President’s Message

by Oreon Sandler

FCWC President’s
Message

Here’s a very brief report on several important things happening during the sometimes dull summer.

The Army Corps of Engineers is now preparing a temporary landing at Davids Island so that others can conduct an archeological dig in certain areas on the island.

Meantime, our Federation program progresses. We are updating our List Serve with the addresses of our member organizations that attended the spring meetings. Our electronic calendar could be distributed by the time you read this newspaper.

The Healthy Air Task Force is moving along with its regional outreach. We hope they achieve a broader demand for ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel and cleaner home heating oil. And transit seems to be getting a lot of attention. See accompanying article on two board member appointments to regional groups. It is hoped someday soon that we can have a meaningful impact on improving our air quality at least from transportation sources of air pollution.

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FCWC Members Appointed to Regional Advisory Groups

Staff Report

In June County Executive Andrew Spano appointed FCWC Board member and former executive director Carolyn Cunningham to a new joint Westchester/Rockland taskforce created to address the many issues related to the repair or replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge and congestion in the I-287 corridor. Currently, two state agencies are conducting an environmental review of the bridge alternatives, and the two county executives believe that the process needs to move forward in a more timely fashion.

The taskforce will report on the state’s progress, make sure the work is done expeditiously and that the public is informed and involved. In a press release on the taskforce, County Executive Spano stated that the ramifications of the project are critical to both counties and inter-county cooperation is essential.

Taskforce members from both counties represent interests such as the business community, the county planning departments, municipal officials, transportation attorneys, as well as construction, development, health care, and environmental groups. In accepting the appointment Ms. Cunningham pointed out that FCWC has long advocated more mass transit across the counties to address the congestion, sprawl, and air pollution resulting from the ever increasing vehicle traffic in the corridor.

Board member (and former FCWC president) Maureen Morgan, and one of FCWC’s primary transportation experts, was designated as FCWC’s representative to the newly formed Regional Planning Corps for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC). The new organization is intended to facilitate community and public input into the transportation planning process and to make the community aware of the plans and projects at NYMTC. NYMTC is the Municipal Planning Organization for the entire metropolitan region, the organization though which federal and state
transportation funds flow.

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WESC Plans to Expand Program for Next Year

By Alex Gertner

WESC (Westchester Environmental Student Council), FCWC’s youth affiliate, looking back on its four successful years of working for a better environment, held a strategy review meeting over the summer to begin planning for next year.

The WESC program is open to all Westchester high school students and teachers interested in learning about environmental issues and supporting efforts to improve the environment in their schools and communities.

The eight student officers met with the program coordinator in this strategy review and planning session. First, they stressed that FCWC welcomes new participants and encourages teachers and parents to become involved as well. Second, WESC will seek to take greater advantage of the wide variety of programs and undertakings of the Westchester environmental community by involving students in existing efforts of environmental organizations, serving as a bridge between young and established advocates. Through this effort, WESC expects to build lasting relationships with existing environmental organizations, and provide students with the opportunity to contribute to ongoing projects.

In order to broaden WESC’s project agenda, and thereby attract a varied group of students, the organization will also sponsor several small-scale special interest events, focusing on such areas as art or law. For instance, there are plans for workshops on landscape architecture and environmental law. Such special interest events will supplement and not replace such standard and previously successful WESC events as the popular Earth Day Lobby Day in Albany.

In order to implement these expanded efforts and accommodate a growing membership, the position, function, and number of officers have been revised. There are now one president, one secretary, three outreach coordinators, two event liaisons, and two PR officers. They are Alex Gertner, Katie Walter, Chiaki Kurihara, Lorenne Gavish, Selena Jattan, Lilly Corenthall, Michelle Gluck, and Jennifer Quon. To this core group will be added officers whose specific function will be to recruit new schools and students in the WESC program, so as to ensure that all participating schools will be represented and that the level of communication between WESC and other environmental organizations will be improved.

For more information on WESC please contact Adiel Gavish, program coordinator, at (914) 422-4053, or Fcwc@Fcwc.org.

Alex Gertner is president of WESC.

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FCWC Celebrates at the Annual Meeting/40th Birthday Party

The theme of this year’s annual meeting in June was honoring and recognizing FCWC’s past and present leaders and many of these were present at Teatown Lake Reservation for the festive occasion. County Executive Andrew Spano, introduced with thanks for his many environmental efforts by president Oreon Sandler, led off the program by presenting FCWC with a County proclamation of congratulations on the 40th anniversary.

FCWC then presented certificates of appreciation to the current and recent past chairs of the Environment Committee of the Board of Legislators (BOL), Michael Kaplowitz and Thomas Abinanti for their environmental leadership. They reciprocated by presenting FCWC with a proclamation from the BOL marking this day as FCWC Day.

County Executive Andrew J. Spano presents FCWC president Oreon Sandler with a County congratulatory proclamation.	Oreon Sandler recognizes past and present Board of Legislators Environmental Committee chairs, Hon. Michael Kaplowitz and Hon. Thomas Abinanti as they proclaim “ FCWC Day” on our 40th anniversary
FCWC’s Warren Ross and County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz at the FCWC Annual Meeting.	Two past Executive Directors, Zelle Andrews (far right) and Carolyn Cunningham (far left) and one past president, Pat Keesee reunite at the annual meeting.

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By Cesare Manfredi and Warren Ross

FCWC has a long and consistent record of supporting initiatives designed to clean up Long Island Sound and to resist developments that might add to its pollution and limit public access to the coast. While good progress has been made in the four decades since FCWC adopted this policy, the Sound is still far from pristine, and new threats keep cropping up.

As part of a current initiative by the FCWC board to adopt position papers on critical environmental issues, FCWC has confirmed the following key policies.

Reducing nitrogen levels

The biggest battle has been to reduce the Sound’s nitrogen levels, due primarily to discharge from sewage treatment plants. Such cleanup is required by the Clean Water Act. There are four sewage treatment plants operated by Westchester County and one plant operated by the Town of North Castle that discharge into the Sound, and as of August 2004 not all County operated treatment plants were in compliance with the requirements for nitrogen reduction. The County has entered into a consent order with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to continue plant upgrades. FCWC strongly supports the necessary treatment plant upgrades, as well as the efforts of the DEC to get New York City to comply. Similarly, we welcome the studies by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the nitrogen load being discharged into the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Another source of nitrogen in the Sound is stormwater runoff – what is called non-point source pollution. Tackling this problem calls for public education to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers by homeowners and landscapers, as well as the protection of the few remaining wetlands, and rehabilitation or creation of others.

Saving Davids Island

FCWC has been in the forefront of efforts to preserve Davids Island ever since the U.S. Army moved out. We are firmly committed to preserve the island as a public park and to resist attempts to permit commercial development. We welcome the joint application by the County and the City of New Rochelle to have the state Department of Environmental Conservation clean it up…the plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to demolish the military installations…and the groundbreaking event scheduled by Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Once all that is done, the purchase by the County from New Rochelle is expected to go forward, making the island safe from development.
Monitoring Broadwater Energy

The latest issue of concern regarding the Sound is the proposal by Broadwater Energy to construct a liquefied natural gas storage and conversion facility near Riverhead. As participants in the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Long Island Sound Study, we are weighing the environmental and safety considerations involved in this proposal. Many questions still need to be answered. Of particular concern is the precedent of taking the public space of the Sound for private or industrial use without paying for it. A cleaner Sound will not be of much benefit if it becomes available for commercial development.

Removing trash and other local action

The amount of fast food wrappers and other debris that goes down storm drains into the waterways is astounding. Catch basins need hoods on their outlets to stop the trash, municipalities need to clean catch basins more frequently to remove the trash trapped by the hoods, and local police need to give littering tickets to food markets and restaurants that don’t clean up their parking lots. Several communities have put notices on their storm drains that say “Don’t Dump,” and others should be asked to do the same.

In general, municipalities need to maintain local sanitary sewage collection systems, including sewer lines, manholes, and pump stations, and to remove illegal stormwater connections to sanitary sewers. Inadequate maintenance of sewage collection systems is not only a significant source of water pollution in the County, but stresses the operation of County pump stations and treatment plants. For the full text of this and other position papers check the FCWC website, http://www.fcwc.org.

Cesare Manfredi and Warren Ross are FCWC Board members.

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What’s Best for Croton Water Filtration

By Oreon Sandler

The Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition (CWCWC) has had a long battle with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) over their plans for Croton water filtration. For years, CWCWC argued that filtration wasn’t required, and more recently argued over the filtration process DEP has selected. The city agency is in the process of installing a chemical treatment/filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park.

In a lawsuit against DEP, CWCWC contended that DEP should have considered the commercial membrane filtration process to treat drinking water. DEP has not been willing to reconsider its 1997 decision to use Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) for its chemical treatment/filtration plant. Progress made in the field of membrane filtration warranted such a review according to CWCWC. CWCWC also maintains that from 1999 to the present, DEP did not perform “due diligence” in trying to mitigate adverse environmental impacts “to the maximum extent practicable”, by giving membrane filtration the requisite “hard look” under the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process. A membrane filtration plant would be far less labor-intensive to build because of its substantially smaller footprint, not to mention lower capital and operating costs, fewer chemicals, better protection against dangerous pathogens such as Cryptosporidium, far less electrical power usage and less air pollution.

Marian Rose, Ph.D., president of CWCWC claims that “DEP’s stubborn adherence to DAF since its 1997 decision defies logic. One can only conclude that the course it has chosen is being guided by politics and expediency rather than by science. The size and cost comparison between these two process plant options is substantial. Most water ratepayers are unaware of this disagreement.”
The recent decision of the Appellate Court rejecting CWCWC’s appeal was a bitter disappointment to Ms. Rose and CWCWC. The court said in only one sentence that the “new information” that CWCWC submitted during the SEQR process, was “not of the type that would require further environmental review.” Rose noted, “We have no idea why the information did not warrant a review. In short, the decision provides no information as to why the Court ruled as it did.”

The DAF plant that DEP has proposed to treat Croton water is a labor-intensive, hugely expensive project that the City unions have been clamoring for. At public hearings held by the DEP during the review process, the unions disrupted the meetings by shouting “we want jobs”, while little attempt was made to restore order by then DEP Commissioner Christopher Ward. This resulted in the opponents of this DAF plant design being denied a fair hearing.

DEP has argued that no membrane plant close to the capacity of the projected 290 million gallons per day (mgd) plant needed for the Croton has ever been built. That is true, but neither has a DAF plant even close to this size ever been built. Larger membrane plants than some DAF plants are now in operation.

As examples, the Lakeview plant in Ontario will be operating next year at 228 mgd, upgraded from its present 148 mgd; the Fridley plant in Minnesota is soon to be upgraded to 120 mgd from its present 70 mgd. Both will be far larger than any presently operating DAF plant. Ms. Rose notes that the same engineering-design-construction management company, Hazen & Sawyer, which recommended the DAF technology to DEP back in 1997, is now building a 20 million gallon per day (gpd), up-to-date membrane filtration plant at Rye Lake to treat water from New York City’s Catskill/Delaware system.

Even at this late stage, CWCWC continues to hope that the City will change course and exert its tremendous resources and power to do what’s best both for the pocket books and especially the health of 9 million New Yorkers.

Oreon Sandler is a Board member of CWCWC, one of FCWC’s member organizations.

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Climate Change Conference Calls for Leadership

By Catherine Bobenhausen

This summer, “Global Warming Solutions 2005: Navigating the Risks and Opportunities,” was convened in New York by Clean Air-Cool Planet.The two-day conference touched on many initiatives being pursued by enlightened businesses, investors, financial institutions, agencies and researchers in the Northeast and beyond.

Included were keynote addresses by three CEOs (of Exelon Corporation, a $15 billion electric utility and the largest nuclear operator in the U.S.; Stonyfield Farms; and The Timberland Company ). They discussed why corporate climate leadership is good business, and presented ideas for building a prosperous, low carbon future.

All of the Northeast’s environmental commissioners weighed in, focusing on incentives, regulations, and financing tools for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and emissions controls. Financiers, investors and senior policy analysts tackled issues related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, environmental financing, and tradable renewable energy credits and carbon offsets.

News of notable local initiatives included:

• New York State’s goal of providing 25 percent of its electricity from
  renewable sources by 2013, one of the nation’s most aggressive.
• NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s adoption of the Kyoto targets, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to 7 percent below 1990 levels.
• The Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project in the East River, using underwater turbines intended to supply up to 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
• The adoption by New York of California’s zero emission vehicle rule, and proposed new regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
• The building of Maple Ridge Wind Farm in upstate New York, with plans to generate 300 MW of electricity by December;
• The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority continued funding of many proactive energy projects using system benefit charges.
• The development by the Northeast States of a flexible, market-based, cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

The arctic, considered by many to be the “canary in the mine” for global warming, is experiencing severe climate change, reported Dr. Robert Corell, Senior Policy Fellow with the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Corell has noticed marked change in the political will over the past year, less skepticism, and greater concern about the societal and economic risks that lie ahead. For more information see; http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/conference GWSO5/program.php.

Catherine Bobenhausen is on Hastings-on-Hudson’s Public Health Board.

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Fox and O’Connell Join FCWC Board of Directors

Staff Report

In its continued effort to add even more diversity to its board of directors, FCWC has elected two new members: Lawrence (Larry) O’Connell and Herbert Fox.

Lawrence O’Connell has more than 25 years’ experience in the corporate, government and non-profit sectors. He has extensive experience in operations and construction management, having overseen nuclear power plant projects and a $100 million dollar utility refurbishment in New York City. He also has extensive finance and accounting experience, as well as being involved with personnel training and development.

Currently, Larry (as he likes to be called) serves on several non-profit boards involved in environmental causes and assistance to children. In addition, he volunteers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to provide financial and investment advice to minority and economically disadvantaged high school teenagers.

He has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level at the State University of New York, City University, Pace, Fordham, and NYU, as well as universities in Maryland, and California. Larry lives in Pleasantville with his wife Mary and two children.

Dr. Herbert Fox is a professor of mechanical engineering at the New York Institute of Technology, where he was also chosen as the first dean of science and technology.

The major projects in which he has been involved include the study of alternative fuels for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Norwalk, CT, Transit District. His other environmental efforts include energy conservation studies for the New York State Energy Office, analysis of photovoltaic systems for a local utility, and development and commercialization of hybrid electric vehicles. He is currently working with the Ministries of Infrastructure and Transportation in Israel looking to implement alternative-fueled buses. He has also prepared a feasibility and design study for the Israeli Ministry of Defense, assessing the possibility of a high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle using innovative hybrid propulsion systems.

To help the city of New Rochelle develop a high-tech base, he serves on its Telecommunications Advisory Committee, working to draft new policy legislation for technology implementation.

Welcoming the new members, FCWC’s Oreon Sandler said: “It’s great to be able to add Herb’s and Larry’s varied and valuable expertise to our board, and we are grateful to them for their willingness to make their talents available for our continuing efforts to protect and enhance Westchester’s environment.”

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