SB 549 the Law Clinic Attack Bill deferred (killed) in Senate Commerce Committee

SB 549 the law clinic attack bill was deferred (killed) in Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday May 19. It was great to see. The hearing room and two other hearing rooms watching on closed circuit TV were full of people who showed up to oppose the bill. The Louisiana Chemical Industry and Oil Industry groups started off supporting the bill by complaining about barratry on the part of Tulane Environmental Law Clinic (the instigating of groundless lawsuits). Then the Louisiana Bar Association testified in opposition to the bill explaining that the Louisiana Supreme Court has jurisdiction over law clinics and that there is a strictly observed code of conduct that applies to law students efforts. The presidents of both Loyola and Tulane Universities finished off the opposing testimony eloquently describing the purpose of the law clinics, how much they do for the state, and the negative image for Louisiana if this bill would be passed.

The fact of the huge oil disaster in the gulf hung over the hearing and made it difficult for industry complaints about lawsuits to carry much weight. It also helped that there was a prominent editorial the same morning in the Baton Rouge Advocate saying the SB 549 is a bad idea. That newspaper is on every desk in the state capital. After 2 hours of the hearing and some tough questions from the committee, Senator Ann Duplessis, Committee Chair moved to defer the bill and there was no objection. In effect it was a unanimous vote to stop the bill.

Sierra Club Delta Chapter has been actively following this bill and working through Darrell Hunt, our Delta Chapter legislative lobbyist, our Club members and allied groups, particularly LEAN, to stop this bill in its first hearing. LEAN worked very hard on the politics of opposing the bill and did a great job of getting people from communities who have been helped by TELC legal actions to attend the hearing. All of our efforts have proved successful. So overwhelming was the sentiment against this bill that I think it will be a long time before they try this again. But the industry groups have other possible tactics. They could try to slip an amendment into an unrelated bill or a funding bill any time during the session. So with help of our legislative lobbyist we will be watching carefully for that. Also we know that the Louisiana Chemical Association and Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (the principal proponents of the bill) are requesting that big donors stop supporting Tulane University. I hope that has the opposite effect of encouraging big donors to support Tulane and the Law Clinic specifically in order to help hold big Louisiana polluters and negligent administrative agencies accountable to the law.

So they are not done yet and neither are we. But we can congratulate ourselves and our allied groups for what I think is the most significant and complete legislative victory for the environment in years. Thanks for whatever letters, emails you sent or phone calls you made. You can now help again by sending email, phone call or letter to members of the Senate Commerce Committee thanking them for supporting the motion to defer Senate Bill 549. You can find them at the state legislature web site. http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Commerce/Assignments.asp

Thanks again for everyone’s attention and cooperation in stopping this really bad bill.

Woody Martin, Chair
Sierra Club Delta Chapter.

Sierra Club sign up to help with BP oil disaster

The Sierra Club has posted a web link where you can go to volunteer for various activities to help with the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. The web link is http://action.sierraclub.org/Oil_Spill_CleanUp

Louisiana's Dance with the Devil

by Woody Martin, Delta Chapter Chair

A major source of the wealth in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast now once again shows its dark side. Along with the oil industry canals, pipelines and access locations that have slashed Louisiana’s fragile coastal wetlands to ribbons we now have impending environmental and economic disaster in the form of a 100 x 40 mile oil slick in the Gulf riding winds out of the southeast toward the Louisiana coast. Arrival of our black oil guest is projected for late on Friday, April 30.

British Petroleum, the company responsible for the oil rig disaster and spill was slow to alert us to the seriousness of the threat, saying for too long that it was something they could handle. Flyovers by Gulf Restoration Network showed us a huge oil slick with very few boats out there trying to do anything. Finally yesterday BP asked for federal help and the coast guard started trying to burn off some of the oil. Experts tell us that even if such efforts are successful the most that can be removed is about 20 percent of the oil. So there is no stopping this oil slick monster now.

Your Sierra Club Delta Chapter has been involved in numerous conference calls and planning around what our response should be. The coordinated response of our group of environmental advocacy organizations will now focus on the following: 1) Wildlife rescue and habitat preservation, 2) calls for criminal investigation of BP and increased regulation of the industry, and 3) call for a moratorium on expansion of drilling off our coasts.

We are issuing an invitation for President Barack Obama to visit the coast and fly with us over the damage (not in Airforce 1 as Bush did in Katrina) so the president can see for himself. The invitation will also go to EPA Administrator and former New Orleans resident Lisa Jackson. Our message is that this disaster should be a top federal priority. Our message also is that the Easy Oil Is Gone. As our fossil fuel addicted economy goes farther and deeper for coal and oil the risks of environmental devastation and loss of human life will increase. This country needs a comprehensive energy policy and legislation that puts a price on carbon and moves us away from dirty coal and oil toward clean energy solutions. We already have the technology, but we have been lacking the political will to establish an energy economy that provides a level playing field on which renewable and clean energy can compete. It is unfortunate that once again it takes a disaster to focus attention on an issue which demands corrective action.

The Delta Chapter will be in ongoing communication with other environmental groups, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. We will be advising on how you can help to work on the cleanup and how you can help us to pass clean energy legislation. You can always contact me at chair@louisiana.sierraclub.org to let me know you are interested in helping or to obtain further information.

Water Sentinels Citizen Water Monitoring Training

Who: Sierra Club Water Sentinels in partnership with Cajuns for Bayou Teche and Acadiana Resource Conservation & Development
What: Water Sampling Introductory Training
When: Friday, May 7, 2010
Where: LSU Agriculture Research and Extension Building - 114 Courthouse St. Breaux Bridge, La 70517

The purpose of program is to inform people about water quality in Bayou Teche by providing an opportunity to do hands-on sampling and monitoring. Cajuns for Bayou Teche and Sierra Club will provide water sampling test kits and training on May 7, 2010. There is no charge for this session. We invite persons who are interested in Bayou Teche water quality and who would like to continue in the role of volunteer water sampling technician. No commitment is necessary to attend the training. All interested persons are invited.

Schedule

9:00 am Coffee and snacks will be available provided by Acadiana RC&D

9:30 am Video presentation – The Missouri Stream Team

10:00 am Tim Guilfoile, Water Sentinels trainer, explains the water quality parameters that we will be sampling and their significance to surface water quality. We will start with Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Conductivity, Turbidity, Temperature

12:00 am Lunch – Pot of gumbo at the Breaux Bridge pavilion on Bayou Teche provided by Acadiana RC&D

1:00 pm Discussion of water quality parameters and hands on practice with sampling equipment at the pavilion on Bayou Teche

3:00 pm Session ends

Introducing Devin Gene Martin

Devin is the new Conservation Coordinator for the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club. He is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and has a degree in sociology with special focus on environmental issues. While there he was involved in the campus group Society for Peace, Environment, Action, and Knowledge (SPEAK) and worked to improve recycling on campus. He is an alumnus of the UL AmeriCorps program, having worked on several community service projects including construction with Habitat for Humanity, recycling at local festivals, and planting marshgrass in Vermilion Bay. Devin also has experience in grassroots environmental organizing. He worked as a field manager and canvassed on coastal restoration for the Gulf Restoration Network in New Orleans in the summer of 2009. Devin's role with the Delta Chapter will focus on recruiting and developing new volunteers and members and activating current members for chapter and group projects. He will also take the lead on developing a Louisiana Water Sentinels program. Devin's interests are varied and include environmental and social activism, poetry and music, spirituality, and organic gardening and agriculture. He can be reached at Devin.Martin@sierraclub.org.

March Appeal letter and Delta Chapter Annual Report released

Haywood R. Martin, Chair
Sierra Club, Delta (Louisiana) Chapter
Lafayette, LA

February 26, 2010

Dear Friends,

The Sierra Club is the oldest environmental organization in the country and justly deserves its reputation for being willing to advocate and fight on issues of global, national and regional importance. Here in Louisiana the Sierra Club Delta Chapter stands up for the health and natural environment of our state and the gulf region by combining our Club’s national resources for information and organization with the efforts of our local volunteers to make a real difference where we live.

Our list of actions this year is extensive. The Delta Chapter and its regional groups have been actively involved on many fronts doing fun things like outings, tree plantings and socials as well as more campaign oriented actions like tabling at events, advocacy in meetings and hearings, letters to the editor and press releases timed to respond to news stories and events. A major effort continues to focus on the climate change issue. Significant victories have been achieved nationally and locally in the campaign to stop construction of new coal fired power plants. In Louisiana plans for new construction or conversion of natural gas to coal fired power were stopped or put on hold at Big Cajun I and II and Little Gypsy.

In other campaign areas an Earthjustice lawsuit on behalf of LEAN and Sierra Club achieved victory in forcing USEPA to promulgate new more restrictive rules for emissions into the air from PVC manufacturing facilities. A settlement was reached in the Enervest case in which Audubon and the Delta Chapter forced a major oilfield pipeline operator to remove mercury flow meters and clean up mercury leakage to the ground and surface water in the northeast part of the state.

After years of effort by the Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program and the Delta Chapter in coalition with adjacent communities and other groups we achieved closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). The MRGO is credited with bringing the Katrina storm surge into the heart of New Orleans, and with causing the destruction of thousands of acres of natural wetlands. In another effort New Orleans group member Barry Kohl and others worked very effectively to achieve an addition of 1,000 acres of cypress swamp to Jean Lafitte Park near New Orleans, advocating for it to be included in congressional legislation despite strong political resistance.
On the legislative front the Delta Chapter is represented by an experienced lobbyist and local volunteers who advocate for good bills in the state legislature and help us to slow down or stop the bad ones. Examples of some of the good bills were the addition of Bayou Manchac to the State Scenic Rivers System and tax credits for residential solar installations. This year we will advocate for legislation to require energy efficiency in operation of state government buildings and motor vehicles and for a comprehensive look at statewide recycling. In April this past year the Delta Chapter coordinated an environmental voter day in Baton Rouge and distributed a revised Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book. We will hold the event again this year on April 21 and all members and interested persons are invited.

Delta Chapter just recently completed the hiring of a Conservation Coordinator, Devin Martin, who will be working on programs that invite membership and volunteer involvement. One such program will be the Water Sentinels citizen volunteer water sampling project on the Bayou Teche. We are planning a citizen water sampler training in Breaux Bridge on April 16 and we are hoping to expand the program to other parts of the state.

These are just a few examples of what we are doing. You can find out more by watching for our quarterly printed newsletters and by visiting the Chapter web site at http://www.louisiana.sierraclub.org/. We also request that you make sure that we have your email address so that you can receive occasional postings on what we are up to. If you are not sure, just send your name and email address to me at chair@louisiana.sierraclub.org and I will check it for you. As always we invite your help and participation in any of our conservation or advocacy programs.

This letter is an appeal to you, our Delta Chapter members to make a contribution that goes directly to the work being done by the Delta Chapter in our state. The funding we receive from the national organization has greatly decreased over the past two years, and is projected to decrease again this year. Once a year, the chapters are authorized by national to make a direct appeal to our members. Your support is extremely important to the work of the Delta Chapter on your behalf. Without your financial support and vote of confidence we would not be able to function.

If you contributed to our March Appeal last year you have our most heartfelt appreciation. A contribution this year will help us to weather the storm of funding cutbacks, and to continue to represent you and your families in protecting the health of our communities and the natural landscape in Louisiana.

Thanks so much for your support, and please feel free to contact me any time at chair@louisiana.sierraclub.org.


Sincerely,

Haywood R. Martin, Chair
Sierra Club Delta Chapter