Online Sierra Club monthly meeting:

• The Austin Regional Group of the Sierra Club meets on the second Tuesday of each month at

  7:00 pm. For the present, we meet on Zoom.

   

  FREE & open to the public

  Tuesday, , April 9, 2024, 7 to 8:30 pm

  Monthly Meeting of the Austin Regional Sierra Club

  General Meeting: TCEQ Makes History With New Wastewater Permit    Brian Zabcik, Advocacy Director Save Barton Creek Association       TCEQ's commissioners voted unanimously last month to issue an unprecedented new wastewater discharge permit to the city of Liberty Hill in Williamson County. The new permit is historic because it contains the lowest limit that TCEQ has ever set on the amount of phosphorus that can remain in wastewater after treatment. Under Liberty Hill's old permit, the city has been able to discharge wastewater that can contain up to 50 times more phosphorus than what's naturally present in the South San Gabriel River.    Because phosphorus is a fertilizer that makes plants grow, this has produced out-of-control algae growth that's suffocated the river for miles and for years. TCEQ's commissioners, in giving final approval to Liberty Hill's new permit, sharply reduced the amount of phosphorus that can remain in the city's treated wastewater to a level that's only slightly above what's already in the river. Once the new permit goes fully into effect, the algae blanket that's clogged the San Gabriel for years should begin to clear up.    Save Barton Creek Association has been involved in the Liberty Hill permit fight for the past four years, because both the South San Gabriel and Barton Creek are pristine streams with extremely low levels of phosphorus. SBCA Advocacy Director Brian Zabcik will talk about the factors that led TCEQ to issue its historic new permit for Liberty Hill, and what the implications of its radically lower limits could be for other Hill Country streams.

  Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/5133069449 FREE & open to the public

   

   

   

 ExCom: The Executive Committee of the Austin Group Sierra Club is a team of 7 people, elected by the membership to manage the local Sierra Club's priorities, activities, and budget. The ExCom meets the 4th Tueday of each month. The first meeting is on Zoom on Jan. 19 at 7-9 pm. All members all welcome. Members may email austinsierraclub@gmail.com to receive a link to join the meeting. We will settle on a monthly time for ExCom meetings at this meeting. All meetings this year will be accessible through Zoom although some members of the ExCom may meet in person later this year.

The ExCom may occasionally need to enter closed session, but all Sierra Club members are welcome to attend! For more information, please contact us at austinsierraclub@gmail.com. 

Climate Change Committee: Meetings are held the first Monday of the month at 6:30pm. Climate Change Committee Meetings are now on Zoom, the first Monday of the Month . Speakers to be announced. Click to view Climate Change Committee Information on Meetup. 

All the Austin Sierra Clubs Events, Outings, and Meetings are posted on our Austin Group Sierra Club Meetup website. Sign Up for our Meetup Calendar and you will receive email notices for our calendar postings, and you then be able to sign up to particpate in those events.