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Clean Energy Bill

Congress is now finalizing an important Energy Bill. the Union of Concerned Scientists calculate that if utilities are required to produce 15% of their energy from renewable resources – like the wind and sun – U.S. consumers would save between $13 billion and $18 billion a year in energy costs. Combined with the $24 billion consumers would save nationally if fuel economy standards were increased to 35 miles per gallon, this bill could significantly affect your pocketbook.

Yet auto makers, coal companies and utilities are lobbying hard to keep these provisions out of the Energy Bill. The Blue-Green Alliance, led by the United Steelworkers of America and the Sierra Club, is solidly behind the Renewable Electricity Standard in the Energy Bill. It recently held a press conference in Buffalo. Germany already produces one-third of its energy from renewables. New York currently has a quote of 25% of electricity from renewables by 2013.

Please call or write your Senators and Representatives to request they support the 15% Renewables Standards in the Energy Bill:

Sen. Hillary Clinton

(202) 224-4451

Sen. Charles Schumer

(202) 224-6542

Virginia Ursitti & Patrick Logan Wed

Virginia Ursitti, a member of our ExCom, and Patrick Logan were married in a beautiful outdoor setting over the lake at the Historical Society. The service took place on September 2, the day before Labor Day. Charles Lamb, also an ExCom amember, officiated.

Lois Shriver Reports on Fight to Save Wetlands on Grand Island

The very issue we have been presenting to the Grand Island Board against the proposed Country Club Cottages Development - that of poor soil conditions and potential sinking homes - happened to Jerry Wochaldo the beginning of October. He discovered that the right front portion of his house had let go - due to the dried out clay soils. He had an inch wide crack right up the middle front of his house from the basement to the roof. It goes through to the inside, although the inside cracks are only open about 1/8 inch, going from basement to second floor ceiling. 

Upsetting is not an appropriate word. As with most insurance policies, his contained a “subsidence” clause, so the insurance claim has been denied. 

The site proposed for development is directly behind and adjacent to Jerry/Wochaldo’s property, and numerous residents on the surrounding streets have also had problems from sinking, shifting clay soils. The proposed development will contain 67 patio homes and three detention ponds. The parcel was never developed because it contained hydric clay soils, numerous wetlands and a water table just below the surface. Richard Lippes is representing our group - Fareway, Fix, Baseline Neighborhood Association (FFBNA). We have been involved in this effort for almost three years now. 

Requests for “Saving Greenspace” orders can be made to: 

Jerry Wochadlo Lois Shriver

305 Fareway Lane 48 Lincoln Road

Grand Island, New York 14072 Snyder, New York 14226

716-773-2822 716-839-0423

gwochadlo@verizon.net l.shriver@adelphia.net

Please send only checks or money orders payable to:

Fareway, Fix, Baseline Neighborhood Association (FFBNA). (A not-for-profit organization.)

The cost is $10.00, and $5.00 of this amount goes to legal costs incurred in attempts to stop development in the 28 acre site in Grand Island which should remain as wetlands. It also includes postage and handling.

Hazardous Waste Site Saga

The CWM waste site in the Town of Porter, Niagara County, is the only licensed hazardous waste site in the northeast United States. Two sessions of the New York State legislature passed the bill would have prohibited permits for toxic landfills with the potential to leak into the Great Lakes. Our last newsletter mentioned that the most recent bill was vetoed by Governor Spitzer upon the advice of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The DEC’s basic argument has been that to risk the closure of the hazardous waste site in Niagara County would hinder the cleanup of brown field sites throughout New York State. Their other major concern was that the bill would prevent any sighting of hazardous waste sites in the one-third of New York State located in the Great Lakes watershed.

The Niagara Group has contacted the National Sierra Club for their assistance with the hazardous waste site issue in Western New York. Our initial contact has been received favorably. Several avenues, we hope, will be pursued. One is the fact that the EPA itself has stated that there is no need for additional or expanded hazardous waste sites in the United States. More potentially hazardous material is being recycled. Existing landfills provide sufficient capacity for the reduced hazardous materials which need to be processed. The problem particular to the CWM site is that it imports hazardous waste from thirty other states, not just the state of New York.

Technological advances are also making the possibility of rendering benign much of the liquid and solid hazardous waste, either at the cleanup site or at a waste site. This possibility is being examined as to its potential to eliminate all or most hazardous waste sites.

The continued use of hazardous waste sites as containment centers reveals the shortsighted view of our industrial and government leaders. The Great Lakes holds twenty percent of the world’s fresh water resources. Toxic materials have been shown to be leaching into the Great Lakes watershed from CMW property, even if not from it’s particular treatment facility. The CMW plant is built on an earthquake fault. Its treated liquid effluent continues to be released into the Niagara River. CWM’s current method of treatment aerates the toxic liquids which released the toxins into the atmosphere.

We hope to have good news concerning the National Sierra Club’s involvement with this major health issue shortly.

Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement Signed by Town of Amherst Board

With input from the Niagara Group and the League of Women Voters, the Amherst Town Council has signed the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. More than 300 cities and large towns in the United States, including the City of Buffalo, have signed this Agreement. The Agreement is to reduce global warming carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. The National Sierra Club is promoting the Agreement as a tool in the fight against global warming. National has labeled this their “Cool Cities” campaign. The great response of localities means that action is being taken on a number of fronts on the climate change issue.

The Amherst Energy Conservation Committee is currently reviewing the facets of the Agreement and will report to the Town Board in January of 2008 with recommendations for implementation. Town Council member Debbie Bucki is the Council liaison to the Committee.

Town Of Amherst Elections

The Sierra Club endorsed candidates William Kindle and Jerry Schad, both lost in their election bids in the Town of Amherst. Also defeated was the Open Space Bond Act, which would have set up a dedicated fund to purchase open space, parklands, and development rights. The successful adoption of a similar act in the Town of Clarence has resulted in the purchase of approximately 57 parcels, easements or development easements in critical areas at the cost of approximately $2 million to date. This was apparently too much of a challenge for the Board of Realtors. Local realtors contacted their State Board and received approximately $50,000 for an intensive lobbying campaign against the Open Space Bond Act. This involved three or four mailings of large glossy postcards to Amherst voters with numerous misstatements. A taped telephone campaign against the Bond Act was also used.

TOXIC WASTE BILL VETO THREATENS GREAT LAKES

The Post-Standard Sunday, September 9, 2007

EDITION: Final SECTION: Opinion

To the Editor:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer vetoed a bill that would have

prohibited new toxic waste landfills in New York

if they have potential to pollute the Great

Lakes system. The reason for his veto memo was

highly speculative or inaccurate, or a secret.

In mischaracterizing the bill as a

“prohibition,” Mr. Spitzer admits that his

administration is incapable of regulating a

safe, toxic landfill anywhere.

At last report, 73 percent of PCBs and toxic

waste buried in New York’s Great Lakes system

were imported from out-of-state. Spitzer’s veto

endorses a massive landfill import facility,

just 10 miles north of Love Canal, which has

already contaminated Lake Ontario.

Spitzer alleged New York brownfields restoration

would suffer, with higher costs to ship toxic

waste out-of-state, even though we already do.

The governor’s own environmental agency reported

that 96 percent of New York’s remedial and

industrial hazardous waste is not landfilled

in-state. Most toxic waste isn’t landfilled at

all - it’s recycled or eliminated from the

environment.

The governor also ignored the bill’s incentive

to further technology, reducing the need to bury

toxics anywhere. His veto was an environmental

step backward.

Many in Upstate thought we elected a protector

of the weak - rural communities typically

targeted by the toxic waste industry. We were

wrong. His excuses won’t change the fact that

his decision has left Upstate and our Great

Lakes exposed to more of the nation’s toxic

waste dumping, long after he’s gone.

Amy Witryol

Lewiston

Art Klein Speaks to Students at Niagara University

On September 12 Art Klein spoke to the class on Environmental Thought at Niagara University, and encouraged the

students to become concerned and involved. He spoke of his own involvement through the years continuing into the present, mentioning biking, hiking, working for the Army Corps of Engineers, going to gatherings to distribute literature, etc. He told the students ideas of what they could do! His message and enthusiasm was appreciated.

Step-It-Up Rally

The Niagara Group supported the Step-It-Up Rally which took place in Buffalo, New York on November 3, 2007. One hundred fifty activists marched from the Theodore Roosevelt building to McKinley Square in front of Buffalo City Hall to promote greater governmental action in the global climate change area. Event organizer David Kowalski introduced speakers. These included State Senator Antoine Thompson, actively involved with environmental issues, and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who announced that the City has budgeted for an employee who will deal solely with environmental issues in Buffalo. Bill Nowak of the Wind Action Group spoke about the importance of wind power and the economic benefits to having turbines and their mechanisms produced in the Buffalo, New York area. Step-It-Up Rallies, which were held at numerous venues throughout the United States, are supported by the Sierra Club.

Catholics And Global Climate Change

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo held a program on October 20, 2007 to encourage action on global climate change on a parish level. Dan Misleh of the Catholic Coalition for Climate Change’s national office in Maryland was the keynote speaker who referenced statements of the U.S. Catholic bishops and the Pope concerning the moral imperative to address climate change. Climate change will harm the poor to a greater extent than anyone else. It’s our responsibility to protect the world for future generations. Further information may be received through Sr. Sharon Goodremote, one of the organizers, who may be reached at s.goodremote@ccwny.org. More information on the national Coalition may be found at www.catholicsandclimatechange.org.