Sierra Club Acadian Group and League of Women Voters of Lafayette Present:

POWERING LAFAYETTE'S ELECTRICAL FUTURE
*PART 2*

In early September, Sierra Club Acadian Group hosted Lafayette Utilities System Manager, Mr. Terry Huval as our guest speaker at a special meeting entitled Powering Lafayette's Electrical Future.  Mr. Huval provided historical review of LUS electrical services and its plan to borrow funds to peform mandatory compliance work on the Rodemacher #2 plant in Boyce, LA of which LUS is a part owner.  Work will include the upgrade of equipment on this coal fired power plant to meet tightening Clean Air Act rules due to come into force in the next several years.

Lafayette Utilities System is a city-owned and city-regulated electrical utility.  It derives much of our electric power from burning coal mined and shipped by rail from Wyoming at the Rodemacher plant, along with an antiquated low efficiency natural gas boiler plant located here in Lafayette along with several other lesser sources.  In this time of changing environmental, economic and legal climates for energy resources, we think the City Leaders should consider the alternative scenarios and position the community to take advantage of key opportunities ahead of us.


Together with the League of Women Voters of Lafayette, we will conduct a second special public forum to address the topic of Powering Lafayette's Electrical Future on December 6th.  

We will have a 30 minute presentation from Mr. Simon Mahan, Renewable Energy Manager with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.  This presentation will look at the advantages and relative cost savings of via a mix of high efficiency natural gas, renewable energy sources, and energy efficiency program with incentives for commercial and residential applications.

Moderated Question and Discussion time will follow the discussion.

All are invited.  Refreshments will be served.

LAFAYETTE SOUTH REGIONAL LIBRARY
6101 JOHNSTON STREET (south of the Mall)
Thursday -- December 6, 2012

6:30 to 8:00 pm

Pre-event coverage in the Independent interviews Acadian Group Vice-Chair Woody Martin in more detail about this function: http://www.theind.com/business/12205-coal-vs-alternatives

Rutherford Trip Documents "Pristine" Beach

In Cameron Parish, Southwest Louisiana, 15 miles east of where the Calcasieu River lets out into the Gulf in an area known as the “Cajun Riviera,” sit Rutherford and Hackberry Beach. Last summer, Acadian Group members led by Chair Harold Shoeffler set out on a beachcombing trip there, and along with shells, interesting pieces of driftwood, and rosy cheeks, the group came back with some other curious items: a road sign from Mexico, a perfectly good hand saw, some fresh (and not so fresh) coconuts, and a crab trap or two.

Rutherford beach has no hotels, marinas, casinos, or any other large developments, and what few camps existed there were mostly wiped out by Hurricane Rita. As a result, there is no one to sweep the beach for tourists or residents, and the trash that rolls in with the tide begins to accumulate. Rutherford is a perfect example of what a “pristine” beach along the Gulf looks like in 2012—plastic bottles, shoes, garbage of all sorts from shrimp and oilfield boats…basically anything that gets thrown out into your local waterway will eventually work its way into the Gulf, and either sink or wash ashore. There’s also the issue of water quality. According to a recent report by the NRDC, Cameron Parish beaches are the worst in the nation for contamination—nearly 44% of all water samples taken there were over the safe limit for levels of bacteria. Grand Isle fared a bit better, with only 8% of samples taken showing unsafe levels.

On June 30^th of this year, a small group of Sierra Club members and their friends and families set out to document the abundant types of trash on the coast. Here’s what they found: on average, each 10 yard stretch of beach—from shore to grassline—contains 19 plastic bottles, 6 glass bottles, 15 plastic fragments, 4 metal containers or fragments, 2 plastic toys, a half a light bulb, 3 shoes, and about 5 feet of nylon rope. Other interesting items included a broken cooler, caulk guns, fishing nets, a push broom, giant pieces of yellow foam, a propane tank, a broken fishing basket, and one of those little rubber bracelets people wear to show their support for some cause (we’re betting that the cause wasn’t “Protect the Environment, Don’t Litter”). All of these things were found along Hackberry beach, an area adjacent to Rutherford that has no car access and therefore has very little human activity.

The Sierra Club is dedicated to helping to educate the public on the poor state of our beaches, and steps we can take to start to clean them up. The Acadian Group will be sending out a press release about its findings to raise awareness and hopefully recruit new members to help in the cause. If you’d like to do something, call or write us at one of the contacts listed on this website.

Sierra Club Celebrates 120 Years of Conservation in America

Anniversary Bash to be Held at Blue Moon Saloon on Sunday, May 27

On May 28, 1892, legendary conservationist John Muir founded the Sierra Club. From its beginnings as a small, dedicated group of pioneer conservationists working to protect the unspoiled beauty of the Sierra Range, the Club has grown to become the largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the country, with over 1.4 million members and supporters today.

To celebrate this landmark anniversary, the Delta Chapter is throwing an Anniversary Bash and Fundraiser at the Blue Moon Saloon. Attendees can expect delicious food, bid on items in a silent auction, meet local Club volunteer leaders, and rock out to the sounds of classic rock bands Stranger than Friction and the Zig Zag Wanderers. The event will also highlight the conservation achievements of the local Delta Chapter and Acadian Group and provide an opportunity to get involved. 


The menu consists of roasted pork, jambalaya (meat and vegetarian), and snacks.

WHAT:  Sierra Club Anniversary Bash--Food, Music, and Fun for a good cause.

WHEN: Sunday, May 27.  Doors and food begin at 6pm. Music begins 7 pm.

WHERE:  Blue Moon Saloon, 215 E Convent St, Lafayette LA

ADMISSION: $12. Includes food buffet.


Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/455360037812115/

We will need the help of our members to make this event a success. If you have items that you can donate for the auction, or can help with the planning or hosting of this event (serving food, helping set up and tear down, tabling, etc), please contact Devin Martin at 985-209-5454 or devin.martin@sierraclub.org.

We hope to see you there!

Lafayette Planning Commission "Meeting-in-a-box"

The Acadian Group of the Sierra Club would like to host a "Meeting-in-a-box" regarding Lafayette's new Comprehensive Plan. This is a great opportunity for us to highlight the role that clean energy, mass transit, bicycling, cultural tourism, sustainability, and forward thinking and planning can have in making Lafayette a world-class city in the 21st Century.

Our venerable chair has agreed to devote our next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, May 9 to having one of these meetings. We will break up into small groups, discuss our ideas, collect them, and submit them to LPC.

If you can, we'd love for you to come out so we can hear your ideas and incorporate them. We may also spend some time discussing ways that we as a local group can work to improve our fair city. Hope to see you there.

Acadian Group Presents...

The Acadian Group of the Sierra Club is happy to host Robert Schmidt, of Joule Energy, Inc. as he talks to us about the importance of solar energy in Louisiana and explains the mystery of what all those solar panels are doing on top of Lamar billboards throughout the area.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 18th, 6:30pm
WHERE: First United Methodist, 703 Lee Ave, Lafayette, LA
The meeting room is in the back of the Church. Park out back, go through the back door and up the stairs, then take a right into the hallway, another right, and find the last door on the left.

This event is free and open to the public. Message, email, or call Devin Martin for more info.
Devin.martin@sierraclub.org
985.209.5454

New Meeting Location

Our meetings will now be held at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Lafayette at 703 Lee Avenue. Click here for a Google map. 

For the February meetings, we will put up some paper signs to direct any newcomers to the meeting room. Meetings will still be on the second and third Wednesdays of the month, at 6:30pm. The next two meetings will be on Feb. 8th and 15th. 

As always, we welcome ideas for topics and guest speakers. You need not be a member to attend.

Although we are very grateful to the church for the use of their meeting space, we should note that it does not constitute an affiliation or endorsement between the Sierra Club Acadian Group or the First United Methodist Church of Lafayette.

We hope to see you there.

Welcome 2012 with Sierra Club Outings and Events!

We hope everyone had a great holiday season.  2012 looks to be an interesting year, to say the least.  Help kick it off right by attending our fun outings, getting involved in local environmental issues, or simply coming to one of our meetings to find out more about our local efforts here in Acadiana and across the state, as well as the broader efforts of the Sierra Club across our nation and our planet.