Control Number : 41606
Item Number: 1039
Addendum StartPage : 0
PUC DOCKET NO. 41606
SOAH DOCKET NO. 473-13-5207
2813OCT21 All 9:,26
DIRECT TESTIMONY
OF
JEFFREY GLASSBERG
ON BEHALF OF
NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION
OCT16,2013
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/03q
Q.
Please state your name and business address.
A.
My name is Jeffrey Glassberg. My business address is North American Butterfly Association, 4
Delaware Road, Morristown, New Jersey, 07960.
Q.
By whom are you employed and in what capacity?
A.
I am employed by the North American Butterfly Association (NABA), a not-for-profit, New York
State corporation as president. NABA is the largest group of people in North America who are
focused on the conservation of wild butterflies and their habitats.
Q.
Please describe your educational and professional qualifications, and business experience.
A.
I acquired a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tufts University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in
Biology from Rice University in 1976. I then was a post-doctoral fellow of the American Cancer
Society, working in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Arthur Kornberg at the Stanford University
School of Medicine from 1976-1979 and then a post-doctoral fellow of the National Institutes of
Health at Rockefeller University from 1979-1982. I then co-founded Lifecodes Corporation to
develop DNA fingerprinting, which I had invented in 1981. In 1986, my partners and I sold.
Lifecodes to the Quantum Corporation. After leaving Lifecodes Corporation in 1988, I acquired a
J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law in 1993. From 2010 through the present, I am an
Adjunct Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University, in Houston, Texas.
I wrote the first real field guide to butterflies, Butterflies through Binoculars: A field guide to the
butterflies in the Boston-New York-Washington Region, published in 1993 by Oxford University
Press. Subsequent guides that I have authored include Butterflies through Binoculars: The East,
published in 1999 by Oxford University Press; Butterflies through Binoculars: The West published
in 2001 by Oxford University Press; Butterflies of North America, published in 2002 by Barnes and
Noble Publishing; A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, published in
2007 by Sunstreak Books and A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America, published in 2012 by
Sunstreak Books. I am also the editor of the Glassberg Field Guide series for Oxford University
Press, including Dragonflies through Binoculars and Wildflowers in the Field and Forest.
I founded NABA, a 501(C)(3) organization, in November, 1992 and have been president and
Chairman of the Board since that time.
I have been the editor of American Butterfl ies magazine, a quarterly publication of NABA since its
first publication, in February 1993. As editor, I interact with very large number of authors who are
involved with butterflies, including scientists, amateur naturalists and butterfly enthusiasts. These
interactions give me au currant access to the views of all of these groups concerning a wide range of
issues related to butterflies, including, but not limited to, conservation and ecotourism.
I am the author of numerous scientific articles, the most recent being: Robbins, R.K. and Glassberg,
J. 2013. A butterfly with olive-green eyes discovered in the United States and the Neotropics
(Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeni). ZooKeys 305: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.305.5081
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As president of NABA, I have constant interactions with the approximately 30 chapters throughout
the United States and their members. These interactions keep me informed of the views of butterfly
enthusiasts throughout the country.
As part of my responsibilities as president of NABA, I select the venue for each Biennial Members
Meeting. These meeting have been held every two years beginning in 1994. I am involved in all
stages of planning, organizing and actually running the meeting. Meeting venues and details about
field trip locations need to be carefully selected to appeal to a large percentage of members. These
responsibilities have led to me becoming an expert in regards to butterfly ecotourism.
I am the founder and president of Sunstreak Tours, Inc. Since 1993 I have been leading ecotourists
on butterflying tours to locations throughout the United States, including the Lower Rio Grande
Valley of Texas, throughout Mexico, and to Ecuador. These tours have given me a unique
perspective on butterfly ecotourism.
Q.
Please describe the National Butterfly Center, including information about its history and projected
future.
A.
NABA, a not-for-profit membership association, owns the National Butterfly Center (NBC), a 100
acre conservation/education/ecotourist facility located at 3333 Butterfly Park, Mission, Texas, just
south of Old Military Highway.
The NBC, originally named NABA Butterfly Park and then NABA International Butterfly Park, was
created in 2002. Beginning as an empty agricultural field bordering the Rio Grande River, the NBC
is now the premier location in the United States to see and learn about wild butterflies. 218 species
of butterflies have been seen at the NBC, including many species never before seen in the United
States. Maintaining and expanding the NBC is of critical importance for both the economy of the
Rio Grande Valley and for the conservation of many of the most endangered ecosystems in the
United States.
Approximately 6 million dollars have been invested in this educational and conservation facility.
One of the first galas in support of the National Butterfly Center was co-chaired by First Lady Anita
Perry.
Funding has come from major Texas foundations, including the Brown Foundation ($605,000), the
Meadows Foundation ($447,000), the Robert J. Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation ($175,000); the
Houston Endowment ($150,000); the AEP Foundation ($100,000); National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation ($100,000); the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust ($49,000); the Earl C. Sams
Foundation ($20,000); Magnolia Trust ($3,000); and the Amy Shelton McNutt Charitable Trust
($2,000);
from governmental entities, including the City of Mission ($650,000), the City of McAllen
($75,000), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department ($75,000); National Park Service ($50,000); United
States Fish and Wildlife Service ($48,000);
from corporations, including Bentsen-Palm LLP ($1,470,000 - value of donated land); and Rhodes
Realty ($170,000 - value of donated land);
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and from individuals an aggregate of approximately $2,100,000, including significant donations
from Mrs. Frank (Mary) Yturria of Brownsville, Texas, Mr. Larry Sheerin of San Antonio, Texas,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert McAllen of Weslaco, Texas, Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg and Dr. Jane V. Scott of
Morristown, New Jersey, Ms Judith Wible of Portland, Oregon, Mr. John Todd of Palm Springs,
California, and Mr. Anthony Hoare of Leatherhead, England.
The NBC is a key element in the U.S.F.W.S. Rio Grande Wildlife Corridor and serves as a major
conservation center. The NBC is a major education center for the Lower Grande Valley and many
thousands of schoolchildren visit the NBC each year. The facility is the centerpiece of efforts to
make the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas a legitimate ecotourist attraction. In existence for 11
years, the NBC opened its Visitors Pavilion, designed by Wendy Evans Joseph, who was the
principal architect of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and of the Womens Museum in
Dallas, Texas, in 2011. The NBC is now moving forward with plans to create the Texas Butterfly
Garden, the largest garden in the world using native plants in formal beds. The plans were created
by the landscape architect firm of Studio Outside, of Dallas, Texas, selected after a search of
nationally recognized landscape architecture firms by our Search Committee, headed by Dr. Fritz
Steiner, dean of the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin. Currently, the NBC
attracts approximately 10,000 visitors per year. We project that once fully operational, by 2020, the
NBC will attract 100,000 visitors each year, resulting in a$150,000,000/year economic impact upon
the Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the most economically disadvantaged regions of the United
States.
The NBC has been the subject of numerous media articles, including a recent full-page article in the
New York Times along with articles in Southern Living, the National Geographic Traveler, the
Chicago Sun-Times, the Del Rio News-Herald, the Monitor, the Progress Times, Reuters, and Texas
Highways Magazine and many others. These very positive articles in national media are some of the
very few that counter the steady stream of negative national press that the Lower Rio Grande Valley
receives.
Q.
Please explain how the proposed electric transmission line will impact the NBC.
A.
Unfortunately, the construction of the proposed electric transmission lines right across the front
entrance to the National Butterfly Center - proposed link 84b - will doom the NBC (it is not
possible to have successful major tourist attractions where the entrance is spanned by giant
transmission lines that are perceived by the general public to be dangerous - see attached letter from
tourism expert Larry Ditto) and cost the Lower Rio Grande Valley not only the $6,000,000 currently
invested in the project, but also the opportunity of creating a vibrant ecotourist economy that would
significantly impact the quality of life in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I believe that constructing
the proposed electric transmission lines in front of the NBC will ultimately cost the Lower Rio
Grande Valley more than $150,000,000 per year, due to lost revenue from ecotourism.
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Larry Ditto Nature Photography
Larry Ditto - 2809 Hawk Court - McAllen - Texas 78504 - 956-682-3251
October 3, 2013
Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, Ph.D.
President, North American Butterfly Association
4 Delaware Road
Morrison, New Jersey 07960
Dear Dr. Glassberg:
I am writing to voice my opposition to the proposed 345 kV transmission line (link 84b)
that would run near the National Butterfly Center. Since the "center° is one of many
ecotourism attractions in this area, it makes a significant contribution to the economy.
Research done in the mid to late 1990s by Kerlinger, Kerlinger and Payne, Eubanks, and
Eubanks and Stoll estimated annual ecotourism income to the Lower Rio Grande River
region at $50 to 100 million.
The transmission line will negatively impact tourism associated with the Butterfly Center
for the following reasons:
1. Eco-tourists would have to cross under the line to access the Butterfly Center.
2. Eco-tourists (birders and butterfly watchers) look for lands with habitats that have a
natural, aesthetic appeal. Link 84b would significantly reduce that appeal.
3. Many eco-tourists have a negative view of environmental factors (such as powerful
electric fields associated with a 345 kV transmission line) they believe create harmful
effects on human and wildlife health.