OPINION / COMMENTARY

Niagara Falls Water Board Leave Community's Questions Unanswered

In July, the Niagara Falls Water Board was reported to be exploring the possibility of treating wastewater containing toxic chemicals resulting from the unconventional shale gas drilling known as fracking.  Yet there is little evidence that the Niagara Falls Water Treatment Plant can filter out the radiation or the chemicals found in fracking wastewater, and no analysis of the possible impacts of treating this wastewater has been shared with the public.

Fracking fluid consists primarily of water, sand and a cocktail of chemicals that includes many toxins and known carcinogens: methanol, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde, napthalene, benzene, toluene and xylene.  To date, more than 600 chemicals have been found in fracking fluid.  The fracking process has also been known to release radioactive elements into the wastewater, such as radon and uranium.  New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) figures show 6.6 billion gallons of fracking waste would have to be disposed of each year.

OPINION / COMMENTARY

Reprinted with permission from Re-ENERGIZE BUFFALO for "All things GREEN: Energy, Environment, Economy and Jobs."

Representatives of 194 countries are meeting in Panama at the United Nations (U.N.) Climate Change Conference, the last opportunity to reach a consensus on the reduction of carbon emissions before the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durbin, South Africa later this year.

Conference participants must win another commitment period for reducing carbon emissions from developed countries to prevent global average temperatures from rising more than two degrees, which scientists have indicated would have catastrophic consequences for human life.

OPINION / COMMENTARY

In June of 2010, we published an article about an informational meeting for the New York Power Authority's offshore wind project, called Great Lakes Off-Shore Wind (GLOW).  The plan for GLOW included constructing offshore wind turbines along the Buffalo waterfront.  This opinion article provides a follow-up regarding the GLOW project. Amanda, thanks for sharing your article on Grow!

New York State’s Short-Sighted Vision on Alternative Energies

The New York State Power Authority’s (NYPA) dismissal of the Great Lakes Off-Shore Wind (GLOW) project is a set-back for Western New York’s role in the struggle to find renewable energy and to further the future economic growth of the region.

The biggest factor in the dismissal is cost.

NYPA insisted that the subsidies were too expensive to be feasible.  “It's electricity, while green, would simply cost too much, likely three to five times the current market rates,” The Buffalo News business columnist David Robinson noted.  $60 to $100 million a year may look like a lot in subsidies, especially in a time of economic recession; however, in comparison with the amount of money spent annually on fossil-fuel subsidies, this number is not so big.

Annie Levay!  Congratulations to Annie on winning family passes to the Buffalo Zoo!

For the past week, the GrowWNY team held our first Facebook Comment Contest.  It was simple – we asked a question on our Facebook wall, fans replied in the comment section, and the comment with the most number of “likes” won a prize!

This week’s question was “What is your favorite animal in Western New York (WNY) and why?”

Annie’s comment, which received 9 likes by her Facebook friends, was:

OPINION / COMMENTARY

Reprinted with permission from Re-ENERGIZE BUFFALO for "All things GREEN: Energy, Environment, Economy and Jobs."

A Public Meeting will be held on Thursday, September 22

In July, the Niagara Falls Water Board was reported to be exploring the possibility of treating wastewater containing toxic chemicals resulting from unconventional shale-gas drilling, known as horizontal, hydraulic fracturing or simply fracking.  Water from the treatment plant would be released into the Niagara River which flows into Lake Ontario and provides a source of drinking water.  A new report issued last week indicated that an outside firm has completed a feasibility study and that the Water Board is moving forward with the plan to treat fracking wastewater.

The Buffalo Avenue treatment plant was built over 30 years ago to clean up wastewater from chemical industries in the city of Niagara Falls and it benefited the region by generated millions of dollars income annually.  The Executive Director of the Water Board, Paul Drof, said "Until the state finalizes their guidelines on the treatment of fracking waste, we can't say for sure even if we can do it."  He added, "Frankly, we have a responsibility to our rate payers to at least look at this as a possibility."