The
Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club consists
of over 24,000 members. The Chapter spans the
entire state of Texas, excepting El Paso, which
is part of the Rio Grande Chapter.
Located in Austin, the Lone Star Chapter's State Conservation Office
serves Sierrans as their grassroots communications center. We also provide
Sierrans with a full time professional activist staff employed to represent
Sierrans as we fight at the state level to protect and conserve Texas'
diverse and valuable natural heritage.
Sierra Club Supports Passage of House
Bill 3971
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club supports
the passage of HB 3971 by Rep. Ritter and others
which is set on the House General State Calendar
today (April 23, 2009).
The legislation to be considered on the House
floor today is substantially revised from the
bill as originally filed, which would have diverted
to the General Land Office for coastal erosion
projects money from sporting goods tax revenue
that otherwise would have been available for appropriation
to Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for the
state parks system.
HB 3971, as substituted in the House Land & Resource
Management Committee, deleted the diversion of
money from the sporting goods tax revenue and
substituted a new mechanism for funding coastal
erosion projects, namely an increase in the existing
coastal protection fee that goes into the Texas
coastal protection fund. That fund may already
be used for erosion response projects as well
as for oil spill response and remediation programs.
HB 3971 would add operation of the state’s
coastal management program to the purposes for
which money from the coastal protection fund might
be used.
Given the changes in HB 3971, the Sierra Club
has reviewed the new version of the bill and revised
our position to support the legislation.
While the Sierra Club continues to have concerns
about the advisability of certain coastal erosion
response projects, we believe that House passage
of HB 3971 in its current form would be good for
the Texas coast and would prevent an unnecessary
diversion of money that could otherwise be used
to provide badly needed funds for our state parks
system.
