on coal-powered plants, which leads to even more MTR. That means dirtier air, more acid rain, and more global warming emissions. According to some estimates, about 4.8% of the coal used in Louisiana power plants may come from MTR mines. Utilities such as Cleco Power LLC, Entergy Louisiana, and Southwestern Electric Power are all connected to MTR mining because some of their plants purchase coal from companies that operate MTR mines in Appalachia. (For more information on your community’s connection to MTR, visit www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection.) Rising gas prices opens the prospect of a coal-to-liquid industry which would lead to an even greater reliance on coal. The coal industry is peddling the false solution of converting coal into liquid fuel, but the reality is worse than being topless in Appalachia. Not only does it take one ton of coal to produce just two barrels of fuel, but burning liquid coal also releases double the global warming emissions per gallon as regular gasoline. Replacing 10% of our nation’s transportation fuels with liquid coal would require increasing coal mining by over 40%. Coal is not the solution! Currently there are plans for constructing 87 new coal power plants, each with an expected lifespan of 50 years. Is an additional 50 years of reliance on coal even a viable option for our planet? Let us oppose the irreversible, irremediable practice of MTR, and instead invest in solar, wind, and geothermal power. MTR requires filling valleys with vast quantities of mining waste. Filling streams with waste was illegal under the Clean Water Act, and advocacy groups used the law to protect the mountains and streams. Rising to the defense of coal companies, the Bush Administration changed the rules, effectively legalizing the filling of streams with waste. Sierra Club and other groups are urging Congress to enact the Clean Water Protection Act, which would reverse the rule change, once again prohibiting the filling of streams with MTR waste. Please join our efforts by asking your utility company not to use MTR coal and urging your Representative to co-sponsor the bill. For more information on how you can help, visit http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanwater/mtr/. Jea Yoon Lee is an apprentice with the national coal campaign in Washington,
DC. Morgan Freeman partners with Sierra Club on Storm Readiness Public Service Announcements!Be sure and check out the web page. A majority of the materials were provided by the Delta Chapter and it's partners. At the beginning of June, Morgan shot these in a partnership with Sierra Club and the non profit hurricane preparedness organization he founded, PLAN!TNOW. While I know everyone is familiar with Morgan's work in films like Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby and Driving Miss Daisy, you should also know that Morgan is considered one of the very top celebrity names for advertising and marketing purposes. An article in last Sunday's New York Times on celebrity advertising trends, identified Morgan as the 4th most valuable celebrity endorser - only behind Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Michael Jordan. The video piece will be distributed to almost 350 television channels throughout the gulf coast region and along the eastern seaboard as well as to environmental and celebrity websites and blogs, where it will be available for air until November 30th, (the official end of the 2008 hurricane season). The print piece pictured here will be distributed broadly to national and regional magazines for the same time frame. There will be a second print and video combination which we will edit to be available after this. These pieces have been designed to play a part of the early stages of the Climate Recovery Campaign and our work to build Climate Strong Communities. This project was a true team effort and we wish to thank everyone in Media/Communications and Advancement who helped bring this project to fruition. http://www.sierraclub.org/getprepared/ The Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book is now available.The Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book has just been released. It was produced to educate Louisiana legislators on environmental issues in our state that affect us all. Even if you are not in the Louisiana legislature, it is worth reading because it is chock full of timely information about environmental issues in our state that every concerned citizen needs to be aware of. The Environmental Briefing book was produced by:
Read the Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book at the Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book Website: http://labriefingbook.org/ or download the large PDF file (2.89 Mb). It's a huge file but well worth the download time, only a couple of seconds on a broadband connection. Louisiana's Mulch MadnessCypress forests are the state's best defense against hurricanes. So why are loggers clear-cutting the last trees? Dean Wilson slams forward the throttle on his 18-foot aluminum bateau—a flat-bottom skiff that he welded together himself—and catapults us downriver. It's April and I'm in the Atchafalaya Basin, the nation's largest swamp—1.4 million acres (roughly 10 times the size of Chicago) wedged between the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana... Read More>> So begins an article featured in the March/April issue of Mother Jones magazine. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/03/louisianas-mulch-madness.htmlGot You Tube?The Sierra Club does. Check out the Club's You Tube page. You might even learn a thing or two; like how to install a programmable thermostat, or a low flow shower head or how to compost in your own backyard. Good stuff just in time for Earth Day. The Save Our Cypress Coalition website has a whole new look!
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the website and to all who are part of the Save Our Cypress campaign. The Save Our Cypress Coalition is comprised of over 160 conservation groups, religious organizations, businesses, gardening clubs, and civic organizations. The Delta Chapter is a proud member of the coalition. We finally did it:Created a blog of course. What were you thinking? Anyway you can find the "Official Blog of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club" here. If you want to learn more, see the heading titled "Delta blog:" on the left side of your screen. Tell us what you think:Take our short online membership survey. (http://www.louisiana.sierraclub.org/survey.asp) OR Download a copy of our survey and send your completed survey to: Delta Chapter Conservation and other Campaigns:
FOR OUR FAMILIES, FOR OUR FUTURE!
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To
learn more about sustainable alternatives to cypress mulch, to see the
complete list of coalition members, to ask Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart
to stop selling cypress mulch, and much more, visit www.saveourcypress.org.
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