March 31, 2025

Mar 31, 2025

In this edition: I attend the Brownwood Community Preparedness meeting; Pauline Rd. wildfire raises landowner safety concerns on pipeline easement; Texas Senate bills favor fossil fuels over renewables, while FERC ignores climate change; and your invitations to Mass Mobilization next Saturday, April 5, and DeLa Express Coalition Austin visit April 10.

Brownwood/Brown County Health Dept. Promotes Emergency Preparedness

In a classroom at the new Health Dept. building at 305 Booker St., about a dozen people attended a brief but informative Community Preparedness class last Tuesday. The goal of this session was to review the basics: Be Informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit.

To be informed, sign up for “Code Red” Emergency Alert Messages from the county:

https://www.browncountytx.gov/page/brown.Emergency

or “Civic Ready” alerts from the City of Brownwood:

https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/182/Emergency-Management

If you or someone you know is likely to need assistance during an emergency, because of age, disability, or other special needs, now is the time to sign up for the Brown County Emergency Assistance Registry:

https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/616/Brown-County-Emergency-Assistance-Regist

Brownwood Fire Chief Eric Hicks told us the top two weather-related threats for Brown County are wildfires and tornadoes/high wind events. (Since I live in a floodplain in the city limits, and have experienced a flood event here, I have to include flooding as well).

Useful Freebies Reinforce the Message

Everyone attending received a printout of the slide show, and a bright red “Texas Ready” daypack containing a goody bag of health/hygiene supplies (tissues, gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, trash bag, etc.) and FEMA publications, including an Emergency Financial First Aid Kit, to “strengthen your financial preparedness for disasters and emergencies,” and a guide to the full range of Alerts and Warnings you might receive, and how to best respond to them.

https://texasready.gov/

Chief Hicks offered some practical advice for folks who live on the back roads in the county: Make sure your address is clearly visible, so emergency responders can find you, and keep your driveway/lane clear, so the big emergency vehicles can access your property when needed.

What Happens When Wildfire Crosses Oil/Gas Pipeline Easements?

As the proposed DeLa Express natural gas pipeline’s permit application remains pending with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), landowners along the proposed route (which also passes Brownwood) are expressing their safety concerns after the recent Pauline Rd. wildfire in San Jacinto County.

An observer from the Coalition Concerned by the DeLa Express Pipeline was on site during and immediately after the fire. The following is reprinted by permission from the Coalition:

The Pauline Road Fire near Cleveland, TX, which burned 2,400 acres, also went through an area where a 42” Natural Gas Liquids pipeline is proposed. Residents are concerned about the pipeline's safety after the fire and a perceived lack of oversight and communication during the incident led to potential damage to an existing 24” NGL pipeline. They are demanding clear protocols for emergencies near pipelines, an investigation into potential pipeline damage, and adequate funding for emergency response in pipeline-adjacent communities.

The fire was about 50 miles north of Houston. Over 900 homes were evacuated.

Edgar Chavez, evacuated landowner living on an operating gas pipeline easement, where DeLa Express is also proposed to be built:
"So now, what happens if there is a pipeline fire? Does our fire department fight the same kind of fire? Do they have the necessary equipment or HAZMAT training to do this? They're going to build the Bahia pipeline, and are trying to get permits for the DeLa Express Pipeline, yet they struggled to fight this wildfire."

Tami Mewis, a landowner impacted by the proposed 690 mile 42” DeLa Express NGL Pipeline: "The fact that heavy emergency vehicles may have driven over existing pipelines within the easement during the Pauline Road Fire, with seemingly little coordination with pipeline companies, is deeply troubling.

If this is how we respond to wildfires in areas crisscrossed with pipelines, what assurances do we have that the proposed DeLa Express 42-inch pipeline, running even closer to our homes, won't be similarly compromised?

We need clear guidelines and collaborative strategies between emergency responders and pipeline operators to prevent potential damage to this infrastructure during wildfire events. The safety of our community cannot be an afterthought; it must be a central component of any emergency response plan, especially before a massive new pipeline is installed."

For more information about the proposed DeLa Express pipeline, head over to https://brownwoodgreennews.substack.com/p/dela-express-pipeline

“The Texas Senate Is a Threat to U.S. Energy Security”

This headline from a recent Substack post by energy analyst Doug Lewin, refers to recent actions in the Texas Legislature, which are in lockstep with the climate denialism in the White House, but completely out of touch with energy industry trends in Texas.

The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter

The Texas Senate Is a Threat to U.S. Energy Security

The Texas Senate will likely vote this week to weaken America’s national security…

4 months ago · 23 likes · 2 comments · Doug Lewin

Lewin is referring primarily to SB 388, “Relating to the legislature's goals for electric generation capacity in this state,” recently passed in the Texas Senate, and now pending in the House. Brownwood/Brown County’s own District 10 State Senator Phil King was one of the bill’s 3 sponsors.

https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB388/2025

https://senate.texas.gov/member.php?d=10

According to the Utility Dive newsletter, SB 388 “would incentivize new gas and other ‘dispatchable’ generation at the expense of renewables and batteries, which constitute the vast majority of recent capacity additions in ERCOT” (Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operator of the Texas electrical grid)

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/texas-senate-bill-dispatchable-power-credits-trading/743185/

Another bill, also co-sponsored by Brownwood’s State Senator Phil King, SB 819, “Relating to renewable energy generation facilities; authorizing fees,” will add permitting, siting, and cleanup regulations targeting only wind and solar projects, while leaving the oil and gas industries largely exempt from the same types of regulation.

https://legiscan.com/TX/sponsors/SB819/2025

Learn more about SB 819:

https://environmentamerica.org/texas/articles/bill-in-legislature-would-curtail-wind-and-solar-energy-development-in-texas/

Federal Energy Regulator Dismisses Climate Concerns

The widely-reported “What did you do last week?” emails to federal employees, from the Office of Personnel Management, are apparently being answered by even senior officials, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Mark Christie.

Christie included his answers to two such letters in the March edition of FERC Insight, the agency newsletter. His response letter on March 11 included the following item:

“Dismissed Request for Rehearing of Order Terminating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Policy Statement Proceeding

Dismissed a request for rehearing of the Commission’s January 24, 2025 Order terminating the draft policy statement proceeding entitled, “Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Natural Gas Infrastructure Project Reviews.”

This denial removes any specter of application of the Policy Statement, thereby providing more certainty and consistency to FERC’s environmental review of proposed natural gas and LNG infrastructure facilities.”

This last sentence in particular strikes me as blatantly contradictory, given the known and increasing risks to the extensive natural gas and LNG processing and export infrastructure on the Gulf Coast, from climate-driven storms and hurricanes.

Pretending those risks don’t exist would seem to me to guarantee MORE uncertainty about the future of the industry, than if environmental review took the known risks into account.

Join the “Hands Off!” Protests Next Sat. April 5

Do you want DOGE to just leave the federal government alone? Do you support federal workers, and agencies like Social Security, EPA, NOAA, and USDA, or do you enjoy watching PBS or listening to NPR?

“Hands Off!” protest rallies are scheduled nationwide next Sat. April 5. The nearest one to Brownwood will be in Abilene, with others statewide.

https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/769363/

DeLa Express Coalition Invites You to Advocacy Day in Austin April 10

The Coalition will be visiting the State Capitol to meet with lawmakers, and affected landowners and concerned community members will be meeting each other to network and build strategy.

If you would like to join the Coalition in Austin, or if you can’t make the trip and would like to submit your comments, please complete this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNiyrygiNVuzldiiIngpJ6Gu9hb758Gpzgkly4Hz7l_emShQ/viewform

Support Your Green News

Your feedback is always welcomed, especially updates and corrections to keep the Civic Calendar current.

If you like this newsletter, forward it on to someone else, and ask them to subscribe. Send correspondence to beemonster@verizon.net.

Send story leads anytime, or drop by to see me at the Brownwood Art Center, 215 Fisk, weekdays, 2-6 pm. I’ll be the Gallery Guy greeting you at the front desk.

Civic Calendar: Your shortcut to citizenship and political participation

Brownwood City Council 501 Center Ave City Hall

9 am every 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday

https://brownwoodtexas.gov/150/City-Council

City of Brownwood Agenda Center posts agendas for Boards and Commissions including:

City Council, Airport Board, B’wd Municipal Development District Board, Building and Standards Commission, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Planning and Zoning Commission and more….

https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/AgendaCenter

Early City Council 960 Early Blvd. City Hall

6 pm every 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday

https://www.earlytx.net/96/City-Council

Blanket City council 718 Main St. Blanket Lions Club

5:30 pm Third Monday

https://www.facebook.com/cityofblanket/photos

Bangs City Council 109 S. First St. City Hall

6 pm 2^nd and 4^th Monday

https://www.cityofbangs.org/

Brown County Commissioners 200 S. Broadway County Courthouse

9 am First and Third Mondays confirm on county calendar