Sierra Atlantic - Winter 2009

S I E R R A A T L A N T I C 1w w w.newyork.s i e r r a c l u b . o r g • w w w. s i e r r a c l u b . o r g

SierraAtlanticThe Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club — Serving New York State Volume 36 Winter 2009

12-year-old boy peddles into action for climate change

Drilling skirmishes grow, gas firms forced to play defense

by Wyatt Warner

(At 12 years old, Wyatt Warnerwas the youngest participant in theBrita Climate Ride 2009. He rodewith his family, including mom,dad, 14-year-old brother and grand-mother, Pat Hatry, who has been aSierra Club member for decades.)

I t is six in the morning, and therain is pounding down on theroof of the tent. I know I have 66

miles between me and my next rest.I haul myself out of my warm sleep-ing bag and dash out through thedownpour to the breakfast tent.When my family and I finally stuffour soaking tent in its bag and are onthe bikes ready to go, the rain has letup a bit, but there are still puddleseverywhere.

My family and I biked 300 miles infive days from New York City to theCapitol in Washington, D.C., alongwith another 150 people to demanda stronger climate bill. I think theBrita Climate Ride sends a very im-portant message because it showsthat people really care about theEarth and want action now, and itshows that you can bike practicallyanywhere. If everybody biked asmuch as they could, we’d be in amuch better place than we are now.

My favorite part of the trip wasmeeting all of the inspiring peoplewho biked with me. The most inspir-ing part about them was they didn’ttell us to reduce our emissions; theyreduced theirs. They didn’t pointfingers; they just told their stories andled by example. Here are some oftheir stories.

Colin Beavan tried to have nocarbon footprint for one year by do-ing things like using only human-powered transportation, buying all ofhis food locally, and washing all of hisclothes by hand. He switched off hiscircuit breaker so he had no electric-ity coming in and had to live by

candlelight. He used a solar panel topower his laptop. Instead of a fridge,he used an evaporative cooler, whichwas wet cloth wrapped around abox. (As the water evaporates, itcools the cloth.) His wife stopped

having cappuccinos. They made alltheir cleaning solutions at home.They had a worm bin for composting.

Colin lives in New York City withhis wife and two-year-old daughter.

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In front of the Capitol, 12-year-old Wyatt Warner celebrates his ride from New York City toWashington, D.C., to demand a stronger climate bill .

by Hal Smith

The pace of skirmishes betweenthe natural gas industry andNew York environmentalists

appears to be quickening as the in-dustry prepares to subject much ofUpstate to the greatest change inland use since settlers cut down theforests to make way for farming.

At first glance, many develop-ments over the last three monthsappear to be defeats for the gas in-dustry. But on closer assessment, thepicture is unclear.

EPA to revisit frackingPresident Obama has signed legis-

lation introduced in Congress byupstate Rep. Maurice Hinchey thatcalls upon the EPA to study the im-pact of hydraulic fracturing on drink-ing water. A previous study, under-taken when the EPA was controlledby a White House headed by twoformer oilmen, is widely regarded asa whitewash of the industry. Thestudy gave cover for the exemptionof the industry from a wide numberof environmental regulations.

“The study results will put us in aposition to take any further stepsthat are necessary to protect ourdrinking water supplies from thechemical concoctions being pumpedinto the ground by energy compa-nies,” Hinchey said.

Apparently no money has beenearmarked for the EPA study, but

Hinchey says he is confident that theEPA will follow through and producefindings based on science and evidence.

Cuomo slaps down a ‘bully’Attorney General Andrew

Cuomo’s office has reached an agree-ment with Fortuna Energy that willallow customers who were misledand ended up extending their naturalgas leases with the company to rene-gotiate their terms.

The settlement also stops Fortunafrom employing “industry-prevalentmisleading and deceptive tactics” tosecure leases. The company alsoagreed to pay the state $192,500 aspart of the settlement.

“Drilling companies will not bepermitted to use misleading lettersand dubious legal claims to bullylandowners,” said Cuomo. “Many ofthese companies use their size andextensive resources to manipulate

individual property owners whooften cannot afford a private attorney.This land-grab practice must stop.

“My office will continue to inves-tigate the activities of other drillingcompanies to ensure that New York-ers who were wrongly pressuredinto lease extensions will have achance to renegotiate their leases.”

Fortuna is one of the largest natu-ral gas exploration companies inNew York. Beginning in April, 2009,Fortuna sent letters to hundreds oflandowners whose natural gas leaseswith the company were about toexpire. Fortuna claimed that theleases contained provisions that al-lowed Fortuna to put the lease onhold until the company could obtaindrilling permits. In fact, most land-owners’ leases contained no suchprovisions, Cuomo said.

Although Cuomo’s action is asolid gain for landowners in thiscase, hundreds of other landowners,also misled and bullied by “landmen,”have signed boilerplate leases thatsold their rights for a pittance. Un-less they have witnesses that cancorroborate verbal misrepresenta-tions, the AG’s office apparently will

Residents of Dimock, Pa., near the New York border, held a November press conference outsidethe home of one of 15 families who announced legal action against the natural gas driller theyblame for polluting their water and destroying their property values.

continued on page 10

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More on oil and gas:DEC plan fatally incomplete.....5

Oilman: spare Allegany.............6

DEC ignores petro loophole.....7

More on climate change:Copenhagen followup critical....5

Gifts for thinking people..........5

Measuring ‘350’ success............7

WINTER 20092 S I E R R A A T L A N T I C

Sierra Atlantic (ISSN 0164-825X) ispublished quarterly for $1 by theAtlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club, 353Hamilton St., Albany, NY 12210-1709;518-426-9144, 518-427-0381 (fax)

http://newyork.sierraclub.org/

EDITORS Hal Smith and Dorinda White,[email protected]

ADVERTISING Circulation 40,000. Adrates, specs and deadlines availableupon request from Bobbie Josepher,[email protected]

ATLANTIC CHAPTER STAFF

Conservation DirectorConservation Associate Roger Downs,

[email protected] Coordinator Bobbie Josepher,

[email protected]

ATLANTIC CHAPTER OFFICERS

Chair Susan Lawrence, 518-489-5721,[email protected]

Vice Chair Frank Morris, 516-410-8461,[email protected]

Secretary James Lane, 212-697-8942,[email protected]

Treasurer Steve Kulick, 315-476-0695,[email protected]

CONSERVATION

Chair Jessica Helm, 631-849-5373,[email protected]

SIERRA ATLANTIC MISSION The missionof the Sierra Atlantic is to educate andenlist the people of New York state toprotect and restore the quality of thenatural and human environment. Wewill do this by providing informationabout important environmentalissues; sounding an alarm when theenvironment is threatened; reportingon the activities, outings and cam-paigns conducted by the AtlanticChapter; celebrating nature; andinviting our readers to join us.

SUBMISSIONSSend us a letter, an

article, news briefs, com-ments, photos, graphics orother items of interest.Contact the editors at thee-mail address above forsubmission format anddetails. When querying,please write “Sierra Atlan-tic” in the subject line.

DEADLINES –SPRING ISSUE

February 15 — Final copyand camera-ready ads due

March 15 — Newslettermailed to 40,000 members

Printed on 100% recycled paper

Message from the Chairby Susan Lawrence

Chapter faces 50 percent cut from national Sierra Club

As a long-term member of theSierra Club and a graduate of Yale’sGraduate School of Forestry and En-vironmental Studies, I write to ex-press my disappointment with theMid-Hudson Group’s characterizationof the Hudson River Valley Resorts(Williams Lake) project, of which Iam the project manager.

Hudson River Valley Resorts(HRVR) is a small company com-prised of socially responsible andenvironmentally focused investors.Most are long-term members of theSierra Club and other national con-servation organizations. We believeour thoughtful development ap-proach will preserve the natural re-sources of Williams Lake and is anexample of “smart growth” that theSierra Club should support.

The Williams Lake property isbeautiful and rich in historic andnatural resources, including severalendangered or threatened species.The site includes over 400 acres un-der conservation easement, an assetthat attracted us to the site. The siteis not, however, pristine, as the site’sland-use history includes 80 years asa family resort which was itself theadaptive reuse of an industrial site.

The land was mined intensivelyfor limestone that was processed on-site for cement for about 70 years

Hudson River Valley Resorts is ‘smart growth,’ welcomes dialog

A s we look to 2010, the environ-ment in New York state and theSierra Club Atlantic Chapter are

at a critical crossroads.The severe downturn in the

economy means that our communi-ties and state are facing severe bud-get deficits, and essential spendingfor the environment will once morebe delayed until better times. But weshould not delay efforts to curbgreenhouse gas emissions and otherair pollution, and we must also con-tinue protecting watersheds, wilder-ness, wetlands, and farmland.

Due to the recession and a sharpdrop in both donation and member-ship income, the Atlantic Chapterfaces about a 50 percent cut —$50,000 — in “unrestricted use”funds from the national Sierra Clubin 2010. For the Atlantic Chapter toremain effective as a key environ-mental organization, we will be trim-ming our budget, but still will need toraise many thousands of dollars.

In 2009, the Atlantic Chapter hasbeen working hard to overcome veryserious threats to our environment,including:

• proposals to drill tens of thou-sands of gas wells in the Marcellusand Utica shales — from the westernCatskills to Lake Erie — that would

endanger water supplies for 15 mil-lion people

• state cutbacks in funding for theNYS Department of EnvironmentalConservation that have crippled itsability to protect our environment

• the governor’s plans to usemoney intended for energy conser-vation, renewable energy and openspace protection to instead plugholes in the state budget

• partisan gridlock paralyzing theNYS Senate from acting on key envi-ronmental legislation, including a lawto establish a cap on greenhouse gasemissions from all sources.

The top priority of the Sierra Clubis greatly reducing greenhouse gasemissions in order to curb climatechange. Our Atlantic Chapter staffand volunteers are campaigning to:

• increase renewable energy pro-duction and use

• develop and expand programsto weatherize homes and businesses

• improve the efficiency of ourelectrical grid

• expand mass transit and rail freight• make our economy and daily

living more sustainable.It is extremely critical for the Si-

erra Club to maintain its strong voicefighting to protect our environment— to play a key role in shaping the

debates and the outcomes as ourcommunities and our state face thedaunting tasks of coping in thesevery difficult economic times.

I recently sent out a year-end let-ter asking past donors to send a gen-erous contribution to the Chapter.We would appreciate any donationsthat you can make now.

Keeping our current staff —Roger Downs and Bobbie Josepher— and filling our vacant Albany posi-tion are essential to our Chapter’seffectiveness. We need more staff likethem. And we could never accom-plish what we do without the hun-dreds of dedicated Chapter volunteers.

To donate to the Chapter:To support our effective citizen-

based advocacy and lobbying effortswith your non-taxable donation,please write a check payable to the“Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter” or pro-vide us with credit card information.If you prefer to make a tax-deduct-ible donation, then make the checkpayable to the “Sierra Club Founda-tion” and write “Atlantic Chapter” onthe memo line. Send your gift toBobbie Josepher, Sierra Club AtlanticChapter, P.O. Box 886, Syosset, NY11791-0886.

Thank you.

beginning in the 19th century. It leftbehind a scarred landscape while theremnant hotel infrastructure has de-teriorated. Our project is a thought-ful adaptive reuse of this commer-cial/ industrial site.

Our vision is to sustainably rede-velop the Williams Lake site as a re-sort residential community focusedon outdoor recreation and wellness.The resort and homes will be built tohigh standards of environmental sus-tainability. The hotel will be LEEDcertified. Much of the energy for theproject will be generated renewablythrough geothermal and solar PV.Homes and other buildings will behigh-performance. Green roofs, bio-swales, constructed wetlands, andpervious roads and driveways willslow down storm water and mitigateerosion and sediment delivery. Fix-tures and appliances will be highlyenergy efficient. Existing septic sys-tems that leech into Williams Lakewill be replaced with a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility.Light pollution will be minimized;viewsheds protected.

A homeowners’ association willoversee strict environmental cov-enants to maintain forest cover (in-stead of yards), use low-impact snowand ice applications and minimizepesticides and fertilizers that could

contribute to eutrophication of thelakes and wetlands on site.

We are also working closely withthe Rondout Esopus Land Conser-vancy and the Department of Envi-ronmental Conservation to preserveand expand land under conservationeasement and protect habitat for rareor endangered flora and fauna. Sincewe became involved with the prop-erty, we have worked consistentlywith the DEC to provide access forannual bat censuses and studies ofwhite noise syndrome. Early nextyear I expect we will formalize theseefforts with a cooperative agreementto ensure long-term protection ofendangered bat hibernacula on theWilliams Lake property.

The property is private but wewill continue the Williams’ familylegacy of conservation-minded landstewardship and managed publicaccess to this beautiful property. Oneconcrete example is the proposedcreation of a public access rail trailthrough the property.

As ever, I remain open to meetingwith any community members inter-ested in learning about our projectand I would welcome the opportu-nity to discuss the project with theMid-Hudson Group.

TIM ALLRED, PROJECT MANAGER

HUDSON RIVER VALLEY RESORTS

Letters

E X P L O R E , E N J O Y A N D

P R O T E C T T H E P L A N E T


Hudson victory: cleanup begins after 30-year fightby Bill Koebbeman

For 30 years beginning in the1940s, General Electric (GE)released over one million

pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) into the Hudson River. Overthe next 30 years, while activistspushed for a cleanup, GE resisted.

In 2000 and 2001, advocates fromthe Sierra Club, Scenic Hudson,Riverkeeper, and Hudson River SloopClearwater wrote letters, spoke athearings, and rallied in support of theEnvironmental Protection Agency’s(EPA’s) cleanup plan. Finally, in Marchof this year, GE and the EPA beganthe Hudson River Dredging Project.

Why dredge?PCBs have been linked to im-

mune, reproductive, neurological andendocrine damage. It is estimatedthat 500 pounds of PCBs move downthe Hudson each year. They are in-gested by wildlife and by people insome communities (Waterford andHalfmoon), where public watercomes from the Hudson. The accu-mulation of PCBs in fish has resultedin fishing advisories from the NYSDepartment of Environmental Con-servation, limiting the consumptionof fish. For example, women of child-bearing years and children under 15

should not eat fish downstream ofHudson Falls. Extensive studies havebeen conducted linking PCBs to can-cer, and the result is that the EPA hasclassified PCBs as “probable humancarcinogens.”

Phase oneIn 2006 the federal government

and GE reached an agreement requir-ing GE to dredge portions of theHudson, with EPA monitoring theprocess. Phase I of the six- yeardredging project was completed inearly November. This phase of dredg-ing was designed to clean up themost heavily contaminated portionof the river just below GE’s Fort Ed-ward plant.

Once committed to the project,GE and its contractors showed theirprofessional competency in the con-struction and operation of the dredg-ing equipment. Twenty tugboats, 18river barges and 12 dredging plat-forms removed sediment and movedit to the dewatering site, a 100-acrecomplex, where the water is re-moved and treated. In the first sixmonths, approximately 280,000 cu-bic yards of PCB contaminated sedi-ment was removed from the riverand 891 train car loads of PCB-ladensediment were shipped to a disposalsite in Texas. EPA estimates that

Phase I has removed 96% of thePCBs in this stretch of the river.

Stirring up trouble?One of the major issues debated

during the past year was how to pro-tect the public water supplies ofcertain towns that take water di-rectly from the Hudson or from wellsthat are hydraulically connected to

the river (Stillwater). These townswere concerned that the dredgingwould stir up PCBs and contaminatetheir drinking water.

What town officials and residentsdid not realize was that they werealready drinking a low level of PCBsentrained by the natural flow of theriver before any dredging started.Where the Hudson was the source ofdrinking water, PCBs were generallybelow 50 parts per trillion (PPT)prior to dredging — well below the500 PPT that the NYS Health Depart-ment deems safe for public drinkingwater supplies.

EPA has responsibility to ensurethat PCB levels do not exceed 500PPT during dredging, and they didthis by extensive monitoring of thewater flowing from the dredgingarea and by controlling the dredgingprocess. When PCB levels upriverdid exceed 500 PPT, the dredgingwas halted and/or modified untilreadings returned to safe levels.

Public may participateThe current plan, to dredge to the

federal dam in Troy, will be reviewedand modified throughout next year.A peer review panel will examinethe results of phase one. A publiccomment period will be held. EPAwill notify GE if it intends to changeany performance standards. Forthose who want to see a cleanHudson, it is important to encouragethe continued safe cleanup of theriver; you can participate.

Observing the massive cleanupand its thousands of man-hours andhundreds of million of dollars, onething is clear: it would have beenmuch easier, cheaper and safer torecycle or properly dispose of thePCBs originally. As we take PCBsfrom the Hudson and dump them ina Texas disposal site (where SierraClub’s Lone Star Chapter has pro-tested their burial), we are reminded:there is no “away,” as in “throw away.”

Bill Koebbeman is a member of theHudson-Mohawk Group and a represen-tative on the Community AdvisoryGroup for the Hudson River PCBDredging Project.

Anew study by the Toxics inPackaging Clearinghouse foundtoxic levels of heavy metals in

more than 50 percent of PVC pack-aging tested.

The report, An Assessment ofHeavy Metals in Packaging: 2009Update, tested more than 400 pack-aging samples with support from theU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency. Fifty-two percent of flexiblePVC packaging was found to containlead or cadmium, violating laws in 19states across the country.

“The widespread adoption of sus-tainable packaging practices is animportant step in the greening ofAmerica. But this new report re-minds us of how much of the pack-

aging we bring into our homes istoxic to our health,” said MikeSchade, PVC campaign coordina-tor at the Center for Health, Envi-ronment & Justice.

“With the holidays approaching,families across America will see aninflux of PVC clamshell packagingthat will put toxic lead and cad-mium under the Christmas tree.”

Just in time for the holidays

Study: PVC packaging contains toxic metalsThe Center for Health, Environ-

ment & Justice (CHEJ) has long advo-cated against the use of toxic PVCplastic in consumer products andpackaging. CHEJ has worked withmajor retailers such as Target, Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings to developPVC phase-out plans to protect con-sumer health.

“We all know that lead is danger-ous to young children, and yet weare wrapping our kids’ toys in toxicPVC,” said Lois Gibbs, executive di-rector of CHEJ. “Given the alarmingnature of this new report, we hopeto see more retailers take a proactiveapproach to keeping this poisonpackaging off store shelves.”

Already retailers like Wal-Marthave begun requiring suppliers toprovide a certificate of compliancewith state toxics in packaging lawsor submit packaging samples for test-ing. Other retailers have recalledproducts packaged in the lead-con-taminated PVC.

An assessment of Heavy Metalsin Packaging: 2009 Update is avail-able from the TPCH website atwww.toxicsinpackaging.org.

You can sign up for Atlantic Chap-ter action alerts on legislation andother key issues. Send an e-mail to:[email protected] with themessage “Subscribe [email protected]”your first name and last name.

Join the Action Alert listserv

More than half of PVC

packaging tests positive

for lead or cadmium,

banned in 19 states

There’s nothing like learning about na-ture with fellow Sierrans. New York’s Groupsoffer a great variety of activities — and lotsof them — for you to have fun while ex-panding your understanding. For an up-to-date list of Sierra Club outings, go to http://newyork.sierraclub.org, and click on “out-ings” on the menu bar at the top of the page.

Or, subscribe to the Chapter’s ImpromptuOutings listserve. Log onto http://newyork.sierraclub.org/outings/ andscroll down to the waving hikers. Then clickon “Join or leave the list” and follow thelinks. For more info, call Bob Susser at 212-666-4371.

Get Out There

O U T I N G S • O U T I N G S • O U T I N G S


Accelerating polar meltdown makes Copenhagen follow-up critical

Best holiday gifts for thinking people — media on the crisis of our timeby Moisha Blechman

While most of the media doeslittle to help a confused andill informed public under-

stand the fundamental problem ofour time — global warming — a cor-nucopia of arresting and very infor-mative books has arrived in time forholiday gift-giving.

A good book is the best way tosend our friends and families straightto the people who know the most,know how to deliver information onthe science, can tell us about every-thing else connected to it, andwhose only motive is their profoundlove of this planet.

Books are much more rewardingthan a whole slew of articles. Whenyou give people an important book,they are usually flattered and pleasedthat you took them seriously asthinking and caring persons.

It took an operation and a longstay in a hospital to give our greatestatmospheric scientist, James Hansen,the time to write from the heart, as ascientist, about global warming. Itresulted in a book just off thepresses, “Storms Of My Grandchil-dren: The Truth About The ComingClimate Catastrophe and Our LastChance to Save Humanity.”

Although Hansen is the leadingclimate scientist, reading any of hisarticles is easy to understand andabsorbing.

The book itself is an urgent andprovocative call to action and isthe full story of what we need toknow about humanity’s last chanceto get off the path to a cata-strophic meltdown, and why wedon’t know the half of it. While thetruth may be uncomfortable, it isalso exciting to learn so much thatis essential. Here it is in one book.It is number one on my list forboth myself and a few friends.

A note about James Hansen: he isboth an important scientist at theforefront of climate research and aman who values life so much that heis willing to write and go to publicdemonstrations at the risk of arrest.

Al Gore has written a deeply re-searched sequel to “An InconvenientTruth” called, “Our Choice: A Plan toSolve The Climate Crisis.” Don’t everlet anyone tell you that it can’t bedone or that it takes a long time.“Where there is a will, there is a way,”as the saying goes. It is especiallytrue with solving energy use. So far,our governments just simply are nottrying. Gore’s book is a compendiumof ideas and technologies. Puttingthem to work is positive and couldbe a joyous world community enter-prise. Insisting on them should beour mission. “Our Choice” will giveus the ammunition to say, “Oh yes,we can.”

“Dire Predictions: Understanding

Global Predictions,” by Michael Mannand Lee R. Kump, is a must-read onthe major findings in climate science.It is a powerful and straightforwardguide written in lucid language thatshows how scientists, economistsand engineers understand the prob-lem of global warming. It is well illus-trated with photos and graphics.

“Climate Change: Picturing theScience” is a collaboration by NASAscientist Gavin Schmidt and photog-rapher Joshua Wolfe. It includes thework of 16 scientists in their areas ofexpertise. It is particularly appropri-ate for teenagers and young peoplefor its broad outlook and explanationof the Earth’s complex systems andfinely-calibrated checks and balances.

Reading these will convey howthese systems, so interdependent, arereally inviolate laws. The book alsodiscusses how we are changing theplanet to make the Earth less sympa-thetic to or supportive of life alto-gether. The struggle for life is intensi-fying beyond what has been normal.

In the midst of this sobering re-portage, the authors manage to ap-peal to our fascination with epicchallenges. The book combines ar-resting images with lucid explana-tions and is a masterful account ofthe science as well as in awe of theEarth we inhabit.

We must not overlook the otherhalf of the CO2

equation, i.e., howincreased CO

2 has been absorbed by

the oceans and is turning them intoan acidic medium. This newlychanged chemistry is a hostile envi-ronment for the creatures of the sea.“A Sea Change” is a very beautifuldocumentary film, directed by Bar-bara Ettinger, which takes us on ajourney of exploration about theconsequences of acidifying theoceans. At the same time, the filmshows us the grace and fragilebeauty of sea creatures. It tells the

story of a man and his grandson asthey learn about the seriousness ofan ocean that increasingly is unableto support life.

You can purchase the DVD bygoing to: www.aseachange.net. Thisis a beautiful and moving film whichyou can share with others either athome or school or in other smallgroups. It is suitable for children andyoung people. This is an issue of vitalimportance and yet, amazingly, out-side the consciousness of our culture.

Happy Holidays and good reading.

Moisha Blechman co-chairs theChapter’s Global Warming Committeeand chairs the Publications Committee.

No matter what the outcome ofthe historic climate changenegotiations in Copenhagen,

which were scheduled to begin aweek after this is being written, it isclear that the nearly 200 nationsmeeting there will need to very rap-idly change rhetoric into action.

In late November, a new globalscientific synthesis prepared bysome of the world’s top climate sci-entists reported that climate changeis accelerating beyond expectationsand that urgent emissions reductionsare required.

Global ice-sheets are melting at anincreased rate; Arctic sea-ice is disap-pearing much faster than recentlyprojected, and future sea-level rise isnow expected to be much higherthan previously forecast, accordingto a special report, “The Copen-hagen Diagnosis.” Its 26 researchers,most of whom are authors of earlierreports published by the Intergov-ernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), conclude that several impor-tant aspects of climate change areoccurring at the high end — or evenbeyond – of the expectations of only

a few years ago.The report also notes that global

warming continues to track earlyIPCC projections based on green-house gas increases. Without signifi-cant mitigation, the report says glo-bal mean warming could reach ashigh as 7 degrees Celsius by 2100.Copenhagen negotiators were hop-ing to limit global warming to 2 de-grees Celsius above pre-industriallevels.

The newer evidence, which hasemerged since the IPPC’s FourthAssessment Report in 2007, includes:

• Satellite and direct measure-ments now demonstrate that boththe Greenland and Antarctic ice-

sheets are losing mass and raising thesea level rise at an increasing rate.

• Arctic sea ice has melted far be-yond the expectations of climatemodels. For example, the area ofsummer sea ice melt during 2007-2009 was about 40% greater than theaverage projection from the 2007IPCC report.

• Sea level has risen more than 5centimeters over the past 15 years,about 80 percent higher than IPCCprojections from 2001. Accounting

for ice-sheets and glaciers, global sea-level rise may exceed 1 meter by2100, with a rise of up to 2 metersconsidered an upper limit by thistime. This is much higher than previ-ously projected by the IPCC. Further-more, beyond 2100, sea level rise ofseveral meters must be expectedover the next few centuries.

• In 2008 carbon dioxide emis-sions from fossil fuels were about40% higher than those in 1990. Evenif emissions do not grow beyondtoday’s levels, within just 20 yearsthe world will have used up the al-lowable emissions to have a reason-able chance of limiting warming toless than 2 degrees Celsius.

The report concludes that globalemissions must peak then declinerapidly within the next five to tenyears for the world to have a reason-able chance of avoiding the veryworst impacts of climate change.

To stabilize climate, global emis-sions of carbon dioxide and otherlong-lived greenhouse gases need toreach near-zero well within this cen-tury, the report states.

HAL SMITH

Data on rising sea levels,

carbon emissions and

melting polar ice show

climage change is

accelerating faster than

IPCC scientists expected.


Albany Update

by Roger Downs, Conservation Associate

DEC’s natural gas drilling plan fatally incomplete

Support Chapter’s Work in NYSWe need your help to maintain the Atlantic Chapter’s most critical

conservation efforts. Your membership dues primarily support theClub’s national priorities. Your additional support is needed to strengthenthe Chapter’s work in the state Legislature and throughout the state.

Please use the coupon below to send us your donation. Contributionsand dues to the Sierra Club are not tax-deductible; they support our ef-fective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying efforts. Thank you.

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A copy of our latest financial report can be obtained by writing to Sierra ClubAtlantic Chapter, PO Box 886, Syosset, NY 11791-0886, or the NYS Attorney General,Dept. of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

The much-anticipated DraftSupplemental GEIS for MarcellusShale was released September

30, inching New York closer to a newwave of natural gas drilling in theCatskills and Southern Tier.

But the 800+ page draft plan ismeeting great public criticism; it’sbeing panned as overly technical,poorly organized and substantiallyincomplete. At a recent state Senatehearing, former NYC DEP Commis-sioner Al Appleton called it theworst draft environmental impactstatement he has ever seen in hisdecades of land-use planning.

At the heart of the study’s defi-ciency is the DEC’s refusal to con-duct an assessment of cumulative im-pacts — how the development ofmultiple gas wells, pipelines, andcompressor stations across NYS willcontribute, as a whole, to environ-mental degradation. By placing thefocus solely on the individual wellpad, the DEC’s best intentions in as-

sessing impacts and establishingmitigations do not translate into aworking plan, such as a full build-outscenario, that protects New York’sresources in a comprehensive, state-wide manner. Remember: Thou-sands of wells will be consumingand degrading millions of gallons ofwater, spewing tons of hazardous airpollutants, and transforming thenatural landscape into a grid work ofpipelines and access roads. The stateshould not be allowed to defySEQRA and conclude that all theseactivities do not have a larger impactwhen factored together.

The public has until December 31to submit comments, and all SierraClub members are encouraged toparticipate. In addition to including afull build-out, cumulative impactsanalysis, please ask the DEC to:

Make the conclusions of the SGEISpart of a formal rule-making process.The DEC has not updated oil and gasregulations since 1985, and relies on

a confusing mix of forms and condi-tions to supplement what is cur-rently on the books. The SGEIS onMarcellus Shale would continue thispattern of adding permitting “sugges-tions” rather than enforceable regula-tions. The results of the dSGEIS needto be clear, binding, and transparentto the public.

Address the critical issue of staffingand oversight. Seventeen state permit-ting staff and inspectors is grosslyinsufficient to oversee the develop-ment of thousands of gas wells. Noamount of regulation can protectNew York if we cannot enforce bestpractices and punish bad actors.

Make findings of the SGEIS consis-tent with all well permits. Improve-ments to the Environmental Assess-ment Form and permitting condi-tions for Marcellus horizontal appli-cations will not be applied to verticalwell permitting or other geologicformations, creating an unjustifiedimbalance in environmental stan-dards. New permit conditions thatare not unique to Marcellus shaledevelopment and were ignored inthe original 1992 GEIS, such as cli-mate change considerations, invasivespecies mitigation, or best practices,must now be applied to verticalwells.

Give an accurate picture of NewYork’s wastewater treatment deficien-cies. Of the 134 waste water pre-treatment plants listed in the SGEISas viable treatment centers, onlythree accept waste “flowback” waterfrom the natural gas industry and ina limited capacity. There are no newinjection wells or industry wastewa-ter treatment plants proposed, yetdrilling permit applications aremounting. Failure to address this is-sue will lead to unpermitted releasesand the exporting of wastes to Penn-sylvania and Ohio, states strugglingwith their own wastewater issues.

Include pipelines in SGEIS analysis.In spite of SEQRA obligations, DECwill not factor in the impacts of pipe-lines, gathering lines and compressorstations as an integral part ofMarcellus development. A study thatdoes not include issues of habitatfragmentation from pipelines oremissions from compressor stationsignores key sources of environmen-tal degradation associated with theindustry.

Allow local governments more con-trol and involvement. In spite of initialpromises to find ways to engage lo-cal governments in decision-making,the dSGEIS advances little improve-ment in how municipalities interact

with land use in the context of natu-ral gas development. Individual wellpermits will continue to be issuedwithout input from the public orcompliance with local zoning or or-dinances. To compound the prob-lems facing municipalities, thedSGEIS suggests that local healthdepartments will handle issues ofcontamination and municipal waste-water treatment plants will bare thebrunt of remediation upgrade costs.

Extend the comment period to March31, 2010. The final outcome of theSupplemental dGEIS will have pro-found implications for New York’senergy and environmental future.Extending the comment period to180 days, as has been advocated by41 members of the NYS Assembly, isthe least the state can do to ensurethat citizens have a voice and stakein the outcome.

While the SGEIS does offer someimprovements to the current wellpermitting system, including anevolving chemical disclosure require-ment for fracking fluids, expandedreporting requirements for the han-dling of wastewater, and general on-site mitigation plans, the lack of fo-cus on the “big picture” renders theplan fatally incomplete. The AtlanticChapter hopes that with some prod-ding the DEC will withdraw thisdraft plan and start over.

To read the Atlantic Chapter’s com-ments on the dSGEIS go to http://newyork.sierraclub.org/gas_drilling.html

To read the dSGEIS go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html

To send comments go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/SGEISComments/

The Atlantic Chapter launched anew website in October. Theaddress is the same (www.new

york.sierraclub.org), but the formatand most of the content are new. OurChapter On-Line Media Committeehas worked very hard to make thisnew website user-friendly, timely andwith links to many other sources ofinformation.

The site is still in the shakedownphase. We are planning to add a lotmore information on key conserva-tion issues and Chapter events, andexplain how you can participate.Links to the national Club and Groupwebsites also provide a wealth ofinformation on conservation issuesand Group activities.

If you have comments, questionsor suggestions, please e-mail them [email protected].

Bravo and thank you so much toall the members of the On-Line Me-dia Committee who worked tirelesslyto get the new site up and running.Members of the committee are ChairJessica Helm, new webmasters NoelKopf and Emily Ryan, Tom Reynolds,Don Pachner, and Bob Kerr, with sup-port from staffer Bobbie Josepher.

Many thanks to Tom Reynolds forhis past services as our webmaster.

SUSAN LAWRENCE

Chapter unveilsimproved website


Gas man speaks out: don’t let them destroy Allegany State ParkEditor’s note: Recently a Colo-

rado oil and gas man who knowsand loves Allegany State Park pri-vately voiced his objections to pend-ing drilling in the park. On condi-tion that we protect his identity, hegave the SIERRA ATLANTIC exclusivepermission to publish his remarks.

COLORADO — With recent discover-ies of a large pool of natural gas inthe Marcellus Shale formation, gascompanies are moving into NE Ohio,Pennsylvania, and the Southern Tierof New York (and under Lake Erie).

Mineral owners have the right todevelop the subsurface mineralseven if they do not own the surface.This is possible because landownershave the right to separate and sell offmineral rights, which has been morecommon here in the West. But asproperty is bought and sold over theyears, the fact that mineral and othersubsurface rights are separated doesnot necessarily get recorded at thecourthouse when a transaction oc-curs, at least not in Colorado.

However, the people who pur-chased those mineral rights do notlose track.

When Alleghany State Park wasput together in the 1940s, the stateacquired land from a lot of individuallandowners, many of whom probablydid not own the subsurface mineralrights. Do you know where andwhen the first successful oil wellwas drilled? Titusville, PA, 1859. Justas they sold their timber to loggers,many folks sold mineral rights forwhat seemed like good money thento slick oil company representatives.

But selling your timber is a one-shot deal, and it grows back. Not sowith mineral rights — you sell thoseoff and it’s permanent. You can buythem back, but once new gas or oil isdiscovered in the area, the price goesway up beyond the means of ordi-nary Joes and state parks depart-ments. And if the department incharge of New York parks is anythinglike the Colorado Division of Wildlife,it has no idea who owns the miner-als under certain state lands. It’s oneof those things that no one gets re-solved because of other priorities.

It’s my understanding that NewYork is reviewing and rewriting itsdrilling rules. And that there is apublic comment period [which endsDecember 31]. We just did a similarthing here in Colorado, and the gas

companies and pro-gas politicians arestill screaming bloody murder, sayingthat the new rules are what hasdriven the precipitous drop in drill-ing over the last year. Never mindthat the price of natural gas hasdropped from $14 per thousand cu.ft. to $2.25 nationwide, indepen-dently of the fracas in Colorado, orthat over the last year, drillingdropped 65% in Wyoming and manyother places. I’ve been hearing that alot of the gas drilling rigs are movingyour way. Apparently the gas is easierto extract than it is here, and is moreprofitable given current prices.

Out here, over the last 10 years,gas prices rose, drilling boomed, andthings got a little crazy, and somecompanies didn’t follow weak staterules. Land surface owners had verylittle recourse because the state Oil &Gas Conservation Commission was,by statute, made up of individualswho had to be from the industry it-self. (The argument was made thatthe business was so complicated that

you had to have people that were inthe business on the board that regu-lates it. Oddly, there is no require-ment that anyone nominated to serveon the Colorado Wildlife Commissionknow anything about wildlife.)

The drill rigs give off lots of fumes,there’s a ton of truck traffic, the drill-ing can cause problems with ground-water, domestic water wells can godry or be fouled, etc. Sometimespeople don’t even know that any-thing is going to happen on theirproperty until a guy shows up withsomething for you to sign, saying youhave no choice. Landowners whohave mineral rights or royalty rightshave a lot more influence on whatgoes on, but if you don’t have that,your surface rights are essentiallyworth very little. The value of yourproperty declines, life becomes ahassle, etc.

This was very illuminating for a lotof people who are very big on theconcept of property rights, a very bigrallying cry for conservative, anti-government, anti-zoning people inthe West. “We don’t want thegummint telling us what we can orcan’t do with our land.” A valid con-cern, but only to the point where itinfringes on the rights of a neighboror the land downstream.

Out here that point is not recog-nized by folks who seem to thinkthey have the right to do anythingwith their property just short ofdetonating a nuclear weapon on it.But it’s hard to hold to that viewwhen the guy next door, who ownsthe gas rights on his property, directsthe gas company to put the well onthe edge of his property, farthestfrom his house, but right next to yours.

Eventually there was enough of apublic groundswell that the ColoradoGeneral Assembly passed a new law

requiring new rules for oil and gasdevelopment. This was done by aRepublican Senate, DemocraticHouse, and signed by a Republicangovernor in 2006. The governorshipand the Senate both went to theDemocrats in the 2006 election.People were fed up with how longit took for the Republicans to getthe message.

The key issue for me in this isthat drilling could take place inAllegany State Park. It is already hap-pening just across the state line inthe Allegheny National Forest. Rulestend to be stricter on federal land,and there is a mandate for multipleuse there as well. But I just can’tbear the thought of Allegany gettingtorn up with new roads, well pads,pipelines, compressor stations, andall the rest that comes with that.

I am aware that there have beenwells in the park for years, but if itgets to the kinds of well pad densi-ties we have in western Colorado —one per 40 acres, or less in someareas — it wouldn’t be much of astate park anymore.

The leaseholders do have therights to get their gas, but it needsto be done right, and a way shouldbe found to exempt Allegany.

Take a look at western New Yorkon Google Earth, and you’ll see thatthe largest patch of relatively undis-turbed forest there is Allegany.When you’re driving around, every-thing seems forested, but when youfly over it, or look at the aerial imag-ery on Google Earth, not so much.Large, intact, unfragmented forestsare extremely important to — andrequired by -— many species ofsongbirds. So Allegany is a very im-portant place to protect. Follow thisissue, and let your state legislatorsknow how you feel.

Just across the border in Dimock, Pa., toxic wastewater is pumped into a Marcellus Shale “frack pit” with such force that it splashes over the lowerbank (note darker edge). These pits can be larger than a football field and are filled with wastewater that includes carcinogenic chemicals,endocrine disruptors, radioactive material, heavy metals, arsenic, etc. Only a temporary plastic liner, which carelessness easily breaks, preventsthe hazardous waste from seeping into groundwater. Heavy rains can cause the pit to overflow, and the pits are generally not fenced to keep outwildlife. Thanks to photographer J. Henry Fair for his ongoing efforts to document this unfolding disaster. (www.industrialscars.com)

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Group ChairsFinger Lakes Kate Bartholoemew, 607-228-7371,

[email protected]

Hudson-Mohawk Paul Caver, 518-753-4205, [email protected]

Iroquois Martha Loew, 315-492-4745, [email protected]

Long Island Frank Morris, 516-410-8461, [email protected]

Lower Hudson George Klein, 914-941-2505, [email protected]

Mid-Hudson Bibi Sandstrom, 845-255-5528, [email protected]

Niagara Bob Ciesielski, 716-634-3394, [email protected]

New York City Dan Miner, 917-310-2924, [email protected]

Ramapo-Catskill Stanley Mayer, 845-342-3997, [email protected]

Rochester Deb Muratore, 585-385-9743, [email protected]

Susquehanna Julian Shepherd, 607-722-9327, [email protected]


-800

— John Muir

by Rachel Treichler

C ritics of the oil and gas industryfrequently note that the industryenjoys sweeping exemptions

from provisions in each of the majorfederal environmental statutes. How-ever, it is still not widely understoodthat the industry is essentially ex-empt from the Super Fund law.

Petroleum is excluded in the defi-nition of hazardous substances in theComprehensive Environmental Re-sponse, Compensation, and LiabilityAct (CERCLA), more commonlycalled the Super Fund law. CERCLAregulates the cleanup of hazardoussubstances released into any part ofthe environment, including air, water,and land.

Section 101(14) of the act lists thehazardous substances that are cov-ered, including benzene, toluene, xy-lene, and ethylbenzene, each ofwhich is an element of petroleum.Inexplicably, however, the last clauseof section 101(14) excludes crudeoil and petroleum. Thus, hazardouschemicals that would otherwise becovered by CERCLA are immunefrom the statute when encompassedin petroleum or crude oil.

The Environmental Working Group(EWG) stated in testimony to theNYC Council that the leading reasonto prevent natural gas drilling and hy-draulic fracturing near drinking watersupplies is the industry’s use of petro-leum distillates, including diesel fuel,which are likely to contain benzene.

EWG notes that the NYS Depart-ment of Environmental Conservation(DEC) did not consider diesel-basedfracturing fluid in the draft Supple-mental Generic Environmental Im-pact Statement (dSGEIS). (The DEC

will finalize the dSGEIS after review-ing public comment, which it willreceive until December 31.) ThedSGEIS states on page 7-41 that diesel-based fracturing fluid “is not pro-posed or reviewed by this supple-ment.” However, the dSGEIS identifiesat least 14 different petroleum distil-lates that are used or proposed foruse in the Marcellus Shale formationin New York. The dSGEIS also identi-fies aromatic hydrocarbons as chemi-cals that are likely to be found inpetroleum distillates, used or likely tobe used, in the Marcellus formation.

Dusty Horwitt, EWG’s senior coun-sel, discussed several of EWG’s find-ings regarding petroleum distillatesin his testimony to the NYC Councilon Oct. 23. He said that EWG’s re-search shows that petroleum distil-lates are likely to contain benzene,and that the EPA has found benzeneto be a known human carcinogenthat is toxic in water at levels greaterthan five parts per billion. Petroleumdistillates are also likely to contain allof the so-called BTEX chemicals: ben-zene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xy-lene. The EPA has concluded that allof these substances are toxic in wa-ter at very low levels.

To put the toxicity of benzene inperspective and to demonstrate therisks to water supplies for New YorkCity and other towns, Mr. Horwittobserved that the dSGEIS estimatesthat the amount of water used tohydraulically fracture a single wellwill range from about one million toeight million gallons. The DEC esti-mates that the amount of frictionreducer mixed with the water willcomprise about 0.08 percent of thetotal fracturing solution.

Mr. Horwitt stated that petroleumdistillates are commonly used as fric-tion reducers and are also used inother components of fracturing solu-tions. Therefore, the amount of petro-leum distillate used for fracturing awell in New York is likely to rangefrom 800 gallons to 6,400 gallons(0.08 percent of between one andeight million gallons of water). Pub-lished levels of benzene in petroleumdistillates with names similar tothose used or likely to be used inNew York include up to:

• 700 parts per million for flashaliphatic solvent,

• 1,000 ppm for Stoddard Solvent,• 4,000 ppm for kerosene, and• 93,000 ppm in naphtha solvents.In other words, as Mr. Horwitt ob-

served, these levels of benzene rangefrom 140,000 times the EPA’s safe

level to 18.6 million times the EPA’ssafe level. Thus, if 800 gallons of pe-troleum distillate were to contami-nate a water supply, depending onthe benzene concentration, it wouldlikely take somewhere between 112million gallons (800 X 140,000) and14.9 billion gallons (800 X 18.6 mil-lion) of water to dilute the benzeneto EPA’s safe level. If 6,400 gallons ofpetroleum distillate were to contami-nate a water supply, it would likelytake somewhere between 896 millionand 119 billion gallons of water todilute the benzene to EPA’s safe levels.

For comparison, Mr. Horwitt said,the total amount of water used dailyby New York City, according to theDEC, is 650 million gallons, or lessthan the amount of water that wouldbe needed to dilute the benzene in aspill of petroleum distillates in manyscenarios. In some cases, even thetotal amount of water used each dayby the entire state (9-10 billion gal-lons per day) would not be enough.

Mr. Horwitt noted that petroleumdistillate in the form of diesel fuelwill be used to power drilling equip-ment even if diesel fuel is not used inhydraulic fracturing. The DEC reports

DEC ignores Super Fund loophole —Who would clean up drillers’ mess?

that an average of 29,000 gallons ofdiesel fuel was required to completefracturing jobs in the Marcellus Shalein West Virginia and Pennsylvania.The result is that, somewhere in theprocess, petroleum distillate will spillor leak, threatening drinking water.

The permitting process providedfor in the dSGEIS does not protectagainst such spills. Gas drilling com-panies are required to disclose thechemicals they use in their drillingoperations, but they are not pre-cluded from using toxic chemicals.Under the dSGEIS, the DEC will nottake responsibility for cleaning up aspill, nor for treating the toxic waterproduced from drilling operations orthe “flowback” from hydrofracking.

Those responsibilities are left tolocal governments, which are alreadystruggling to maintain basic servicesduring a severe recession.

Please join with your local SierraClub Group as we reach out to Gov-ernor Paterson and each state sena-tor and assembly member to alertthem to the dangers of unregulatedgas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.Rachel Treichler chairs the Chapter’snatural gas task force.

It would take all the water

used by New York City in a

day, and maybe even all the

water used daily by the

entire state, to dilute to a

safe level one spill by a

natural gas driller

be unable to help these landowners.In a possibly related development,

Fortuna later said it would take itsoperations to a more hospitableMarcellus state, but at roughly thesame time it was making that state-ment a Fortuna landman was ap-proaching Broome County landowners.

NYC watershed safer?At the end of October, Chesapeake

Energy, perhaps the largest naturalgas company in the nation, an-nounced that it would not drill onland it has leased in the New YorkCity watershed. This was hailed as asignal that the watershed will be spared.

However, it is common practice inthe gas industry for companies tolease as much land as possible whenleases are cheap, i.e., before landown-ers know the value of their mineralrights. Then the companies may “flip”leases and get, say, $10,000 per acrefor leases that cost them $100 peracre. Last year at about this time,Chesapeake sold a one-third stake inits Marcellus Shale leases to a Norwe-gian energy company for $3.38 billion.

So, Chesapeake may have decidednot to drill in the NYC watershed,

but it is still free to flip its Catskillleases to another firm.

DEC extends comment periodAfter the Atlantic Chapter of the

Sierra Club sounded the alarm onhorizontal hydrofacturing more thana year ago, Governor Paterson di-rected the DEC to review its regula-tions regarding gas drilling, whichhad not been updated since 1985.The result has been a one-yearde facto moratorium on gas drillingas the DEC set about writing aSupplemental Generic Environmen-tal Impact Statement (SGEIS).

But soon after the DEC releasedits voluminous draft at the end ofSeptember, it became clear that theSGEIS doesn’t come close to address-ing the concerns of those who feardevelopment of the Marcellus Shalewould come with unacceptable con-sequences.

After hearings this fall, and in re-sponse to broad public criticism ofits effort, the DEC extended the 60-day public comment period for 30days (until December 31), but manyactivists are asking that the DEC takeback its plan and start over. (SeeRoger Downs’ Albany Update, page 5.)

Gas skirmishes growcontinued from page 1


continued on page 9

by Charles C. Morrison

In an extensively documented let-ter dated August 27, the Chapter’sAdirondack Committee asked

DEC’s Commissioner Alexander B.“Pete” Grannis to enforce the state’spublic nuisance and public naviga-tion rights laws by requiring that theBrandreth Lake Association removeintimidating posted signs and a cablestrung across Shingle Shanty Brookin the Town of Long Lake, HamiltonCounty.

This blockage of an eminentlynavigable waterway on which thestate, in effect, holds a navigationaleasement in trust for the public,forces paddlers to make a one-milecarry over a very rough trail in theAdirondack Forest Preserve to avoidpaddling on Mud Pond, its outletstream and the lower part of ShingleShanty Brook, all of which flowthrough private land known as theShingle Shanty Preserve.

The Brandreth Lake Associationowns an 8,200-acre property adjoin-ing Shingle Shanty Preserve, and itclaims recreation rights on the15,582-acre preserve itself. Brandrethcontends that its greatly exaggerateddeeded recreation rights include ex-clusive use, for recreational purposes,

Club fights blockage of key Adirondack paddlers’ wonderland

of all of the surface waters on thepreserve, including rights on streamsand ponds that are navigable understate common law. Brandreth haschosen to ignore the state’s ease-ment, even though in truth it super-sedes all deeded rights.

The NYS Department of Environ-mental Conservation (DEC) hasnever addressed this challenge byBrandreth to the state’s ownership

interest. The Chapter’s letter,signed by Roger Gray and JohnNemjo (co-chairs of theAdirondacks Committee) andCharles Morrison, a committeemember, asks DEC to do so now.

After learning of the Club’scomplaint, Brandreth wrote toCommissioner Grannis on Octo-ber 9, offering a defense. In earlyNovember, the DEC indicated it

would soon send an interim replyto the Adirondack Committee.

Shingle Shanty Brook is a criticallink between the Little Tupper Lakearea and Lake Lila, in the WhitneyWilderness of the Adirondack For-est Preserve. From these lakes, pad-dlers can access Lows Lake and theBog River, the Five Ponds Wilder-ness and the Pigeon Lake Wilder-ness. The major watersheds of theAdirondacks join here — the dividefor the Hudson and St. Lawrencerivers.

There are hundreds of lakes,ponds and streams in this waterwonderland, an area that is secondonly to the Boundary Waters CanoeArea in Minnesota for recreationaland wilderness paddling in theLower 48. It is the heart of the areafor which the Atlantic Chapter hasproposed creation of the 500,000-acre Great Oswegatchie Canoe Wil-derness Area as a world-class pad-dling destination.

For more information, contactCharles C. Morrison, 88 CourtStreet, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866;[email protected];518-583-2212.

Charles Morrison sits on the Chapter’sAdirondacks Committee and heads itspublic navigation rights project.

Brandreth Lake Association is blocking access to a section of Shingle Shanty Brook, in theAdirondack Town of Long Lake, forcing canoers such as the editor of “Adirondack Explorer,” PhilBrown, above, to make a difficult mile-long portage.

by Dorian Dale

Before it launched what wouldbe a nationally recognized en-ergy efficiency retrofit program

for homes, the Town of Babylon hadto find innovative ways to fund andadminister the trail-blazing Long Is-land Green Homes (LIGH) project.

The first step was the addition ofa few words to Babylon’s standardsolid waste code. By citing carbon asenergy waste, the LIGH gained ac-cess to $2 million from its waste re-serve fund.

The next issue the town facedwas how the program would bill forthe completed work once each deepretrofit was completed. A dozen orso other pilot projects around thecountry apply the principles of PAYS(pay-as-you-save), using “on-bill fi-nancing,” usually utility bills. ANYSERDA white paper had endorsedon-bill financing and so the townasked the regional power authority ifit would provide this service, but itdeclined.

The town was obliged to devisean alternative. Many community im-provements, such as road work orsewer installations, are commonlybilled as benefit assessments. SoBabylon decided that once a homeretrofit had been completed, thetown would pay the contractor andbill the homeowner a monthly ben-efit assessment, usually a sum slightlyless than the actual savings on theutility bills. If the homeowner weredelinquent in payment, the balancewould be added to the property tax.

Thus, Babylon established a prop-erty assessed clean energy (PACE)program at approximately the sametime as the City of Berkeley, Califor-

nia, which is generally credited with‘pioneering’ PACE. As the town al-ready billed waste collection via arobust software platform, it was asimple matter of creating anotherinvoice. It should be noted that Ber-keley has focused on solar versusBabylon’s insistence on energy effi-ciency first.

This past summer, carbon wastelegislation introduced by Assembly-man Bob Sweeney and SenatorOwen Johnson affirmed that anymunicipality in New York which didnot have a waste improvement dis-trict could create one for the pur-poses of financing the reduction ofenergy waste in residences. Signedinto law in August, the legislationestablishes, in part, that, “Suchcharges (energy efficiency improve-ments installed or implemented onresidential properties) shall be alien upon the real property. A refuse

and garbage improvement districtcreated pursuant to this article mayinclude the prevention or reductionof waste matter consisting of car-bon components of energy wastefrom residential properties.”

The foundation of PACE programsis the property assessment. PACE isagnostic on the variety of financingas long as the retrofit loan is securedby the property. The financing canbe derived from various types ofbonds, commercial lending, powerpurchase agreements, and municipaloperating budget or, as in the case ofBabylon, a waste reserve fund.

How will PACE programs be fi-nanced moving forward? Berkeleyand Boulder, Colorado fund theirprograms with taxable micro-bonds.Portland, Oregon, which is complet-ing the first 40 units of its 500-housepilot, is offering terms that are at orbelow market interest rates with

longer than typical amortization peri-ods. In going to scale, Babylon recog-nizes that its internal resources willbe insufficient and that going to thebond market, particularly given cur-rent “moral obligation” provisos formunicipalities, is untenable if thelarger market appetite is to beserved. Government obligationbonds are adequate for the shortterm but fall far short of being ableto meet the magnitude of work.

Babylon is considering severalmechanisms to fund its PACE pro-grams over the long term. But finan-cial formulations are only one com-ponent for PACE program success.Long Island Green Homes programsucceeds because it provides one-stop retrofits that make it easy forhomeowners to make their housemore comfortable and affordable.Because of their unique relationshipto property, municipalities are ideallyconstituted to deliver this kind ofservice to property owners. Previ-ous efficiency programs consistentlyfailed to optimize the parts and de-liver them as a working whole.

The landscape is spattered withlow-interest energy loan programsthat didn’t make it out of first gear.For example, in 2007, Fannie Maeunderwrote 1,007 low-interest en-ergy efficiency mortgages nation-wide. NYSERDA’s Home Perfor-mance with Energy Star financingprogram, offerings loans of 4.9% to5.9%, attracted an average of lessthan 700 loans per year from 2001-07. The recently passed Green Jobs/Green New York legislation hasstaked out a goal of one million retro-fits over five years. This objectiveclearly will not be met if it relies ex-

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continued from page 8clusively on attractive loan rates.

Federal loan guarantees would nodoubt be helpful. But the vicissitudesof the marketplace have underminedprevious approaches, including CleanRenewable Energy Bonds and Quali-fied Energy Conservation Bonds,which haven’t filled the bill. FederalPACE legislation will bring clout tothe process so that lenders can’tclaim discomfort with PACE as un-tested. One thing is certain. All theattention being lavished on this effi-ciency sector can’t help but contrib-ute mightily to the most importantpart of this equation: consumerawareness and market movement.

On November 17, the New Yorklegislature unanimously passed whatwas ballyhooed as PACE legislation,ostensibly the 16th state to do so,adding a welcome layer to Sweeney-Johnson’s property-assessed/wastelaw. Vital federal loan support, in theform of PACE legislation, is now ondeck in Washington, sponsored by Con-gressman Steve Israel.Dorian Dale is energy director and sus-tainability officer for the Town ofBabylon.

Green retrofit

by Hal Smith

M any of us associate Floridawith urban sprawl, endlessstrip malls, gated ghettos for

retirees, and high-rise condos oncrowded beaches devoid of plantsand wildlife. Dizzyland.

That stereotype may apply to largeportions of Florida, but it doesn’tdescribe Old Florida enclaves suchas Apalachicola, one of the state’s fewremaining fishing towns. It is aquaint village on the Gulf Coast ofthe state’s panhandle, with one traf-fic light, fewer than 2,500 residentsand more than 200 homes and build-ings on the National Register fromthe period when “Apalach,” as thelocals call it, was the third-largestport on the Gulf. In the 1800s, therowdy boomtown had the state’sfirst opera house as well as its firstrace track.

What makes Apalach a specialplace for eco-tourism is theApalachicola River, which drains oneof the last pristine watersheds in theU.S. and feeds one of the most pro-ductive estuaries in North America— shallow Apalachicola Bay, whichsupplies 90 percent of Florida’s oys-ters and ten percent of those con-sumed in the U.S. The river made thetown a commercial success in the19th century, when about 200 steam-boats brought cotton from the DeepSouth to the Gulf. Today the riverdraws sport fishers and eco-touriststo what is arguably the mostbiodiverse ecosystem in the nation.

Apalach is the seat of FranklinCounty, more than 87 percent ofwhich is either state- or federally-protected land. With so much unde-veloped acreage, the river/bay water-shed remains one of the most impor-

tant bird habitats in the Southeast,where both the Mississippi and At-lantic flyways converge. The longleafpine savannah in the ApalachicolaNational Forest shelters the world’slargest population of the “recovering”red-cockaded woodpecker. Prothono-tary warblers, stunning yellow birdsthat excite birdwatchers, breed here,too, and don’t seem especially skit-tish around people. And more spe-cies of fish live in the ApalachicolaRiver (about 130) than any otherriver in the state. The county is alsohome to the threatened Florida blackbear, the endangered West Indianmanatee and gray bats.

Apalachicola hosts one of 25 sitesnationwide designated as a researchreserve by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration. Accord-ing to the Apalachicola National Es-tuarine Research Reserve (ANERR),the second largest in the nation, theFlorida Panhandle is one of thenation’s six “biological hot spots,”along with Hawaii, the southern Ap-palachians, San Franciso Bay area,Death Valley and Southern California.

For that reason, visitors will findmore than a dozen local outfittersoffering eco-tours, including canoeand kayak trips through shallowbays, sandy coves, black water cy-press swamps and marshes. Campersand hikers can enjoy about one mil-lion acres protected as a nationalwildlife refuge, or state or nationalforests or parks.

The bay has the most diverse con-centration of herpofauna — reptiles

and amphibians — in the world, saysSeth Blitch, ANERR’s manager. Withthe help of local volunteers, ANERR’sresearch includes the loggerheadturtles who nest on the beaches of St.George Island, a nearby barrier island.About 150 of the turtles, weighing upto 300 pounds, nest there every year.The southeastern U.S. has more log-gerhead nesting sites than any placein the world, excepting a limited areain the Middle East. And the Panhandleis the best loggerhead site in Florida.

Franklin County also has theworld’s largest stand of tupelo trees(producing the only kind of honeysafe for diabetics) as well as the larg-

Apalachicola: Old Florida’s gem of biodiversity

est concentration of native carnivo-rous pitcher plants, covering hun-dreds of acres known as “bugle flats.”

Of course, kayaking, sailing, hiking,swimming, fishing, birdwatching, andgeneral barefoot living does work upan appetite. The area supports about30 restaurants, from oyster bars toupscale fine dining. That’s a surpris-ing number considering that it’s a 90-minute drive from the nearest smallcity, Tallahassee.

But tourists, well-off retirees, andsummer residents bring in enoughrevenue for the restaurants as well asthe village’s art galleries, B&Bs, bou-tiques, and antiques shops. St. GeorgeIsland, for example, is being colo-nized by folks who can afford sec-ond homes on the beach worth $2to $3 million (at least before the lastbubble burst on Wall Street).

Apalach, with the largest collec-tion of pre-Civil War architecture inFlorida, is one of the “distinctive des-tinations” cited annually by the Na-tional Trust for Historic Preservation.It’s sometimes called Florida’s “lastfrontier,” and, indeed, it is still thekind of place where you can walkeverywhere, hang out on your frontporch and pass some time with yourneighbors. Conversation is apt toturn to Florida’s latest real estatecollapse or, perhaps, the plummetingprice of wild shrimp, which com-petes with “farmed” shrimp fromAsia. And still the Apalachicola Riverjust keeps on rolling along.

Hal Smith, a freelance writer, co-editsthe Sierra Atlantic.

Harbors that once receivedsteamboats bearing cotton arenow home base for fishing, shrimpand oyster boats in historic Apalachicola,on the Gulf coast of the Florida Panhandle.

Explore, Enjoy, Protect

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Spring and fall areApalachicola’s shoulder sea-sons, when crowds are thin,accommodations are plentiful,and moderate temperaturesare ideal for hiking, birdwatching, and paddling. Log-gerhead nesting season startsin May.

• For general information,contact the Franklin CountyTourist Development Council,www.anaturalescape.com,1-866-914-2068.

• Apalachicola National Es-tuarine Research Reserve,www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/apalachicola/info.htm

If you go

A boatman poles his way acrossshallow Apalachicola Bay at sunset.

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‘350’ climate action: Metrics for success not always in turnout numbers

Part of what he was doing wasshowing us how much we can all doto save the planet without makingour lives miserable. In fact, his family’squality of life went up. In his newmovie, “No Impact Man,” there is ascene when the two-year-old daugh-ter asks why the TV is being takenaway, and the mom said, “Mommy is alittle addicted to the TV.” With every-body being tapped into electronics,they have less time to be together asfamilies. But this family now hadmuch more time to spend together,and they became a better family.

As he gained momentum, he gotpublicity. By the end of the year,many newspapers and talk showhosts had interviewed Colin, andnow he has 1,500 people who aregoing to try to have no carbon foot-print for one week. By having noimpact on the environment, Colinmade a huge impact on society.

Roz Savage is a petite Englishwoman who basically had the dreamlife — plenty of money, a big houseand a little sports car. But when shelooked at where her life was goingand where she wanted it to go, sherealized that if she didn’t do some-thing fast, she would not be whereshe wanted. Roz decided to row

across oceans to raise awarenessabout plastic pollution and climatechange. She has rowed solo acrossthe Atlantic Ocean and half of thePacific in a custom-built 1,000-poundrowboat. It has a closed bow andstern where she can store food likeenergy bars and beans for sprouting.She can go to the stern and buckleherself in if it’s stormy, so the boatcan just roll. At one of the islandsshe stopped at, global warming isvery real. If the polar ice caps melt,the whole island would be underwater. Many people don’t care be-cause they live far away from the sea,but is that really what we want forour fellow humans?

Alison Gannett was a worldchampion free skier. She is knownfor her natural skill and guts for go-ing down sheer slopes and jumping50-foot ledges. She was putting out20 metric tons of CO

2 per year, like

the average U.S. household, until shesuffered a career-ending injury.

All the time she had spent skiing,she decided she would put towardsenvironmentalism. Alison now livesin a clay and straw house and getsand cooks as much of her food lo-cally as possible. She drives a hybridelectric SUV that gets 100 miles pergallon, has solar hot water panels

and an indoor greenhouse. Alisontravels the world by bike presentingher slide show that shows how youcan become carbon neutral. She willfly to a speaking engagement only ifshe already has plans for somewherein that area. Now she puts out onlyeight tons of CO

2 per year and hopes

to get it down to two.

It’s 2:00 in the afternoon, five dayslater, and all 150 of us have made itto Washington, D.C., and are huddledunder the overhang of the SwedishEmbassy three miles from the Capi-tol. It’s raining again. The surface ofthe Potomac is covered in minisculesplashes. When the downpour ends,we start biking on Pennsylvania Av-enue as one big mass, blocking twolanes of traffic and running red lights.Pedestrians and drivers are amazedwhen we tell them we biked fromNew York. At the base of the Capitollawn, we bike around and around astatue chanting, “What do we want?Climate bill! When do we want it?Now!” Minutes later, the Capitol lawnis strewn with muddy bikes. I holdmy bike over my head to celebratethe victory. I have been inspired onthis trip to do something to help theplanet and, in my turn, I hope I caninspire others.

continued from page 1

Peddling into action for climate change

by Catherine Hiller

What are you hoping for?”asked David. Our Cool Citiesgroup was discussing the

climate change rally that was onlythree days away. In the previousweeks, we had worked hard, gettingpermissions and insurance, contact-ing other environmental groups,planning activities, preparing litera-ture, inviting speakers. Now we werepondering: at the end of the Interna-tional Day of Climate Action, whatwould victory look like? Or, as David,a banker, now phrased it, “What areyour metrics for success?”

This was a tough question. When Iorganized a Step It Up rally in 2007in support of limiting greenhousegas emissions, I had been disap-pointed to get only 150 people tocome to the beach on a warm springday. It was nothing like the giant ral-lies of my youth.

So preparing for a 350.org actionon October 24, with heavy rain inthe forecast, I did not have great ex-pectations. Still, I knew more aboutorganizing this time around and hadgotten promises of articles in localnewspapers the day before the rally.And climate change was constantlyin the news. People would come toour event because they cared aboutthe future of the planet.

“I’d be happy with 200 people,” Itold David. I was assuming local fami-lies would want to be part of themost widespread political action inhuman history. (Final tally: 5,241events in 181 countries.) I was bet-ting that some of my non-environ-mentalist friends would show up, ifonly to create a sand sculpture on

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the beach at Harbor Island Park inMamaroneck, and eat homemade cup-cakes provided by the high school Ecoclub. I was thinking that because Iwrote “Rain or Shine” on every flyer,people would flock to the stone pa-vilion by the beach even if it rained.

Well, it rained most of the day, andThe Journal News, our regional news-paper, put our total attendance at 30.

But the newspaper also put a pho-tograph of our sand sculpture 350 onthe front page of their Sunday edition

and explained what the conceptmeant: 350 parts of carbon per mil-lion parts of air is the safe upperlimit for the planet.

Our village newspaper printed along story before the event and atwo- page spread after it.

Our e-newsletter published ourlengthy press release in advance anda story and photographs afterwards.

And I realized that the success ofan action like ours is not only deter-mined by the number of attendees it

attracts but also by its impact. Wewanted to educate the communityby drawing them to our rally, butinstead we educated them whenthey saw a flyer, when they openedtheir newspaper, and when theyclicked online. Our rally was admit-tedly small, but the media amplifiedits message so that tens of thousandsof people learned more about cli-mate change, the most importantissue of our time.

The day after the rally, I calledDavid to say, “My hopes were totallyfulfilled. It met my metrics for suc-cess!”Catherine Hiller was Chapter coordina-tor for the International Day of ClimateAction on October 24.

The Atlantic Chapter’s “StopClimate Change” petition hasbeen signed by nearly 3,000people, showing significant sup-port for the demand that theUnited States demonstrate lead-ership and responsibility in fa-cilitating a science-based andinternationally enforceablegreenhouse gas emissions treatyat Copenhagen this December.

With atmospheric carbondioxide levels at 389 parts permillion, scientists predict we areclimbing rapidly toward likelyworldwide catastrophe.

Our chapter petition is only amodest effort to do somethingto halt the climb and begin toreverse a trend which will bringsocial, economic and environ-mental crisis. Copies of the peti-tions have been sent to some ofour major American leaders.

HUGH MITCHELL, CO-CHAIR

GLOBAL WARMING COMMITTEE

3,000 sign petitionto curb climate change

Organizer Catherine Hiller was betting that some of her non-environmentalist friends would show up at the “350” rally on Long IslandSound, if only to create a sand sculpture on the beach and eat homemade cupcakes provided by the high school Eco club.


New mouse classic: ‘The Sloth and the Bow Saw’

by Betsy Naselli

English ivy? Philodendron? Howabout African violets? Thesemight sound like tasty dinner

items to a white fly or Japanesebeetle, but for humans a plant-baseddiet is something else altogether. Aplant-based diet is a vegan diet,meaning one consumes no animalproducts, but a vegan diet may ormay not be a plant-based diet. Whena vegan eats vegan cupcakes withsoy cream cheese frosting, soy dogs,Tofurkey, veggie burgers with non-dairy cheese and packaged vegancookies he is not consuming a plant-based diet.

I’ve talked before in this columnabout eating whole foods and elimi-nating refined foods from your diet,but recently I watched “Eating,” amovie which made me focus onwhole foods once again.

Two out of every three people inAmerica will develop disease be-cause of the SAD (standard Americandiet) — even following the govern-ment guidelines for a healthy diet! Tolearn more about “Eating,” check outwww.ravediet.com.

Some facts about human nutrition:• All cholesterol in the human diet

comes from animal foods.• The human body produces all

the cholesterol it needs.• The human body has no need

for animal foods.• The majority of saturated fat

in the human diet comes fromanimal foods.

What’s a plant-based diet?

They’ll say of me some day: “Hemade a career of botheringwhite-footed mice.”

With cold weather upon us, I’vebeen remembering the most recenttime it happened. It was last Decem-ber, about 8 feet up in a Scotch pinetree. It’s happened before that, onwoodpiles in which white-footedmice were living; at bird houseswhere white-footed mice also wereliving; in storage cans filled with sun-flower seeds where white-footedmice were eating without permission.

Last December’s clash was arbo-real. It featured me and two white-footed mice who were sleeping.

There I clung, wrapped around aresin-bearing organism in a jackettoo good for the job. Two legs andone hand grasped the Scotch pinetrunk. The other hand held a bowsaw bent on surgery.

Moving slowly, feeling kinshipwith three-toed sloths, I maneuveredfor position. Above me rose 6 feet ofnicely tapering treetop. My task wasto sever it without commotion anddrag it to the living room, there to

adorn it with flying geese, elves play-ing tubas and other ornaments.

I maneuvered. I steadied myself. Ibegan cutting the 4-inch trunk.

As pine wood is soft and bowsaws are sharp, it wasn’t a wink be-fore crashdown appeared imminent.

“Wait a minute.”My better half was calling. She

was standing on the ground, ponder-ing marriage to a man who hugspine trees, when something had

caught her eye.“There’s a mouse in your tree,” she

said. “See it up there?”Hugging the trunk, with branches

and needles poking me from allangles, I tried to look up and seemice. A blop of snow hit me in theface. I couldn’t see anything and toldher so.

“It’s right above you, next to thatnest.”

There it was all right, perched ona pine bough by a mass of driedgrasses the size of a bowling ball: atiny wonderful rodent staring downwith luminous eyes.

“There’s another one,” said groundcontrol. A brown shape, soft as velvet,dashed from the nest and scurriedtoward the top of the pine.

Great. Just great. In the name ofChristmas tree hunting, I was aboutto ruin a mouse yuletide.

“There’s nothing I can do now,” Isaid. “I’ve just about cut through thetree. If I don’t finish, it’ll blow downwith the first wind.”

Sad but true. The mice, industrioussouls who often maintain more than

one nest anyway, would have tomove elsewhere.

I shook the trunk a bit, hopingthey would run from the tree weshared to another whose branchesintermingled with it. The mice heldtheir ground and stared, big earsperked forward, whiskers twitching.A second round of gentle shakingconvinced them. Across the branchesthey ran, one following the other.Down the trunk of the neighboringtree, across frozen ground, into asnow-covered brush pile — thesemice knew right where to go.

They must have been using“Mouse Plan B,” the one that states:“When primary nest is disturbed, fallback to nearby brush pile.”

I’m convinced they made out fine.White-footed mice eat things likehemlock, birch and maple seeds —food that’s available all winter. As fora nest, they can whip one together ofmilkweed fluff or thistledown in notime.

I’ll bet, within five minutes of ourdeparture, they were cuddling underthat brush pile, friends gatheredround, recounting an exciting tale ofhow they met a monster face-to-faceand survived. “The Sloth and the BowSaw” they probably called it. Nodoubt it’s become a mouse classic.

Naturalist Rick Marsi, a member of theSusquehanna Group, is a journalist,public speaker and leader of eco-tours.His book of favorite nature columns isWheel of Seasons, available atwww.rickmarsi.com. ©2009 Rick Marsi

• Everything the human body re-quires for excellent health can befound in plant-based foods.

• The main fuel that the humanbody utilizes for energy: carbohy-drates and simple sugars.

• Carbohydrates or simple sugarsin meat: none.

• For proper evacuation and ahealthy colon, we need plenty offiber in our diet. Amount of fiber inmeat and dairy products: none.

• Amount of protein a baby re-ceives from mother’s milk: about 5-8% protein.

• Too much protein is linked toosteoporosis and kidney problems.

• Eating a diet rich in animal foodshas been linked with heart disease,many cancers, including those of thebreast and prostate, stroke, diabetes,and other degenerative diseases.

Try these super easy recipes to getyou started on a plant-based diet forthe new year.

Artichoke Hummus Dipone 14-oz. can artichoke hearts

(canned in water), drainedone 15-oz. can garbanzo beans,

drained2 T lemon juice1 garlic clove, chopped2 whole green onions, chopped1 tsp. cumin1 tsp. corianderpepper to tastecayenne to taste (optional)Combine all ingredients in a food

processor and blend until smooth.

Lime Mango Salad2 C cooked brown rice1 can black beans, drained and

rinsed1 mango, peeled and dicedred or Vidalia onion diced to tastecilantrograted lime rind1 lime, squeezedCombine all the above.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Soupwith Shiitake Mushrooms

(Serves 4)1 large onion, sliced thinly6 garlic cloves, minced2 C fresh or dried shiitake mush-

rooms, sliced (soak dried shiitakesfor a half hour in warm water beforeslicing)

4 C vegetable broth2 C water11/2 C lentils1 large sweet potato, scrubbed

and diced, skin ok to use1 bay leaf1/4 C basil, thinly slicedpepper to taste In a large pan, saute onion,

mushrooms and garlic for three tofour minutes until leeks are soft.

Stir in broth, water, lentils, sweetpotato, and bay leaf.

Bring to boil, then simmer un-covered until lentils and sweet pota-toes are soft, about 30-40 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and puree twocups of soup until smooth; return topot, stir in basil and pepper to taste.

Serve as is or over rice witha salad.

Remember, it is easy to keepcanned beans in the pantry, cookedrice and some cleaned and dicedveggies in the refrigerator. Add somevinegar or lemon or lime juice and adash of oil and you have a quickhealthy meal in a flash!

Betsy Naselli owns The Holistic LifestyleCompany in the Syracuse area.www.TheHolisticLifestyleCompany.comThe Atlantic Chapter encourages you to movetoward a plant-based diet to protect the environ-ment and human health and to make better use ofnatural resources. To learn more and to receivemore recipes, contact the Biodiversity/VegetarianOutreach Committee at [email protected] 315-488-2140, and the Farm and Food Com-mittee at [email protected], or goto www.newyork.sierraclub.org/ and in the“Select an Issue” dropdown list select“Biodiversity/Vegetarian Outreach” and “Agri-culture.”

Linda DeStefano, chair of theChapter’s Biodiversity/VegetarianOutreach Committee, has updated ahandout, “Don’t Eat a Cow, Man!How Animal Agriculture Adds to Glo-bal Warming.”

The new version includes somestudies not included in the earlierone. It’s available from her in hardcopy (call 315-488-2140, or [email protected], or writeto her at 5031 Onondaga Road, Syra-cuse, NY 13215-1403), or it can bedownloaded at newyork.sierraclub.org/conservation/biodiversity/biodiversity.html.

Free update improves‘Don’t Eat a Cow, Man’

Wheel of Seasonsby Rick Marsi


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IroquoisTake time to look at what you’ve accomplished for the environment

While we all seem to be fighting the rulemakers to save something, it isgood to think about the positive actions our group has taken for the environ-ment. So here is our list:

• Cleaning the beautiful miles of beach on Lake Ontario each spring. Led byRich Slingerland and a retired park ranger, the cleanup is always a rewardingexperience (even if the amount of trash can be discouraging).

• Leading the recycling efforts at the Corporate Challenge race in June. Theeducation of the hundreds in attendance and sorting huge amounts ofrecyclables are led by Lisa Daly. It can be a dirty job, but the positive resultsare a win: the recent cleanup of an old “party site.” The removal of two hugegarbage bags of broken glass and rusty cans will make it possible for the el-ementary school to use the rest of its Nature Trail in safety.

• Iroquois Group really enjoyed the chapter meeting here in October. Manyof our members were able to attend and remarked on the efficiency and ac-complishments of the weekend. Bravo to all who helped make the meeting/retreat a success.

• With cooperation of the Onondaga Nation and others, we held an infor-mational meeting on the hydrofracking issue in early November that, althoughplanned with not much media lead, had more than 100 in attendance. Wehave scheduled two “action” meetings in early December to provide details on“how to” for contacting all elected leaders and the media to protest the poorplanning and dangers of the direction this seems to be going.

As always, we are involved with the cleanup of Onondaga Lake and nowthe new long-term study of what to do with I-81 that bisects the city of Syra-cuse. It has to be fixed, and the decision on how will be better conceived thanthe original plan years ago. It probably will be as difficult as the lake cleanuphas been.

MARTHA LOEW

Group Roundup

NiagaraPlan to drill for oil in Allegany State Park spurs action

The plan of US Energy & Development, Inc., to drill for oil in Allegany StatePark spurred the Niagara Group, led by Conservation Chair Larry Beahan, intoaction. Contact with local state legislators, testimony at public hearings, pro-test marches filmed by local television stations, letters to the editor and actionthrough the Chapter all highlighted the dangers of the exploitation of ourstate parks for oil and gas development. A coalition has been formed opposingthe newly developed mega-hydrofracturing for gas in Marcellus shale forma-tions in state parks which endanger streams, forests and aquifers. The dangeris evident in Pennsylvania, where US Energy & Development was cited forsome 300 violations of environmental regulations, and where the destructionof water wells, agricultural land, and fish kills in streams by toxic chemicalshave been documented.

Arctic organizer Kit McGurn spoke at the University of Buffalo and DaemenCollege at the invitation of Ron Missel of our Group. The fascinating presenta-tion reached 80 people and spotlighted the Sierra Club’s efforts to protectcaribou, polar bear, bird species and whales from oil drilling and explorationin Alaska’s North Slope. An increase in US automobile gas efficiency to 39miles per gallon would in 40 years’ time save more than 10 times the amountof the total oil supply on the slope.

The Niagara Group joined a coalition of other environmental organizationsfor a 200-person turnout at the 350 Day rally and march in Buffalo October 24.

Our members testified at state public hearings on the issues of oil and gasdrilling in state parks, clean water, wetlands, the West Valley nuclear waste sitecleanup, and the Chemical Waste Management hazardous waste site expansionplan. We have also endorsed, written letters, and made phone calls on behalfof local environmentally active candidates.

ROBERT CIESIELSKI

by Robbyn McKie-Holzworth

Low impact development (LID) is one of the most cost-effective strategiesto help states, cities, and individuals deal with water supply challenges,clean up water resources and curb global warming. LID was one of the

key points delivered by speakers at a recent conference, Smart, Green andClean: 21st Century Water Management in the Great Lakes, in Buffalo. It ex-plored “greener and cleaner” means of dealing with storm water runoff. If wa-ter is saved and used where it falls, it reduces the amount of water that ispumped — an activity which is high on energy consumption and the produc-tion of CO

2. Additionally, capturing water can reduce the need for desalination

and purification of ocean water — another high energy practice.LID is a holistic solution to storm water concerns because water is saved

and repurposed, thus minimizing the waste of our water resources and thestress on local streams, rivers and coastal waters.

Some of the tools that were discussed under the LID umbrella were: • Permeable pavement that allows rainwater to filter into the earth to

recharge local groundwater supplies • Rain barrels that capture rainwater for use in landscaping, gardening

and, in the future, use for home non-drinking water needs such as toilets • Green roofs that reduce the “heat island” effect from solar radiation in

urban settings, filter pollutants, allow for rain water evaporation, cut down onground erosion and provide air quality improvements

Hal Sprague, from the Center for Neighborhood Technology(www.greenvalues.cnt.org), discussed how global climate change challengesour current storm water runoff management systems. During the second halfof the 1900s we have already witnessed a 36% increase in the intensity ofstorms and weather systems which tax an already stressed infrastructure. Also,with an increase in development and land consumption without permeablesurfaces, runoff increases and groundwater reserves are not recharged whenrainwater is diverted. He added that his group found the following benefits tothe “green” approach to storm water management:

• Green roofs provide thermal energy savings on public buildings, yield-ing cost and energy savings on heating and cooling.

• Planting urban forests to provide approximately a 10% increase in thecanopy cover yields a 5-10% energy savings; trees absorb storm water runoff,aid in CO

2 absorption and increase property values.

• Rain gardens/vegetated swales aid in absorbing water runoff, can belocated anywhere and can be done on a large or small scale. Plus, they addbeauty to an area while improving air quality.

Sara Pesek, from the Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University,cited the benefits of community involvement. Community rain gardens may becoordinated by a public organization but installed with volunteer help. Somesuccessful examples have been established in Kansas City (www.rainKC.com),and in two New York communities: Fairhaven and Oswego.Robbyn McKie-Holzworth, a member of the Rochester Group, serves on the Great LakesCommittee.

Cost-effective LID strategiessave, repurpose water

Documents

Sierra Atlantic - Winter 2009