Are you someone who loves the beach and is looking for a local organization to get involved with this year? In 2023, our chapter:
- Worked with the other Texas chapters to successfully stop 8 bills introduced in the Legislature that sought to undermine the Texas Open Beaches Act’s guarantee of public beach access.
- Continued our Blue Water Task Force water quality testing program at 3 locations on the Gulf Beaches: bwtf.surfrider.org/explore/74
- Held the 24th Make Promises Happen Surf Camp for our Disabled Friends.
- Submitted thousands of petition signatures and met with Nueces County Commissioners to achieve a unanimous vote supporting a twin-piling design for the next Bob Hall Pier instead of an unproven single-piling design.
- Continued our Skip The Plastic program to raise public awareness of the plastic pollution problem and support solutions in the Coastal Bend.
- Participated on the City of Corpus Christi’s Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee and the Nueces County Beach Management Advisory Committee.
- Tabled at Earth Day Bay Day in Heritage Park, the Sea Turtle Festival and the Padre Island Poker Run on North Padre Island.
- Took part in the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup and Adopt-a-Beach Cleanups on the Gulf beaches, and on the Corpus Christi Bay shoreline with students with the Bahr Marine Ecology Lab at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
- Was awarded the Scripps Howard Community Service Award by KRIS TV.
- Gave presentations on water quality and plastic pollution to kids attending the Texas Surf Camps in Port Aransas and on North Padre Island.
- Participated on the Matagorda Bay Mitigation Trust Awards Committee that provided $11 million in funding from the Formosa Plastic settlement to projects for public access, habitat restoration, public education and environmental research in the Matagorda and San Antonio Bay systems.
- Provided public comment at the Coast Guard and GLO’s Hot Wash meeting after the December 2022 Flint Hills Oil Spill into Corpus Christi Bay.
- Gave a presentation at the 5th Annual TX Plastic Pollution Symposium held at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.
- Testified at a hearing in the Texas House of Representatives for House Bill 4144 that, if passed, would have clarified TCEQ’s authority to regulate discharges of plastic nurdles, flakes and powders from manufacturing plants into state waters.
- Supported the City of Corpus Christi’s Bay Water Quality Improvement pilot project for trash capture devices at 8 stormwater outfalls.
- Represented the chapter as a member of the Coastal Alliance to Protect our Environment (CAPE): capetx.com
- Provided written comments on the Padre Island National Seashore’s proposed Beach Management Plan.
- Helped to provide standing for a lawsuit by Surfrider and other national environmental groups pushing EPA to update the wastewater quality standards (ELGs) for discharges from industrial factories.
- Held a storm drain inlet marking event on North Padre Island.
- Hosted the Surfrider Texas Chapters Conference in Port Aransas and a successful fundraising event!
Our first meeting in 2024 will be at 6 pm on Monday, January 29th in Room 1003 of the Natural Resources Center building on the TAMUCC campus. Join us!