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INTERVIEWEE: Carlos Truan (CT)
INTERVIEWERS: David Todd (DT) and David Weisman (DW)
DATE: February 21, 2000
LOCATION: Corpus Christi, Texas
TRANSCRIBERS: <small>Lacy Goldsmith </small>and Robin Johnson<small</small>
<small>REEL: 72 and 73</small>
<small>Note: boldfaced numbers refer to time codes for the VHS tape copy of the interview</small>
(misc.)
DT: My name is David Todd. It’s February 21, the year 2000. We’re in Corpus Christi and I’m here representing the Conservation History Association of Texas. And I have the good fortune of representing C.H.A.T. in talking to Senator Carlos Truan. And I wanted to thank him for taking this time to talk to us about him many contributions to conservation legislation in this state.
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CT: Thank you very much. And thank you for in—inviting me to participate with you.
DT: It’s a pleasure for us. I wanted to start with your early days, your childhood, your days as a student and ask if there were any influences in your early days, your parents, your teachers, friends that might have influenced your interest in conservation and the outdoors and so-on?
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CT: I think my interest in protecting the environment, the air we breathe, the water we drink really comes from a desire on my part to try to do what I can. And I don’t know when it originated. It’s just a concern I’ve had practically all my life. And I can’t attribute that to my association with any organization or any individual. I think it’s just a personal desire. It’s a genuine, honest desire on my part to do what I can in my role now as a state Senator to protect the environment that we take for granted. I have—I have been astounded at how we have contributed, as a society, to the deterioration of our rivers, of the air, of—of the environment. I am concerned about people that could care less about what the end result will be to the environment as long as they make a profit financially. And I—I—I believe in economic development. I believe in bringing business. I’m a product of the private section. I’ve been in the private sector for forty years. But I—I just don’t buy the response that—the trades off that you sacrifice the environment because you want to create jobs, or you want to bring industry. I don’t buy that, because we only have one environment. We only have, you know, so much that we can do to protect what we have around us. And I just don’t think it’s—it’s good for us. It’s not good for our children and—and for generations to come. I—I mean it’s an honest—it might be a well worn out saying, but to me it’s a very simple thing. And I—I think I’ve always had a desire to enjoy the outdoors, to enjoy Mother Nature’s contribution to us. And, for us to protect. I like the coast. I—I love the Texas coast. I like to—to see people catch fish and—and—and people that—that hunt and I’m not a
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hunter and—and I’m not really a fisherman either. I try to just do what I can to promote people being concerned about protecting what we have here. That we can do something about it. I can’t, you know, solve the problems of the world. But as long as I’m able to do my own little thing in—in my own way, I feel that I—I don’t have to make excuses to anybody. And I’ve had a lot of people mad at me because I’ve participated in debates and filibusters and I had nothing to gain, not politically, obviously, because the people in favor of legislation that would pollute our atmosphere, our—our—our environment are people that have the financial wherewithal to—to support or oppose people running for office, like myself. I ju—I’ve just done it because I think it’s the right thing to do. As corny as it might sound. I just think that we need to do our share. And—and I think that the general public can’t be fooled. In every poll that I’ve seen about what people care about, they care about the environment. They care about educating our young people
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how to protect our natural environment. And I’d like to think that we—we all have a responsibility. And I realize, you know, not everybody thinks the same way. But I—I think the vast majority of people want to be sure we don’t pollute the water that we drink and the air that we breath.
DT: Could you talk about the environment that your district is well known for, the coast? I understand that you’ve been a big advocate for the Open Beaches Act, for instance. Maybe you could talk some about that.
(misc.)
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CT: I—I—I have the pleasure and honor of having the largest coastal senate district in the Texas Senate. And—and to me, that is a wonderful opportunity to do what I can to make sure that people have the right to enjoy our Texas coast. And we have a—a tremendous piece of legislation that was passed years before I went to the legislature to protect our coast and—and to protect people’s right to enjoy what nature gave us in Texas. And I—I like to think that—that we’re blessed in Texas. And if we don’t take care of what we have, we’re going to loose it. Some years back I—I was in—in—in the state of Florida and I wanted to visit the coast there. And I had to go through the lobby of a hotel in order for me to go see where the water was. And I couldn’t see the water. I couldn’t see the coast. Maybe further down, after traveling down, I might—I might have, but I literally had to go through a hotel lobby to see the—the natural beauty of that area. And I—I just think we ought not to allow anyone to prevent people from enjoying our natural beauty, our Texas coast. I have been working to try to make certain that people, in the rush to promote development, don’t through the baby out with the water, to use that expression. I think we’ve had some battles in the Texas legislature, that if it had not been for people rising to the occasion, beginning with people in the legislature, supported by people back home, that we would have lost the right to enjoy our—our Texas coast. We
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have a multi-billion dollar fishing and shrimping and tourist industry in Texas. And I think it’s in everybody’s interest to protect what we have and we don’t have to pollute our coastal area. We ha—we don’t have to prevent people from coming and enjoying, in order to promote a safe and clean industry. You know, there are those that could care less, that—that want to bring in their—their gigantic tankers regardless of what it does to the wetlands in order to—to bring oil all the way in to a port like what’s the case that was being proposed for Corpus Christi.
DT: Is that the super port that you’re talking about?
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CT: Yes. And I think that we—we were able to resolve a—a—a problem there by saying, "Well, why don’t you connect the pipes out in the middle of the—of the c—of the Gulf of Mexico instead of bringing those super tankers all the way in—in to a harbor that would further destroy what nature has provided for us." And that is the wetlands and the protection of—of—of our—of our waterways. I—I’d like to think that people, knowing the alternatives, they will understand those that could care less, and—and—and—and—and—and make certain that those people don’t have the upper hand in the decision-making.
DT: Going on about this coastal issue, I understand that you helped organize the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation and got critical listing for the estuary of the Coastal Bend Bay. Can you talk about that experience?
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CT: Sure. I was very pleased with what former Senator A. R. Babe Schwartz, from Galveston had done at Galveston Bay in help to create this—this bays foundation over there. And I wanted make certain that I—I would do the same thing for the coastal bay. And I—I had been having meetings every year to promote greater awareness of water issues. And concern about communication between the different parties from the private sector and the public section and—and making certain that we were sitting and—and talking between people that were aligned with say environmental organizations and those that were involved with the private section. And—and I think the very fact that we’re having these meetings and we’re well cover by the media encouraged people to help form the foundation. And we had to have a—a—a critical needs a—assessment here. And we were so designated by the federal government, which gave us the foundation to follow up and—and get it so designated for federal funding, and for support and assistance. And I like to think that there were those in the private sector that may not have been aware of what we could do. You know, sometimes people can’t see the forest through the trees. And sometimes there—there are people, like myself, that have to play the role of the devil’s advocate in promoting certain things. And I have always been very candid and honest on the issues of the day. I don’t like to play politics with people that just because I need their support. In fact, most of these people if—if they had had their way I wouldn’t
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be a Senator. And so, I would like to think that notwithstanding that, we can come together. We have realized and some of them have seen the error of their ways. That—that there is more to be done than just attracting petrochemical industries. That there is also another industry, another industry, a multi-billion dollar industry, like I said earlier, that would promote a fishing and shrimping and tourism and would allow us to have more people come to the state and more money being circulated. And—and so, I’d like to think that by working together, in a university setting also, that Texas A & M, University Corpus Christi is part of the A & M system, of course. Texas A & M University Kingsville is—is another component of A & M. A & M University has been designated as—as—as a university that has access to—to ocean studies and appropriations that—by the federal government. So oceanography and those kind of—of
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things are very important here on the coast. And so it was a marriage that brought us together. I merged the universities here with A & M and A & M already had access to these additional funds and—and studies. And I think the—the private sector is being a better neighbor by—by participating. There was a time when, perhaps, they would run over not only environmentalists, but run over legislators like myself. But, you know, it’s a new day. And I think we have come to understand that if we can’t help each other by throwing rocks at each other, we can come together and—and—and—and discuss issues and see how we can work for the betterment of the total community, the total region and—and, of course, the whole country, as far as that goes. But it has to start somewhere. And—and, I’ve been in the legislature long enough where I’ve found that the—that the permit that was given to dump hazardous waste in Texas was done in my own back yard and it was done by a—a—a person that was running his office, of being Executive Director of the old water—water commission. He did it out of his office without a public hearing. I was so upset and I still am upset that this—this particular site, call Tico(?) located in my district, outside of Corpus Christi, Robstown was able to get its initial permit really without a public hearing and really in the office of the Director at that time, a gentleman whose name was Hugh Yentez(?). And he had a reputation of just going along to get along with the industries that—that he and the commission he headed were supposed to regulate. Well that’s looking after the best interests of the state of Texas. And so, when I saw what had happened I appeared at the hearing that was called for an additional amendment of the first permit. And—and I raised questions. I said, "We did not have the involvement of people. And I don’t think that we aught to allow the—the state or the federal government to come into our backyard to dump hazardous
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waste unless taken the time to talk about the needs of—of the area and the dangers of doing so. I like to think that there are a lot of people that, once they know what is going on in their own backyard, that they will organize, that they will have legal council, that they will decide to put some moneys together so that they can decide what kind of industry is coming into their own backyard.
DT: Maybe you could tell us a little more about your efforts to improve regulation of some of the municipal and hazardous landfills in the state. I understand you’ve been pretty active with that.
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CT: Well, I’ve—I’ve been concerned about making certain than our rules are even stricter than the federal governments’, in—in the federal government in Texas. There was legislation that I had to oppose literally by filibustering at the end of—of—of the session. Because legislation was in—being introduced and pushed that our rules and regulations could not be stronger than the federal governments’. And I thought that was ridiculous. Because the federal government, the federal Congress has to think about 50 states and—and—and there—there are some states that are in—in greater danger than others with respect to certain permits. And in Texas, we aught to handle our own, if our rules are stricter, if we want them to be. We aught not to be prevented, have our hands tied, that we couldn’t have our—our regulations stricter. I think we—we aught to do, at
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the local level, what has to be done. We aught not to subscribe, or—or b—or be—be subservient to the federal government if it’s in the best interests of our own citizens. And so, I think our regulations have to be strong. I think we have to be careful that nobody comes in and overnight and gets a permit for a landfill that—that will result in the pollution of the environment. And our water sources, there was one particular instance where there was an effort to locate a low level radioactive waste facility close to the mouth of the—of the water basin for the entire coastal bend area, which is over—consists of over a million people. And I couldn’t understand how, in the first place, they would get a permit, or they would be asking for a permit that would put in danger the pollution of the drinking water for human beings. I can’t understand it sometimes, people, I don’t know whether it’s the almighty dollar or just—just having a site where—where they would be dumping waste, it doesn’t matter what the price would be. You know, we’ve had a lot of—lot of sad stories of trucks running up and down between Houston and—and—and South Texas, Corpus Christi, where I’m from. You know, carrying waste to be stored somewhere. And there’s always been stories about the dumping of—of barrels of—of—of waste. Now that’s against the law. But you’re—you’re never going to stop people, renegades that are wanting to make money at the public’s expense. We always have to be vigilant. You know, our—our—our freedom and—and—and—and—and our rights can be threatened 24 hours a day. We must be ever vigilant of making certain that we stop people who, for the sake of making a—a—a financial profit, they would—they—they will deteriorate what—what our environment is—is all about.