RIVERKEEPER Educates Anglers about Polluted Fish

Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER^® and GROW 716 are piloting a mobile messaging campaign called “Catch Of the Day.” Anglers are encouraged to text COD to 877-877, which then directs them to online information about local fish consumption advisories and healthier ways to eat local fish. The campaign encourages picture sharing of their “catch” on the GROW 716 webpage to show the incredible success of Western New York anglers! "Catch Of the Day" photos are posted to our facebook page: facebook/BNRiverkeeper

We have received some great press coverage from local and national media!  

Article in the Buffalo News: "Buffalo [Niagara] Riverkeeper educates immigrant anglers about dangers of WNY fish"

Associated Press article "Campaign teaches NY immigrants about polluted fish"

Read the article in the Wall Street Journal

Informational materials and booklets can be obtained by contacting Ba Zan Lin at 852-7483 ext 26 or blin@bnriverkeeper.org. Online information is available at EatFishWNY.org.

Share your fish photos and tell your friends to text COD to 877-877!!

Help Restore Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River

Restore Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River Submit comments and attend an upcoming public hearing

The health of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River has been significantly damaged by fifty years of poor regulation that solely benefited power generation and shipping. Wetlands have been destroyed, fish populations have dwindled, and wildlife has disappeared. We have the chance to change this, and Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River need your voice. After thousands like you demanded action, the International Joint Commission (IJC) finally proposed a new regulation plan, known as Plan 2014 (a slightly revised version of the proposed Plan Bv7). Plan 2014 is a modern plan that achieves a balance of benefits for all interests. Plan 2014 will benefit the environment and economy while improving hydroelectric power generation. This plan will make significant progress toward restoring the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario after more than half a century of environmentally damaging regulation. Plan 2014 is open for public comment, and public hearings have been scheduled. Please take a moment to take action today for a healthier Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River. What you can do: Submit an online comment in support of Plan 2014. This will take just a few minutes and will send a strong message in support of a healthy lake and river. Simply tell the IJC: You strongly support the implementation of Plan 2014. Plan 2014 is a modern plan that benefits all interests and will help to restore the ecosystem of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Attend an upcoming public hearing. The International Joint Commission is holding public hearings on Plan 2014 in July. Your voice, speaking out for the health of the River and Lake, is critical now more than ever. Hearings in New York Sunday, July 14 Tuesday, July 16 Wednesday, July 17 6:00 - 9:00 pm Cornell Cooperative Extension 4487 Lake Avenue Lockport, NY Meeting Room: 4-H Training Center 6:00 - 9:00 pm Central High School 5891 Route 21 Williamson, NY Meeting Room: Auditorium 6:00 - 9:00 pm Bonnie Castle 31 Holland Street Alexandria Bay, NY More info from the IJC on Plan 2014 Thank you for taking action. Together we make a difference! Sincerely, All of Us at CCE Citizens Campaign for the Environment 225A Main Street Farmingdale, NY 11735 516-390-7150 | Fax: 516-390-7160 6 Regional Offices in New York and Connecticut

Water Pollution: Tonawanda Coke discharges Toxic Cyanide

Things do NOT go better with Tonawanda Coke.
The Buffalo area company that produces foundry coke for the steel industry has already been cited by the EPA for pollution of the air with carcinogenic benzene (and what about the land? -- see blackened area on the map).
Now EPA finds the company is discharging toxic cyanide into the water!

[Click image to enlarge]

EPA Issues Order to Tonawanda Coke for Clean Water Act Violations
In its ongoing efforts to require Tonawanda Coke Corporation (TCC) to comply with environmental regulations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered the coke manufacturing facility to comply with its Clean Water Act permit. Among other violations, Tonawanda Coke Corporation is discharging industrial wastewater containing cyanide in excess of its permit limits into the town of Tonawanda’s sanitary sewer system, which ultimately discharges into the Niagara River from the town’s wastewater treatment facility. Cyanide is a toxic chemical compound, and excessive amounts may adversely impact human health, fish and wildlife. EPA is also ordering TCC to properly monitor and treat the wastewater that results from the coke-making process. Under EPA’s order, TCC is required to complete the overdue installation of pollution controls, improve monitoring and provide additional information about operations at the facility.

"Cyanide is toxic and cannot be discharged in amounts that exceed the limits specified in the facility’s permit," said Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. "If left unchecked and uncontrolled, industrial discharges pollute the environment and may threaten public health. We will continue to work with the state to identify and get the company to rectify the many violations of various environmental laws at this facility."

"Failure to abide by the Clean Water Act can result in chemicals and contamination reaching our waterways," said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis. "We will continue to work with EPA to vigorously monitor Tonawanda Coke and ensure that all environmental laws are being followed."
Read more here...


EPA cites coke plant for cyanide violations
Elevated levels put into sewer system
By Mark Sommer
Tonawanda Coke is in hot water with the Environmental Protection Agency again.
This time it’s for putting elevated amounts of cyanide into the Town of Tonawanda’s sanitary sewer system, which ultimately discharges into the Niagara River after being treated.

The EPA on Thursday ordered the coke manufacturing plant to comply with its Clean Water Act permit and to properly monitor and treat the wastewater that results from the coke-making process. The EPA order follows several get-tough actions it has taken in the past year to force Tonawanda Coke to comply with federal regulations, especially over high levels of the carcinogen benzene.

Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of WNY, expressed alarm at the illegal levels of cyanide that have been discharged, while praising the EPA for its diligence with Tonawanda Coke. “The EPA is really following through on its notices of violation issued in January,” she said. “They didn’t just come and do a big presentation and leave; they are really making sure that Tonawanda Coke will have safer operations.”

Melissa Brinson, a Town of Tonawanda mother of four, agreed. “They’re taking action now, and I’m really glad to see that. But the big question is, how long has this gone on, and what are the long-term health implications?”
The full report is at BuffaloNews.com.

Restore the Greatness of our Great Lakes

Fouling our own waters
Government, individual effort needed to keep sewage, pollutants out of lakes
EDITORIAL - The Buffalo News

When it goes down the drain -- or down the toilet -- it is because we don't want it in our houses or in our streets.

Nor should we want it on our beaches. But, according to a new report from the National Resources Defense Council, that is where a lot of our runoff and sewage goes, all too often without the benefit of being run through a proper treatment process first.

The fact that recreational beaches along the Great Lakes and elsewhere are being closed to swimmers more often than in the past is an indication that something is wrong. But, says the council, those alerts are only the tip of a very dirty iceberg.

A study released early this week reported that five cities, including Buffalo, dumped 41 billion gallons of storm water runoff and untreated sewage into the Great Lakes last year, through what are known as combined sewer overflows. That may get diluted in the more than 6 quadrillion gallons in the lakes, but it's still as much water as goes over Niagara Falls in 15 hours -- and it's a health risk. Read more here.

Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Buffalo
Wednesday, September 22 – Friday, September 24
Adams Mark Hotel, Buffalo, NY


NY bans phosphorus in detergent, lawn fertilizer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A new law to improve water quality makes it illegal for stores in New York to stock fresh supplies of household dishwasher detergents that contain phosphorus.

Stores have 60 days to sell old inventories. Sales for commercial use are to end July 1, 2013. Starting in 2012, a similar ban will apply to lawn fertilizers.

Environmental officials say phosphorus drains into New York lakes and rivers, which turn green with algae, degrading drinking water and reducing oxygen that fish need. More than 100 bodies of water in the state are considered impaired, including Cayuga Lake and Lake Champlain. Read more at BuffaloNews.com.
Senator Antoine Thompson sponsored this bill.

Invasive Water Plants Removed from Tonawanda Creek
Tonawanda Creek flows into the Niagara River upstream from Lake Ontario. Invasive water chestnut plants that covered a 6 acre region of Tonawanda Creek including parts of the Erie Canal have been removed recently to curtail their spread. Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER mobilized volunteers who worked in conjunction with U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Great Lakes Fish and Conservation Office which operated a mechanical harvester and with Erie County Parks personnel who loaded the plants into dump trucks and hauled them away.

See the WIVB TV News report below:



Woodlawn hides some varied and valuable wetlands
By Gerry Rising
It is sad to see Woodlawn Beach, one of this area’s prime bathing areas, closed to swimming this summer. That one of the Great Lakes has areas so polluted [is a] testament to our abuse of the resources with which we have been blessed. Read more at BuffaloNews.com.

Clean Energy in Offshore Wind

Five offshore windmill proposals received for lakes Erie, Ontario
By Mark Sommer

Five proposals have been received to construct offshore windmills in Lake Erie and/or Lake Ontario.

Richard M. Kessel, New York Power Authority’s president and chief executive officer, announced Friday that a review process will get under way that is expected to end with one or more developers selected by early 2011.

Mayor Paul Dyster of Niagara Falls, an environmental advocate who then ran for political office, said the BP oil leak was a reminder of the need to push for environmental change.

Brian Smith, Western New York program director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, also praised the move toward harnessing the wind in the Great Lakes.

"We can walk in a new direction towards a cleaner, safer energy future for our Great Lakes. We can break our dependency on fossil fuels, and begin a new energy future by investing in clean, renewable, domestic wind energy,” Smith said. Read more here.

In another article, it was stated that the goal is to erect a cluster of about 40 to 166 wind turbines directly on the lake to generate a minimum capacity of 120 megawatts of power. Sharon Laudisi of the State Power Authority stressed that there would be a long process of environmental review, and that issues such as aesthetics would come into play. Also, turbines would be located possibly five to six miles away from the shoreline, as reported in The Buffalo News.

Oil leak underscores need for offshore wind projects
By Brian Smith
If we are serious about getting off of fossil fuels, and serious about a renewable energy future, we must fully examine offshore wind in our Great Lakes. Read more here.

Focus on wind power, energy conservation
Regarding the May 10 editorial, “Nuclear power now,” the quickest path to reduced dependence on foreign oil involves energy conservation and wind power. Unlike nuclear power, a typical land-based wind project can be built in as little as three years. In the Great Lakes region, there is enough wind resource to meet all our energy needs.

With improvements to the grid, wind power can act as “base load” energy because the wind is almost always generating commercial quantities of power somewhere within the wider region. Currently, when it is windy, up to 15 percent of Erie and Wyoming counties’ electricity demand is being generated by the wind facilities located in these two counties.

The wind subsidies The News criticized result from flawed public policy. Ontario’s Green Energy Act incentivizes renewable energy with policies similar to those the U. S. government used to retool American industry in 1942. Last year the program generated $9 billion in private investment commitments as well as enough renewable projects to produce about 75 percent of the output of Rochester’s Ginna Nuclear Power facility. Ontario’s renewable energy program is really a “high value industrial development” program designed to generate tens of thousands of high-paying industrial jobs.

Derek Bateman
Buffalo

Video link to presentation on Ontario’s Green Energy Act is here.