The
Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club – in cooperation
with other statewide and regional conservation
organizations – will hold public forums in
Houston and Beaumont this September to focus attention
on a new state process for identifying and preserving
flowing rivers and freshwater inflows into Texas
coastal bays and estuaries.
Both SB 3 and HB 3,
enacted by the Texas Legislature this past spring,
outline a stakeholder and scientific process for
the protection of “environmental flows” that
will be implemented for various bays and associated
river basins over the next several years.
Beginning in November, this process will be conducted
over the next two years on the upper Texas coast
for Galveston Bay and Sabine Lake and their respective
river basins.
In 2008 the process will be initiated
for bays and river basins on the middle Texas coast,
and in 2009 the process begins for the water resources
on the lower Texas coast.
Speakers at both the Houston and Beaumont forums
will be Myron Hess, National Wildlife Federation;
Wendy Gordon, Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality; and David Bradsby, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department. They will provide background on the
environmental flows issue, an overview of the new
environmental flows allocation process, and a look
at specific issues affecting Galveston Bay and
Sabine Lake and the respective river basins.
The Houston forum will be
held September 26 at
the Children’s Museum of Houston, located
at 1500 Binz in the Museum District. The Galveston
Bay Foundation and other local groups are co-sponsoring
this event.
The Beaumont forum will be
held September 27 at the Holiday Inn Beaumont Plaza, located at 3950
Interstate 10 South (at Walden Road) – not
to be confused with the Holiday Inn Midtown in
Beaumont.
Both forums will be evening events. Food and
drinks will be provided for attendees from 6 to
7 p.m. Presentations will begin at 7 p.m., and
the sessions will conclude by 9 p.m. Ample time
will be provided for questions from the audience
to the three speakers.
These coastal forums are free and
open to the public. However, the Sierra Club
requests that people planning to attend one or
both of the forums complete and send in a RSVP pre-registration form by
Monday, September 24 so that adequate arrangements
may be made for food and seating. Attendees will
be welcome at the door even if they have not pre-registered,
but seating will be limited at both events.
For additional information, contact Jennifer
Walker, Water Resources Specialist, Sierra Club,
at the phone number above or via e-mail at
jennifer.walker@sierraclub.org.
These forums are part of the activities of the
Texas Living Waters Project - a joint project of
the National Wildlife Federation, Environmental
Defense, and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra
Club. The Project has been made possible by generous
funding from The Houston Endowment, Inc.; The Meadows
Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc; The Jacob
and Terese Hershey Foundation; and Magnolia Charitable
Trust.
