GBCPA Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2005
CONTACT: Katie Chimenti, 281-286-9750
Nancy Edmonson, 281-471-4567
 

How Is Galveston Bay REALLY Doing?
 

 Concerned that threats to the future of the bay are not being addressed, the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association (GBCPA) is organizing a day-long Citizens' State of the Bay Conference at the University of Houston-Clear Lake on September 10.
Presentations will emphasize the big picture--a picture filled with ironies. The burgeoning success of ecotourism stands in counterpoint to damage pending from regional development plans. That we have neighborhoods flooding but also continue to lose wetlands is no accident--the two are connected.
 

 Partnering with GBCPA on the Citizens' State of the Bay Conference are the Houston Audubon Society and the Sierra Club's Houston Regional Group. Bay-related nonprofit organizations, nature tourism operators, authors, and other interested parties are invited to exhibit at the conference at no charge.
 

 Abuse of citizens by industry, how air pollution afflicts the bay, the fight for freshwater inflows, and the rising tide of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will also be on the agenda. Speakers include national toxics expert Dr. Jerry Poje of Washington, D.C., formerly of the National Industrial Safety Board and author of the first Toxic Release Inventory study by the National Wildlife Federation. Also among the speakers are renowned local figures such as ecotourism advocate Ted Eubanks, oyster specialist Dr. Sammy Ray, and environmental lawyer Jim Blackburn as well as experts on wetlands law and air pollution.
 

 The conference is intended for everyone : residents, resource agency and local government officials, birders, fishermen, tourism operators, Master Naturalists, marsh-grass-planting volunteers--everyone. Registration costs $20, which includes a sack lunch. Advance registrants will also receive a detailed profile of Galveston Bay on CD, including current water quality and seafood advisory maps and much other information.
 

 Save the Date: September 10
 

 "Nowhere else can you learn so much about the bay at such modest expense," says GBCPA Vice Chair Katie Chimenti. "And the more you learn, the more overpowering the ironies are. Development and industry threaten to destroy Galveston Bay, yet subsidy investments by the public mean we are ourselves paying for the destruction! There has to be a better way."
 

 For more information or to register for the Citizens' State of the Bay Conference, contact GBCPA at 281-326-3343 or visit its website at www.gbcpa.net. 

 
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Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association
P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586
Phone: 281-326-3343
Website: http://www.gbcpa.net
E-mail: gbcpa@ev1.net