Township board split on ‘sustainability’

THE WOODLANDS - The Woodlands Township Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Tough and Board Member Mike Bass stuck to their guns, and to what they believe George Mitchell would have wanted, in voting against removing the word sustainable from an Earth Day proclamation.

However, Tough and Bass were in the minority and the board approved replacing “sustainable” in the proclamation with “viable” in a 4-2-1 vote Thursday. Board members John McMullan, Peggy Hausman, Ed Robb and Gordy Bunch voted for the change. Board Member Jeff Long participated in the 20-minute discussion but had stepped away from the bench when the vote was taken, making him the one abstention.

“I’m not going to cave in to these ultraconservative groups …” Bass said. “I’ll stick with what George Mitchell originally felt was important to our community, and that was sustainable development.”

The discussion came after McMullan, the board’s newest member, presented a version of the Earth Day proclamation he edited to remove the two references to sustainability. The Earth Day proclamation is one the board has adopted each year that encourages residents, businesses and schools to participate in GreenUP.

“(Sustainable) is a very vague term that means different things to different folks,” said McMullan, adding that the proclamation needed to be “narrowed.”

McMullan, who works in the energy industry, said the word sustainable has taken on a more “hostile” meaning toward fossil fuels.

“I think we need to recognize these terms have changed over time,” he said. “It’s not a debate we need to get into and I think we can fully serve the purpose of this proclamation without treading into the sustainability debate.”

McMullan motioned to approve his edited proclamation, which was seconded by Hausman. That motion failed 3-2-2 with Robb, Bass and Tough voting no. Board members Bunch and Long abstained from the vote.

“I think it is a word that is being overly sensitized and I don’t have a strong opinion either way,” Bunch said.

Long agreed.

“I don’t have a strong opinion and I don’t plan to lose any sleep over it,” he said.

Hausman said she was concerned about making a proclamation on a “wonderful” event controversial.

“If one word is controversial between the directors, it should be deleted,” she said. “I would hate to see a proclamation come out of the board on a split vote.”

“Then we should have left it alone,” Bass said.

Bunch said that the board wasn’t tied to the word sustainable, ultimately motioning to replace sustainable with viable in the proclamation.

“I understand that politically the word sustainable has been hijacked … by the Tea Party, etc., but if you look beyond that, the concept of sustainability is still a valid concept,” Bass said. “I see no reason to change it.”