Distinguished Lecture: Global Warming and a Call to Action - How ice foretells the next systemic transformation

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Global Warming and a Call to Action: 

How ice foretells the next systemic transformation

Thursday, June 7, 2018

2:30pm - 5:00pm
Hotel at the Lafayette - Marquis Ballroom
391 Washington St., Buffalo

Sebastian Copeland will chronicle some of his seminal expedition crossings, and share impressions on what it means to spend three months of isolated travel in the most remote polar environments. Illustrated with award winning photographs, his anecdotes range from close encounters with polar bears, falling through the ice into the frigid Arctic ocean, surviving hurricanes in a tent, and traveling with severe frostbites, broken bones and food shortage. Copeland will explore the meaning of living in a truly antagonistic environment and how he learned to love everything about survival to find epiphanies and discover the true essence of self. More pointedly, Copeland makes the case that climate transformations taking place in the polar regions foretell global systemic chaos from anthropogenic activities, and their geopolitical consequences.

Following the lecture there will be a Fireside Chat hosted by Prof. Richard Alley and a Distinguished Lecture Recognition

Limited space available

Please RSVP by June 6, 2018 - Click here

NYS Assembly Passes Climate Bill Promoting Renewable Energy, Green Jobs, and Community/Worker Protections

THANK YOU New York State Assembly, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Honorable Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl E. Heastie, for passing the Climate and Community Protection Act by a huge margin!

Now we need the same climate leadership from Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Senate, so we can get this critical bill passed in 2018, fight climate change, protect frontline communities, and ensure green jobs are good jobs.

Big THANK YOU to Assembly Members who changed their votes from No in 2017 to YES in 2018! To see how Your Assembly Member voted, click here.

For a Summary of the Bill, click here.

Public Meeting: Connecting Buffalo-Niagara and Toronto with Commuter Rail

CITIZENS FOR REGIONAL TRANSIT Quarterly Meeting

 
Connecting Buffalo-Niagara and the Larger Bi-National Region with Commuter Rail:
What's Feasible? Where to Start?

Free and Open to All
 

Tuesday, May 1, 2018
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Doors open at 5:00 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church [Map]
1 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY
 

The Citizens for Regional Transit quarterly meeting will feature Congressman Brian Higgins with panelists Pat Whalen, Director of the Niagara Falls Global Tourism Institute, and Bruce Becker, Vice President of the National Association of Rail Passengers.
 
When looking at a satellite image of the region between Toronto and Buffalo-Niagara, it becomes clear that it’s a contiguously urbanized area; we are part of a binational mega-region. This linear arrangement of urban centers has a population of nine million people and a combined GDP of $450 billion.

However, this mega-region is lacking one important feature: transit connectivity. With only one Amtrak train per day (in each direction), travel between U.S. cities and Toronto is largely limited to car. This creates recurring traffic congestion – especially at the international bridges and near Toronto. This impeded mobility also restricts economic opportunities.

 

The good news is that there have already been several steps toward making transit connectivity a reality, such as the opening of the new Niagara Falls, New York Amtrak Station; the planning of the new Buffalo downtown station; and the future extension of commuter rail from Toronto to Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Join Citizens for Regional Transit on Tuesday, May 1 to learn more about plans, challenges, and possibilities for the future of rail connections between Buffalo and Niagara Falls as a first step in linking Western New York to Toronto.

Public Comments on Decommisioning of the West Valley Nuclear Site Extended to May 25

Positive Declaration Extension of Scoping Period

 

Cattaraugus County - The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYS ERDA), as lead agency, has determined that the proposed Phase 2 Decommissioning of the West Valley Site may have a significant adverse impact on the environment and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared.

On February 21, 2018, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYS ERDA) and the United State Department of Energy (US DOE) announced their intent to jointly prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Decommissioning and/or Long-Term Stewardship at the West Valley Demonstration Project and Western New York Nuclear Service Center (DOE/EIS-0226-S1) (SEIS) and to conduct a public scoping process. The SEIS will assess the range of reasonable alternatives for Phase 2 decommissioning of the West Valley Site.

NYS ERDA and US DOE invited public comments on the scope and content of the SEIS for the West Valley Site during a public scoping period through April 23, 2018. NYSERDA and DOE have determined to extend the public comment period deadline from Monday, April 23, 2018, to Friday, May 25, 2018.

Written comments on the scope of the SEIS, requests to be placed on the SEIS mailing list, and requests for information may be submitted by U.S. mail to the DOE Document Manager, Martin Krentz, West Valley Demonstration Project, U.S. DOE, 10282 Rock Springs Road, AC-DOE, West Valley, New York 14171-9799, by e-mail to SEISWestValleySite@emcbc.doe.gov, or via the SEIS website at www.SEISWestValleySite.com. The Notice of Intent and Draft Scope is available on the SEIS website and on the NYSERDA website at www.nyserda.ny.gov/-/media/files/ee/west-valley/Supplemental-Environmental-Impact-Statement-NOI.pdf.

Further information, including a form for submitting comments, is available on the project website at www.SEISWestValleySite.com.

The project is located at 10282 Rock Springs Road in West Valley, New York.

Contact: Dr. Lee Gordon, NYS ERDA, 9030-B Route 219, West Valley, NY 14171; Phone: (716)942-9960, extension 4963, Fax: 716-942-9961, E-mail: lee.gordon@nyserda.ny.gov

Presentation: EARTH DEMOCRACY - Sustainability, Justice and Peace

RENEW Distinguished Lecture Series Presents

Dr. Vandana Shiva

LECTURE: Earth Democracy - Sustainability, Justice and Peace

Friday, April 20 at 3:00 PM

UB  Center for the Arts Screening Room, UB North Campus [Map]

Free and Open to the Public

RSVP if you plan to attend - Click Here

Although a Quantum Physicist by training, Dr. Shiva has spent her life on interdisciplinary work related to science, technology and environmental policy.  Time Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental “hero” in 2003 and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia. Forbes magazine in November 2010 has identified Dr. Vandana Shiva as one of the top Seven most Powerful Women on the Globe.

Presentation: PROTECTING OUR WATERS -- From the Lake of Betrayal to Defend the Ohiyo

The Sierra Club
Climate and Clean Energy Writers Group

Thursday, April 19, 2018 

 PROTECTING OUR WATERS

From the Lake of Betrayal to Defend the Ohiyo

By Caleb Abrams, Onödowa’ga:’ (Seneca) filmmaker and multimedia artist

Caleb’s presentation and discussion will cover impacts on water and the Seneca people from the displacement and damage caused by the Kinzua Dam to nuclear waste at West Valley. He will give an overview of the now successful Defend the Ohiyo campaign to protect the Allegheny River from a proposed frack waste facility at the river’s headwaters in Coudersport, PA. With local interest now reinvigorated towards clean-up of Cattaraugus Creek, join us and learn how to support this effort.

6:00-7:30 PM
Crane Branch Library
633 Elmwood at Highland
2nd Floor Meeting Room

Free and open to the public – writers and non-writers alike

MARCH & RALLY: Cuomo - Walk The Talk on CLIMATE! Get on the Bus to Albany

On April 23rd, we will march on the State Capitol to tell Governor Cuomo we don’t want more talk. We demand 3 bold actions to fight climate change, create good jobs, and ensure justice for all:

1. Stop all fracking infrastructure projects
2. Move to 100% renewable energy
3. Make corporate polluters pay

The day of action will have two major components:

- A march on the State Capitol in Albany on April 23 and rally.
 
- An opportunity to participate in civil disobedience/direct action in the afternoon.
 
You are welcome to join for both, or join us for the march & rally and cheer on our allies participating in direct action.

Join us for the March & Rally –  Starting at 12pm in Sheridan Hollow and marching to the East Park of the Capitol Building in Empire State Plaza in Albany (exact route details to be confirmed).


Buffalo Buses to Albany: If you want to join a bus from Buffalo to the event, email your RSVP to both John (johnarchiewashington@gmail.com) and Rahwa (rahwa@pushbuffalo.org) who are with PUSH Buffalo.

If you are interested in participating in civil disobedience, please RSVP here: bit.ly/A23Pledge - You will be given information about attending a two-day action camp to learn and prepare before the event, and you will also be joining us for the march & rally.

More info about the event and the difference between Governor Cuomo's talk and walk on climate at CuomoWalkTheTalk.org

Statewide Coalition Demands Cuomo make Polluters Pay for a Clean Energy Transition

NY RENEWS delivers symbolic $7Billion check at the State Capitol - 2.27.2018

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Coalition Calls for Polluter Fee to Fund Transition to Renewable Energy

February 28, 2018

ALBANY, N.Y. — Climate activists delivered a symbolic $7-billion check to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, saying that's what New York stands to gain through a corporate polluter fee. The activists had just attended the Environmental Conservation Committee's budget hearing.

According to Dan Sherrell, the campaign coordinator for New York Renews, the governor's budget doesn't go far enough to address the growing effects of climate change but imposing a polluter fee on greenhouse-gas emissions could pave the way to 100-percent renewable energy by 2050.

"We could be raising $7 billion in revenue a year that could be invested in environmental-justice communities to protect them from the worst effects of climate change and in renewable energy," he says.

The governor has called for a program to bring solar power to 10,000 low-income New Yorkers, the development of offshore wind, and the closure of all coal-fired power plants.

Cuomo also has called for expansion of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate compact for reducing power-plant emissions. But Sherrell says a corporate polluter fee would be more effective.

"It will raise more revenue and it will be a more aggressive price," he notes. "And critically, it will be across the economy, so it will also tackle buildings and transportation which together make up almost 80 percent of the state's emissions."

He says the governor's office has indicated interest in creating a polluter fee but has made no commitment to pursue it.

New York has been a national leader in developing clean-energy strategies. But Sherrell notes other states are now considering corporate polluter fees as a way to advance their efforts, and they could soon leave New York behind.

"Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state is making this his priority issue for this year," he adds. "Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey has spoken about it and has also committed to 100 percent renewable energy, which Gov. Cuomo has not."

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand have expressed support for carbon pricing as a way to boost investment in renewable energy.

Andrea Sears, Public News Service - NY

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NY RENEWS at Gov. Cuomo’s Exec. Budget Hearing on Environmental Conservation - 2.27.2018

Nuclear Waste Must be Secured and Our Waters Protected -- Take Action!

Buffalo Niagara Region has a serious waste problem and perhaps none is so serious as the West Valley Nuclear Waste Facility 30 miles south of Buffalo.  An array of nuclear waste has been stored and some buried on an erodible plateau since the 1960s, put in place before there were any laws on the siting of such dangerous waste.  This site is managed by the Department of Energy and owned by the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority, agencies responsible for cleaning up the waste and protecting public health and our waters.

Charley Bowman, of the Sierra Club Niagara Group, points out that “the protection of fresh water supplies underpins organized existence of human beings. There are enormous amounts of radioactivity (100,000’s of Curies) buried and stored at the West Valley nuclear waste site. Some of that radioactivity is escaping beyond the site boundaries and now resides in the surrounding unstable soils, trees and creeks. Some of the radioactive elements will be dangerous for millions of years.”

The Department of Energy begins Scoping Hearings for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on March 19, 20 and 21, to determine the final disposition of this waste site.  Joanne Hameister who has been working with the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes since the 1970s states that her group “has been involved with the decision process for four decades.  After three Environmental Impact Statements and a fourth to begin in March, billions of dollars, a lot of surveys and studies, lawsuits and many 'duct tape' solutions to problems, we might have a direction for the future of the site.  The next decision must protect the water of the Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario, drinking water for millions of people downstream and for thousands of generations that could inherit these risks of radiation if we do not 'do the right thing' now.  It is a big order: dig it up, secure the waste and do not forget it.”

 “The government scoping meetings March 19, 20 and 21 are the public’s chance to tell the Department of Energy and NY Energy Research and Development Authority that we want full cleanup of the West Valley nuclear waste site. But the only way the deadly waste will be removed from the Great Lakes watershed is if our elected officials MAKE IT HAPPEN.”  Diane D’Arrigo argues that “the Department of Energy, NYSERDA, all their contractors and other ‘regulatory agencies’ will not step up unless they are forced to do so” based on the communities experience with the 2010 Environmental Impact Statement that delayed the decision for over a decade.

Hearings will be held at three different locations: 

Monday, March 19, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
West Valley Volunteer Hose Company, Inc., Firemen’s Memorial Hall and Training, 9091 Route 240, West Valley, NY 14171, in the Main Hall.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018, from 6:00p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Erie Community College, City Campus, Post Office Building, 121 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, in the Minnie Gillette Auditorium.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Seneca Nation of Indians Cattaraugus Council Chambers, 12837 Route 438, Irving, NY 14081

Pat Townsend of the Interfai th Climate Justice Community says that she is “already writing my comments to email them to DOE and NYSERDA during the public comment period that has just started. I remember the rainfall that caused the Gowanda flood of 2009 and the landslide it caused at West Valley. With our crazy, changing weather, who knows what erosion will do to the West Valley nuclear wastes? I've seen the maps: erosion could take radioactive waste right down the creeks to Lake Erie and Buffalo's water."

--  Submitted by Lynda Schneekloth, Sierra Club Niagara Group


More information:
Nuclear Information and Resource Service   www.nirs.org/campaigns/west-valley
Information Center   www.seiswestvalleysite.com 
Sierra Club Niagara Group   www.niagarasierraclub.com/issues/west-valley-nuclear-waste-site