Rep. Higgins to Introduce McMurray at Endorsed Candidate Event

The Sierra Club Niagara Group is holding an Endorsed Challengers Meet & Greet Rally which will be FREE and open to the general public. This is an opportunity to hear each candidate briefly describe his/her platform and their views on a variety of environmental topics.

As a highlight of the event, Congress Member Brian M. Higgins has been confirmed to introduce candidate Nate McMurray, who is running for U.S. Congressional District 27.

Friday, October 12, 5pm-7pm, UAW Region 9 Hall, 35 George Karl Blvd, #100 (just off Wehrle Drive, near Transit), Williamsville, NY  [Map]

Besides meeting the candidates, attendees will have an opportunity to donate money and/or volunteer for those campaigns which they choose to support. FREE food and beverages will be available.

Turnout in New York’s September 13^th primary was almost triple that of the 2014 primary for governor.  Interest in this year’s elections is sky high with both the U.S. House of Representatives and the NY State Senate in play.  Excitement is building and a big crowd is expected for this event.

Candidates who will be featured at the Meet & Greet Rally are listed below.

Name                                      Race

Nate McMurray                       (US Congress, District 27)

Joan Elizabeth Seamans       (NY Senate, District 61)

Carima El-Behairy                   (NY Senate, District 60)

Karen McMahon                     (NY Assembly, District 146)

Patrick Burke                          (NY Assembly, District 142)

Michelle Roman                      (Mayor of Lockport)

Luke Wochensky                    (NY Assembly, District 147)


Watch this Video shared by Bill Nowak:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1107460882712472/

(After opening the link, click the Speaker symbol to hear the sound)

ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM: Water, The Environment, and a Socially Just World

Citizen Science Workshop on Pollution to be held in Tonawanda

A daylong citizen science workshop and conference on environmental pollution will be held Saturday in the Sheridan Parkside Community Center, 169 Sheridan Parkside Drive, Town of Tonawanda.

The free workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. with breakfast, continues at 10 a.m. with speaker presentations and concludes at 5 p.m.

Participants will learn how citizens used scientific data to hold Tonawanda Coke accountable for pollution, and how to use monitoring tools to test their own air, soil and water. Residents can bring a small bag of soil to have it tested for the presence of heavy metals. Updates on civil and federal actions taken against Tonawanda Coke will also be given.

A bus tour of toxic sites in Western New York is scheduled from 3:45 until 9 p.m. Friday. Registration is required.

For more information, visit airhugger.org, call 873-6191 or email info@csresources.org. The workshop is organized by Citizen Science Community Resources and Global Community Monitor.

TALK: Pope's Climate Encyclical 'On The Care of Our Common Home'

The Sierra Club

Climate and Clean Energy Writers Group

Monday, July 6th, 2015 Session:

Haven't had time to read the

Pope’s Climate Encyclical?

Come hear what Sister Eileen O'Connor has to say.

The Pope’s Encyclical is drawing worldwide attention to the climate crisis. Here in Buffalo, writers have been busy adding their voices and calling for action. Thank you to these writers and to the Buffalo News for publishing their work.

Find links to these inspiring published writings on Sierra Club's

Writer’s Group – In the News page.

~  ~  ~

NiagaraSierraClub.com

PUBLIC MEETING: DEC's Proposed State Wildlife Action Plan -- TUESDAY at 3PM

 10-Year Plan to Target Conservation Actions for 

Species of Greatest Need and Their Habitats

The proposed State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) to protect rare and declining wildlife species is now available for public comment, state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens announced today. The deadline for written comment is Friday, July 17.

A PUBLIC MEETING will be held on Tuesday, June 16, 3:00pm at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve,  93 Honorine Drive (off Como Park Blvd.), Cheektowaga [Map].

"The State Wildlife Action Plan will help guide DEC's work to protect and restore wildlife, and ensure that these precious natural resources are conserved for future generations," said Commissioner Martens. "The SWAP is a ten-year plan to protect rare and declining wildlife species that is being developed to update the 2005 Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. At the upcoming meetings, DEC staff and conservation partners will present projects carried out through the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy to conserve species of conservation need and propose actions that all of us can do to help protect these species."

The draft ten-year plan identifies 366 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in New York that need conservation actions to thrive. Such species include moose, least tern, northern diamond-backed terrapin, eastern spadefoot toad, lake sturgeon, barndoor skate, humpback whale, brook snaketail and barrens buckmoth. Of those 366, there are 167 species that are identified as high priority SGCN, including little brown bats, spruce grouse, Blanding's turtle, queen snake, American eel, sauger, winter flounder, horseshoe crab, dwarf wedgemussel and American bumblebee. An additional 113 species are seen as possibly needing conservation actions, including least weasel, mink frog, tiger shark, Scotia sallfly, and monarch butterfly. Surveys will help determine their current population status.

To update the draft SWAP, DEC staff and conservation partners assessed the current status of 597 rare and declining species in New York. The assessment included the location and condition of habitats where the species live, threats to the populations and conservation actions to help maintain healthy populations. The most common threats to these species are loss of habitat, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Recommended conservation actions include protection and restoration of habitat, management of SGCN populations and monitoring to maintain current data on SGCN.

DEC will hold public information sessions throughout the state in June to present the draft plan and accept public comment.

Schneiderman Wants to Know Climate Change Impacts of Pipeline

AG to feds: Assess climate impacts of Keystone XL 

Posted by Casey Seiler, Capitol bureau chief

(AP)

CapCon intern Shivani Gonzalez reports:

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants the U.S. State Department to hold off on a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline project until there is a full analysis on potential pollution and climate change consequences.

The proposed 875-mile pipeline would run between Alberta and Nebraska, and transport crude oil extracted from the Canadian sand tars. From there, the oil would be sent to the Gulf of Mexico for sale and refining.

The project is awaiting permits and other federal approvals — including a determination of whether it would serve national interest. The federal government has yet to make a decision because of the absence of a complete assessment of the climate change impacts — the same sort of study Schneiderman is seeking.

According to a release, the Attorney General’s office estimates that the pipeline would emit 605 to 3,740 million metric tons of additional climate change pollution over the pipelines anticipated 50-year lifespan. That would be two to 14 times New York’s total climate and emission pollution, and almost equal to the nation’s total pollution emissions for 2011.

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, said “it is smart to make it hard” to build the pipeline because of the climate change concerns.

Schneiderman believes the State Department’s final environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL — issued Jan. 31 — failed to acknowledge the amount of climate change pollution that would be emitted. The AG’s office called that EIS “arbitrary and capricious” in comments it submitted for the review.

The AG’s office, like those in many states downwind of midwestern air pollution, has taken an active and frequently litigious role in emission issues.

The original report is at Capitol Confidential.

Energy Debate: Shale vs. Renewable

On Tuesday, November 19, from 12 noon to 1 PM on Buffalo's WUFO-AM 1080
radio, host Jim Anderson will interview Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Oil and Gas.

The privately-held Dallas Texas based company extracts oil and gas from North Dakota's Bakken Shale, Texas' Eagle Ford Shale, the Marcellus Shale, and several other shale plays.

Accompanying Jim Anderson will be:

• Lynda Schneekoth, Chair, Sierra Club-Niagara Group
• Robert Ciesielski, Chair, Sierra Club-Niagara Group's Energy Committee
• Rita Yelda, Organizer, Food and Water Watch
• Charley Bowman, Chair, Renewable Energy Task Force of the WNY Peace Center.

Listeners with questions/comments can call: 716-837-1112
Folks outside WUFO's range can listen to the debate Online at:http://streema.com/radios/WUFO

Naomi Davis, Celebrated Chicago Environmentalist, to Speak

WNYEA AND "THE GET THE RUST OUT" SPEAKER SERIES PRESENT: NAOMI DAVIS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012 (1:00PM - 2:00PM)

The University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Research Center

875 Ellicott St.
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Fifth Floor Atrium
Buffalo, NY

Celebrated Chicago Environmentalist, Naomi Davis serves as a bridge and catalyst among communities and their stakeholders in the design and development of green, self-sustaining, mixed- income, walkable-villages within black neighborhoods. She is author of The 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building™ -- a whole-system solution for the whole-system problems common to black communities everywhere – which she presents in lectures, workshops around the country, and teaches at the University of Chicago Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture. Together with its precursor Grannynomics,™ green-village-building addresses the terrible triplets of pollution, poverty, and plutocracy.

For more information, please contact info@growwny.org .

A Permanent Radioactive Disposal Facility in Lewiston? Provide Public Input Online

The Restoration Advisory Board* is conducting a Public Survey regarding the following question and related issues: 

QUESTION: Should the Federal Government create a permanent radioactive disposal facility in Lewiston, NY? 

BACKGROUND: Provided by the Restoration Advisory Board
The Lake Ontario Ordnance Works (LOOW) consists of approximately 7,500 acres of land, located in the Towns of Lewiston and Porter, NY acquired by the federal government in the early 1940’s. The “Developed Area” (see Map) of the LOOW was used for military weapons production-related operations started during WWII.

Today, the federal government no longer owns the LOOW properties, with the exception of a National Guard Weekend Training Site, and the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS, see Map).

The Niagara Falls Storage Site still houses radioactive waste material from atomic weapons production in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Residues are so radioactive, they must be handled remotely by equipment rather than humans. If left in place, the NFSS radioactive residues would pose a major environmental/health hazard to the Niagara region for thousands of years.

The Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of determining whether to remove some or all of the radioactive residues and wastes from the Niagara Falls Storage Site, and what standard of clean up the NFSS should undergo. 

PUBLIC SURVEY: Please visit the LOOW-RAB Website, and select answers to the 3 questions provided.

*The Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) is a forum for the public and all stakeholders for the exchange of information as well as open and independent dialogue concerning the environmental investigation and remediation activities at the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works.

Green Solutions to Fix a Broken Economy

Video: "The Story of Broke" with Annie Leonard

The United States isn't broke. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this 'dinosaur economy' on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money.  

"The Story of Broke" calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs AND a healthier environment. 

It's time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let's build it better. Watch this Video:
 

Sustainabilty and the Story of STUFF

Annie Leonard, an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, made an informative and humorous video-cartoon called "The Story of Stuff". It explores the costs and consequences of our consumer culture and its impact on the environment, third-world nations, working class Americans, personal health and our general state of happiness. To learn more about sustainability, and how our consumer culture works against it, Click Here to watch Annie Leonard's video.
Sustainability is defined as "a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. The term, in its environmental usage, refers to the potential longevity of vital human ecological support systems, such as the planet's climatic system, systems of agriculture, industry, forestry, and fisheries, and human communities in general and the various systems on which they depend."
Since sustainability has to do with the environment, ecology and people, I went to the Environmental Protection Agency web site to see if they knew about the concept. They cite it, but they define it a little differently. According to the EPA, sustainability is "the ability to achieve economic prosperity while protecting the natural systems of the planet."* Hmmmm, economic prosperity wasn't mentioned in the previous definition. And why does economic prosperity come first, before the more important part about protecting the planet?
A major problem for us and for future generations is that our dirty energy economy can't prosper without polluting the planet and increasing global warming. Simply put, our current system is not sustainable! We need to transition to a clean energy economy that will create new jobs in support of renewable energy sources that don't pollute the planet. And oh yes, contrary to Bush's advice to "go shopping", we could all do the planet a big favor by purchasing LESS STUFF!

[*UPDATE, September 2008: the EPA has now adopted a more reasonable definition of sustainability: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”]

Cross-Post from Clean Energy NOW !