Endorsement: Jim Tolbert
(Update: Jim won!)

By Laurence Gibson,
El Paso Group chair

El Paso Group Sierra Club Vice Chair Jim Tolbert is running to fill the unexpired term of Larry Romero, who resigned earlier this year, in the city election on Saturday, May 7.

A longtime environmental activist, Tolbert is the author of the elpasonaturally.blogspot.com website. He began blogging during his tenure on the board of the Carnation Farmers Market, a local, organic market that he helped found in Washington state. Tolbert blogs about critical issues such as fracking on the Texas Diablo Plateau (Otero Mesa in New Mexico), water shortage, and the destruction of the Franklin Mountains by the CEMEX quarry. He takes to task local bureaucrats and powerful El Paso developers.

Tolbert is also leading the El Paso Group’s efforts to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags rather than plastic bags when they shop. The group is currently distributing 2,000 bags to El Paso shoppers.

The environmental community is excited at the prospect of restoring a bit of intelligence to a city council that currently seems to be hand-picked, elected, and controlled by El Paso’s rich and powerful development community.

Paid for by the the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club PAC.