April 2021 Meeting Minutes

The Sierra Club - Lehigh Valley Group Executive Committee
Monday April 12, 2021 7:00 PM
Virtual meeting using Zoom

MINUTES

Executive Committee Members: Matthew MacConnell, Brian Hillard, Doug Roysdon, Don Milles, Nanci McGonigal, Al Wurth, David Reber, Marilyn Jordan, Andrew Unger.

Guests:  Robyn Shumbris, Rebekah Messinger,  Lee___ “Upstairs Dave”

Welcome visitors and introductions:  Guests introduced themselves. The Executive committee introduced themselves and their positions on the ExCom.

Approval of Minutes: Minutes for our March 8 meeting were approved.

Conservation Report (Matt MacConnell)

  • Buck Mountain2 Acid Mine Drainage Remediation – Matt explained the continuing problem with access issues which is holding up installing new filters and checking if the leak repair is working.
  • Air Quality mapping is working! – Go to https://www.purpleair.com/
  • Tree planting at Jordan Creek in Trexler Preserve – This will not be a Sierra Club event. Matt posted a You Tube Video for volunteers that explained the location, where to park cars, how to find the trees, how to prepare.

Treasurer’s report (David Reber) - Dave paid the $240 bill for repair of the modem and Probe 2. LV Stocking Assoc. will pay for repair of Probe 1. We have $1400 in our account.

Political Report (Al Wurth)  - Al talked about local candidates for Bethlehem Mayor, and for Northampton County Council. Sierra Club is not involved with primary elections.

Pedestrian Bridge Project (Dug Roysdon) - The project is being investigated by CRT company and will be seeking public input. An economic expert will also investigate the project. The Bethlehem Mayor supports the Bridge; the Bethlehem Climate Action Plan includes the Bridge project. Economic benefits are Paramount for Bethlehem.

Sierra Club quarterly Executive Committee meeting (Don Miles)

  • National: The ExCom meeting is this Saturday. Don and Matt will attend. Sierra Club has a 50 person Board and is the largest volunteer organization in the USA. Teams will be established to link people doing the same kind of work across the country.     
  • Pennsylvania: Don was appointed V.P. for the PA Sierra Club. We have a good new treasurer. It is unclear how much funding will be available for conservation requests. The Northeastern Group had disbanded, but is being re-established just north of us.

Website report (Nanci McGonigal) - Nanci shared her screen and showed us how the website was organized. There is now no way for people to contact us. She shared the purple air website which shows that PN2.5 particulate air pollution is not evenly distributed. Sources include diesel exhaust from vehicle traffic, especially trucks, and wood-burning stoves/furnaces.

Comments from guest Robyn Shumbris - Robyn said the Sierra Club has so many affiliated groups, like the Water Defenders, but to keep her sanity she can only focus on one. She was very complimentary about our LV Group.

Doug again – we should set up an Archive - It would be good to have an archive at Lehigh University. What documents do we have?  Don thinks an oral history would be good. Include people who started the LV Group: Jeff Schmidt, Andy Petrolac, Paul McHale.

Action Item: We should have a meeting soon.