Alisa Simmons’ introduction to environmental issues arrived unexpectedly. As she lay in bed one night in 2017, she saw a television news report about mysterious illnesses affecting students and teachers at Arlington ISD’s Nichols Junior High School. Seventy-plus people reported dizziness, stomach pain and other symptoms during the 2016-2017 school year.
As president of Arlington’s NAACP chapter, Simmons sprang into action. She organized protests calling for the campus to be evacuated and eventually filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen people who cited air quality issues as the cause of their illnesses. No credible evidence existed to back the allegations, district officials said.
“That was my first big case,” Simmons recalled during a recent interview. “I went to court with them, did all the interviews, and I further became interested in environmental justice. I stood up an environmental justice committee here in my NAACP branch.”
Students returned to campus in the fall of 2017, following renovations, and a district court dismissed the NAACP’s lawsuit two years later. But Simmons’ interest in environmental issues has persisted into her tenure as a Tarrant County commissioner representing Arlington, Mansfield and other southeastern cities.
Last summer, Simmons created an environmental advisory committee of community members with expertise in areas such as solar power, electric vehicles and air quality issues.
“Having run for office before, you get the questionnaires from the different groups, and I got them from Sierra Club and Sunrise and all of those. I became interested in their issues, which became my issues,” Simmons said. “I said, ‘I’m going to figure out what counties do on the environment and see how I can affect that.’”
Commissioners are responsible for appointing members to boards overseeing elections, civil services, child protective services and emergency services, among other issues. However, it’s not unusual for commissioners to host events or form their own committees to tackle specific topics.
Gary Fickes convened annual transportation summits focused on mobility in Tarrant County, while Roy Brooks has held numerous events focused on health disparities. Manny Ramirez held an event recognizing veterans in January, and County Judge Tim O’Hare will lead an annual expo for senior citizens and their caregivers in August.
Simmons formed her first advisory committee after hearing about the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program early last year. Established by the Inflation Reduction Act, the competitive grant program will give $7 billion to states and counties across the U.S. looking to provide solar energy to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Simmons wanted more viewpoints and expertise on solar energy as she considered how Tarrant County could get involved. Eric Pratt, a retired Fort Worth-based mechanical engineer and North Texas Renewable Energy Group board member, attended the first meeting last July and continues to participate in each quarterly gathering.
“It’s wonderful that she’s trying to get our voice in there, and get not just a sound bite, but the voice of folks who have studied it and can give her more than headline information,” Pratt said. “It’s been really enlightening from the standpoint of seeing how government works.”
The committee proved pivotal to Simmons’ push for Tarrant County to join a coalition of urban Texas counties applying for Solar for All funding. Her motion failed in July amid opposition from Republican members of the court. O’Hare raised concerns about the impact of solar panels on home sales and the potential influence on Tarrant County’s decisions from other large counties.
“Every experience that I have had with anyone in real estate on an individual home that has it, it’s been a nightmare for them in a multitude of ways when it comes to selling,” O’Hare said.
In the weeks that followed, a dozen residents — many of them involved with the advisory committee — turned out at Commissioners Court meetings to discuss how solar would benefit the county’s bottom line by reducing energy bills.
After initially opposing the idea, Fickes joined Brooks and Simmons to allow the county to move forward with the solar application. Tarrant, Dallas and Harris counties, among others involved with the application, are expected to learn of the EPA’s decision this month.
“A lot of it is education,” Pratt said. “If you can get people to put their biases away, their political positions away for a while and listen, a lot of the problems go away.”
Simmons has now turned her attention to how the county can transition its vehicle fleet to electric and establish its first sustainability plan. While attending national conferences of county officials, Simmons saw how other local governments are embracing electric buses, lawn mowers and construction equipment. Tarrant County owns five electric vehicles purchased through a pilot program in 2022.
“When you look at other counties, you can just type in ‘sustainability’ on their websites and see, these people are really making efforts to affect the environment,” Simmons said. “And it’s like, ‘Why can’t we do that?’ I don’t think (staff) is trying to not do it. They haven’t gotten around to it.”
With the environmental committee up and running, Simmons has also formed a criminal justice advisory board and plans to add two more for young people and mental health professionals.
She sees the influx of new voices on the court, including herself, O’Hare and Ramirez, as an opportunity to rethink the county’s approach to key issues. The court will include two fresh faces next year, as both Brooks and Fickes will retire this fall.
“Soon, you won’t have Commissioner Brooks to say, ‘This happened 20 years ago. Let me tell you how this works.’ He’s always right, and he gives that historical perspective, even when they don’t want to hear it,” Simmons said. “When he does, it makes me think: ‘There’s nothing new under the sun. They tried this, or they do this for a reason, but that reason is old.’ They need to do it now for these reasons.”
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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