December 19, 2019
by Ellen C. Banks
Sierra Club volunteers in Atlantic Chapter groups continue to be active on several fronts in protecting our land, water and air, and in advocating for phasing out fossil fuels and promoting clean renewable energy. This is a sampling of our groups’ ongoing projects over the past few months.
The New York City Group held an Earth Day event focused on the phase-out of nuclear electric plants at Three Mile Island and Indian Point, with participants from about twenty environmental organizations. They also sponsored a Beyond Plastics public event at Pace University with Judith Enck, who founded Beyond Plastics (an organization housed at Bennington College) and have lobbied extensively on plastic reduction bills in the city, including a bill signed by Mayor DiBlasio to end most plastic food-service items by the end of 2019. The group has actively lobbied for the NYC Climate Mobilization Act and is starting a Drawdown Earth Challenge based on the Project Drawdown, which analyzes and ranks climate solutions in potential effectiveness.
The Long Island Group has been garnering support from elected officials and the public to preserve Plum Island, an uninhabited island that has been used as an animal laboratory and quarantine facility but is decommissioned by the federal government and has been pursued by resort developers. If the preservation campaign succeeds, Plum Island will remain a sanctuary for native species of animals, plants and surrounding marine life, with controlled access for educational tours. The NYC Group is a coalition partner and the chapter ExCom voted to support a bill to preserve Plum Island.
Lower Hudson Group volunteers continue to oppose a desalination plant that would treat river water and discharge residue into the river. Mid-Hudson is opposing the Wheelabrator ash dump incinerator, and a landfill bordering a state park that would take construction debris in piles as high as the trees and could contaminate the water table. The Hudson Mohawk Group is also involved in this issue. All the groups along the Hudson River are concerned about the potential effects of flood barriers being proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate sea level rise. Hudson Mohawk volunteers, along with those from other groups, have also been involved in community choice aggregation, expanding Clean Energy Community and Climate Smart Community programs as well as polystyrene food service bans.
The Niagara Group began working cooperatively with the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority (NFTA) to convert its fleet of 325 fossil-fuel buses to Zero Emission Buses in October 2016. In May 2019, NFTA made a grant application to the Federal Transit Authority (FTA). NFTA asked for and received written endorsement for this grant by our Niagara Group. The grant was accepted and allows NFTA to convert one of its three garages from fossil fuel to all electric. The process is expected to take 2½ years to complete. It is the first transit authority in NYS to undertake converting an entire garage to all electric.
Renewable energy projects continue to be supported by the Niagara Group, including land-based wind, utility-scale solar and possible Lake Erie-based offshore wind. Along with several other groups and the chapter, the Niagara Group continues to oppose gas pipelines and other new fracked gas infrastructure.
The Niagara Group maintains its opposition to the Northern Access Pipeline, defending NYSDEC’s decision to deny the 401 Water Quality Certification. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s attempt to overrule NYSDEC’s denial of 401 water certification is being challenged in court. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under executive order to expedite pipelines nationwide, has proposed gutting section 401 of the Clean Water Act, eliminating state and tribal rights to regulate waterways nationwide. With support from Senator Gillibrand, we have requested an extension of the comment period and hearings in NY.
All groups are invited to report on their conservation activities; projects that have not been covered in this article will be included in the next issue of Sierra Atlantic.