A Council in Harmony

If there were ever any doubt about the power of the Green vote in Austin, it was answered on May 3. Regardless of the outcome in the runoffs for places 5 and 6, the city's environmentalists will have a supermajority on the city council.

And while there are continuing complaints about the low turnout of city voters (only 17% of registered voters went to the polls for the May 3 election), it is clear that environmentally concerned voters are consistently expressing their preferences when they visit the ballot box. Councilmember Gus Garcia says of the result, "The green machine is alive and well in Austin, Texas. And it's a strong one."

With the replacement of Councilmember Ronney Reynolds by Councilmember Gus Garcia in Place 2, and the replacement of Mayor Bruce Todd with mayor-elect Kirk Watson, the Greens will have at least a 5-2 majority on the council. If either Bill Spelman or Willie Lewis win their respective runoffs on the May 31, that majority could be 6-1 or even 7-0.

Don Martin, who owns a political consulting and public relations firm, and is currently an unpaid advisor to Councilmember Eric Mitchell in his re-election effort, says, "Everybody's watching these last two elections, but I don't think that makes any difference at this point."

Martin, along with every other political soothsayer in town, is predicting a more environmental slant on the new council. But given that environmentalists will have firm control of the council, will it mean a change in the council's direction? And who will be the leaders of the new council and who will be on the hot seat?

Perhaps the biggest issue facing the council, one that fuses both air quality and growth issues, is transportation. Solutions for that long-festering issue are extraordinarily expensive and could mean light rail for Austin as well as an interurban heavy rail line between Georgetown and San Antonio. Outgoing councilmember Ronney Reynolds predicts that the new council will have to do two things, both of which are related to regional transportation. "First," Reynolds says, the council will have to "get control of Capital Metro." Second, he says, is to "look at a regional approach as opposed to an isolationist approach."

Reynolds says some members of the current and previous councils have been too eager to restrict city services to outlying areas. The result, he says, is that much of the new growth is now occurring outside of Austin. That has meant, according to Reynolds, a decline in the city's sales tax revenue -- the biggest source of money for the general fund. "It's going to be interesting to see who breaks away and who tries to provide the balance on the council. Who will be considered the watchdog? Who is going to catch the blame for the problems?"

Reynolds predicts that with so many Greens on the council, "It will be very difficult to get to the left of any councilmember." And he adds that if a councilmember doesn't get to the far left, "then you don't stand out and you don't get identified. It will be interesting to see how far individuals will go to be identified."

Reynolds said the councilmember most likely to be on the hot seat is Jackie Goodman, who has often been viewed as a turncoat by the city's environmental groups. Goodman has promoted some controversial projects in recent months -- such as the deal to extend sewer service to the Davenport Ranch MUD, which lies outside the city -- and she was the swing vote on a controversial vote to cut electric rates for the city's big industrial users.

While Goodman will be under scrutiny from the left and the right, she clearly won't be one of the new council's leaders. Those leadership positions will likely be filled by Garcia and Daryl Slusher, both of whom have been guiding much of the current council's agenda. Watson is respected for his leadership abilities, but at present, his potential is mostly just that -- potential -- and it will take months before Watson, who has never worked in city government, begins to take on a leadership role in the council.

Regardless of which of the five Green councilmembers is leading, the key word seems to be unity. Says Beverly Griffith: "I think we will see more inclusiveness and more openness in the way things are run." Another council insider, who asked not to be named, said the Green majority should allow more issues to be debated on their merits rather than on their political value. "You won't have a situation where one half of the council is always trying to kill the other half," said the insider.

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Environmental Justice?

Louisiana has become a test ground for environmental justice issues. On May 2, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a permit for a uranium enrichment plant that was to be built near the town of Homer, due to issues about environmental racism that were brought up by a local citizens group. It was the first time a federal permit has ever been denied due to environmental justice issues.

In a similar case, residents of St. James Parish, one of the most heavily industrialized parishes in Louisiana, have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use environmental justice criteria to deny a permit for a proposed chemical plant in their area. Plans for a polyvinyl chloride resin plant led local citizens and the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic to ask the EPA to deny a permit to the company planning the facility. Just as with the NRC case, the request marks the first time that the EPA has been asked to deny a permit based on an executive order signed by President Clinton, requiring federal agencies to consider the race and social class of nearby citizens when granting permits and licenses.

The license denial is "precedent setting," says Robert D. Bullard, the author of Dumping in Dixie and the director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. "The NRC has said that the environmental justice argument has to be taken into account."

The EPA's decision on the St. James plant is due by June 2.

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PEER Review

The wildlife refuges in the Southwest which are being overseen by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have big problems, according to a recent study by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER is a Washington, D.C.-based group that protects employees of environmental agencies at the local, state and federal levels, who criticize the agencies where they work.

Last week, PEER released the results of a survey of UFSWS refuge managers. Based on information provided by the managers, the survey found that refuges in the Southwest region ranked last in the quality of leadership provided and in their ability to deal with incompatible uses. "The refuges are not getting the political, financial, administrative, or even the emotional support they need to defend the fragile environmental assets" in their charge, says the report.

In March, PEER employees Robert Perks and Jeff Rook visited Austin to talk with employees of several state agencies. They met with several employees of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, but were not allowed to meet with anyone from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. "They said, `We are not an environmental agency so we don't understand why you would want to talk to us,'" recalled Perks. "We were surprised by the level of insecurity of the employees. Texas seems more repressive than any other state we've been in."

For more information about PEER or their survey of the environment, e-mail them at [email protected], or call 202/265-7337.

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World Capital Fact

According to the World Watch Institute, of the 100 largest economic entities in the world, 51 of them are corporations.