Aug 27
2013
Like in Buffalo, Detroit’s combined sewer system is spewing billions of untreated sewage and storm water into local waterways each year with little immediate relief in sight because fixing the problem is expensive to ratepayers. About 800 communities still use combined sewer systems, many of which are in the Great Lakes region.
Aug 16
2013
There’s enough greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to raise the sea level in North America by more than 4 feet and flood hundreds of coastal cities and towns at high tide. When the submersions could happen is unclear but that’s the conclusion of Ben Strauss, a scientist with Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists and journalists who report on the world’s changing climate. Strauss predicted the sea level rise using a study from Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who found that every degree of global warming caused by carbon pollution equals 4.2 feet of sea level rise in[...]
Aug 14
2013
H2 Oh No! from the Center for Urban Pedagogy on Vimeo. I’ve blogged on GreenPost about a dozen times on combined sewer overflows here in Buffalo, but what has been more challenging is coming up with a way to visually show you the problem. Thanks to the Center for Urban Pedagogy, I can now feel at ease because they’ve done it for me with this short video showing how a combined sewer system works. The Buffalo Sewer Authority has 52 permitted combined sewer overflow points into various local waterways. According to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the city’s combined[...]
Aug 1
2013
The Niagara Gazette reports community residents are questioning the Department of Environmental Conservation’s oversight of Covanta Niagara’s expansion plans. The plant has already begun construction of the project without the required air permit. Covanta spokeswoman says it took the risk with DEC’s “knowledge and concurrence.”
Aug 1
2013
The Department of Environmental Conservation has ordered Covanta Niagara to stop construction of a natural gas boiler and a 190-foot smokestack in Niagara Falls because it hasn’t obtained the required air permit. Covanta, which has spent more than $820,000 over the past three years in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses, started construction months before the public comment period on the project closes on Monday. The notice of violation came less than 48 hours after three Niagara County residents raised concerns about the the DEC’s oversight of the Niagara County waste-to-energy plant’s $30 million expansion project, as first reported by the[...]
Jul 25
2013
The 650-foot smokestack at the Somerset coal-fired power plant in Niagara County billows plumes of smoke carrying greenhouse gases that can be seen on a clear day all the way across Lake Ontario in Toronto. The amount — 3.8 million tons in 2011 — makes the coal plant the top greenhouse gas polluter in New York State. That’s equivalent to the emissions from 712,893 cars annually. Western New York has two other facilities that rank in the state’s top 10 of greenhouse gas polluters: coal-fired power plants CR Huntley in the Town of Tonawanda and NRG Dunkirk in the City[...]
Jul 11
2013
Air pollution can cause lung cancer and increase the risk of heart failure, according to two studies published Tuesday in The Lancet Journal. The first study found that extended exposure to particulate air pollution commonly called soot can increase the risk of lung cancer even at concentrations below European Union limits, which are stricter than U.S. limits in some instances. The research led the authors to question whether there are safe levels of air pollution. The second study found that heart failure or death was associated with increases in a number of air pollutants. These studies have some meaning locally[...]
Jul 10
2013
A Lake Ontario Waterkeeper member estimated that more than 200 million gallons of sewer overflowed into Lake Ontatio after a drenching of rain in Toronto flooded streets and overwhelmed the sewer systems there. City water officials contested the estimate.