New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's New York Environmental Leaders Program Open Enrollment Period

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) is accepting applications for the New York Environmental Leaders Program (NYEL). The open enrollment period began on September 1, 2012 and applications will be accepted until October 31, 2012.

NYEL, which is entering its fifth year of operation, provides recognition and incentives to New York State companies and organizations that can demonstrate the use of pollution prevention practices, beyond compliance performance, or sustainable business practices as a result of their participation in NYEL. Detailed information about NYEL can be found on the NYS DEC's website.

For more information

Lisa M. Kranick
Program Assistant
Office of Environmental Justice
Melvin I. Norris
Office of General Counsel
Scott Crisafulli, Esq. and Benjamin Conlon, Esq.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-1500
Tele: (518) 402-8556
Fax: (518) 402-9018
E-Mail: lmkranic@gw.dec.state.ny.us

AAEA Challenges NY & Conn Attorneys General on Clean Air

Indian Point Connecticut Post

"Connecticut, clean air and Indian Point"

Entire Article

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have teamed up to improve air quality, an especially formidable challenge in densely populated communities clustered near major highways like I-84, I-95, Route 8/25 and the Merritt Parkway.

The duo recently won a federal lawsuit to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to adopt updated air standards for harmful particulate matter -- commonly referred to as "soot" pollution -- by Dec. 14, 2012.
 
Although this is a good first step, more needs to be done to protect our community's most vulnerable members. Like any agents of cure, Jepsen and Schneiderman are compelled to first do no harm.
In my opinion, that means ending a series of cross-border legal actions both attorneys general have undertaken to effectively try to close the Indian Point Energy Center in New York. That facility produces 2,000 megawatts of virtually emissions-free power each day.

Connecticut residents, too, need clean power to illuminate their homes and workplaces, to power our jobs and economy. Given its own issues, taking up arms in a neighboring state seems to be going in the wrong direction. (Conn Post, 7/27/2012)

New Report Shows 1 in 8 Children in NY Has Asthma

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has release a report showing that one in eight New York City children has been diagnosed with asthma, with poor children nearly twice as likely to suffer from the respiratory disease.  The report was based on a 2009 survey and is the first time the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has estimated the number of children with asthma. The survey of parents found that 177,000 children 12 years and younger—or 13% of children in that age group—had received an asthma diagnosis at some point in their lives.

New York City's rate on average is higher, but then within the city we know the rate varies dramatically. The rate is really pulled up by the high rates in poor neighborhoods.  For instance, children in East Harlem are almost 13 times more likely than those on the Upper East Side to visit an emergency room because of asthma, the report said. Eighteen percent of Hispanic children and 17% of black children have been diagnosed with asthma, compared with 5% of white children.
Nationwide, the number of people with asthma continues to grow, with about one in 10 children, or 10%, having asthma in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC classifies children as between the ages of 1 and 18.

Asthma has been a persistent problem in urban centers with high poverty rates. The report confirms what doctors know. Child asthma hospitalization rates, which city officials have been tracking for some time, have shown decreases across the board. Still, disparities persist. Rates in the Bronx were two to three times higher than in the city's other boroughs.  (WSJ, 7/17/2012)

Bill Magwood Tours Indian Point

Bill Magwood, Norris McDonald

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Bill Magwood visited the Indian Point nuclear power plant this week and toured the Hudson with Riverkeeper, the reactor's leading opponent. Based on a two-hour visit at the nuclear plant, William D. Magwood, one of the five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, declared that Indian Point is "operating on a very high standard right now.

Magwood has visited a dozen plants around the country as part of his "personal education" and community outreach efforts. The commissioner praised Indian Point owner Entergy Corp. for taking some "very positive, very forward-leaning" steps by installing new equipment and procedures to deal with emergencies at a level that is not required in its current license.

Magwood's first-ever visit to the 250-acre Buchanan facility included a briefing with local media. Afterward, he and an aide drove to Peekskill's scenic Riverfront Green Park, where they boarded Riverkeeper's patrol boat.  Magwood is the first NRC official to ever go on the water with Riverkeeper.

Indian Point owner Entergy Corp. has filed an application to continue operating the nuclear power plant for another 20 years. The NRC released passing grades to the facility's two reactors earlier this month after an annual inspection. (Newsday, 5/29/2012)

91st St & LaGuardia Marine Trash Transfer Stations

The city is planning to invest at least $125 million to retrofit the 91st Street marine trash transfer station to make it handle 4,200 tons of garbage a day. Residents have been fighting the project for years.   It sits next to an asphalt green play area.   The Manhattan’s East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station is one of two trash transfer plants the city is planning.  The other is in Queens next to LaGuardia Airport.

AAEA-NY supports the 91st Street plan but opposes the LaGuardia plan. 

AAEA believes the 91st Street plan represents equity in trash handling and will reduce truck traffic in vulnerable communities.  AAEA believes the LaGuardia Airport plan poses a theat to jet traffic.  Birds are not a threat from the 91st Street station.  According to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, “A waste station was at this exact location for nearly 50 years until 2001 and it was wide open and there wasn’t a bird-strike issue for the waste station then.”

The 91st project has been in the works for the past 10 years. The plan was to construct a marine transfer facility at East 91st Street that would collect waste into containers and export it from several Manhattan community districts, rather than having all the borough's trash shipped to New Jersey.

The 91st Street retrofitt could cost the city roughly $554 million over the next 20 years, according to a new report from the city's Independent Budget Office.  That’s more than twice what it would cost the city to maintain its current system of trucking waste to New Jersey, which the report estimates would total about $218 million over the next two decades.

A coalition of environmentalists, lawyers and neighborhood organizations support the 91st Street garbage facility as being necessary to bring relief to overburdened communities like Bushwick and the South Bronx that have long handled the majority of waste generated by New York City.

The North Shore Marine Transfer Station, which is being in built in College Point at 120-15 31 Avenue in College Point.near LaGuardia Airport, is expected to open in the spring of 2013 and will haul about 3,000 tons of Queens waste by barge to landfills each day.  Even an enclosed facility is going to attract birds and it simply is not worth the risk. Construction has already started on the garbage facility, located 735 yards from one of LaGuardia’s runways. The station would be built directly across Flushing Bay from a runway at La Guardia Airport.

(CBS New York 2, 5/15/2012, DNA Info, 5/23/2012, Photo Courtesy Sane Trash,

Dan Durett - Director AAEA New York

Dan Durett

Dan Dureett attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, earning a BS degree in history. He earned his MS degree in history from Clark Atlanta University in 1973. Durett went on to complete a graduate degree at Emory University in 1976. As a student at Emory, Durett became interested in the environmental field because of his work in historic preservation and urban environmental issues.

From 1995-1998, Durett worked with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and while there, he established a department of Environmental Education Programs.

Today, Durett works as the director of AAEA New York.

AAEA - NY Presents Testimony at DEC EJ Hearing

AAEA - NY presented a statement on Tuesday before the New York Department of Environmental Conservation at a hearing at the New York Department of Public Service addressing the proposed Article 10 environmental justice regulations.

FULL STATEMENT

Excerpts

Dan Durett (ALJ Daniel O'Connell)

AAEA - NY is concerned about the proposed approach for the evaluation of a potentially significant and adverse disproportionate environmental impact area. The evaluation is left up to the applicant. We are concerned that there are no established criteria proposed in the proposed regulation that can definitively evaluate a 'tipping point' that would trigger rejection of the application based on significant and adverse disproportionate environmental impacts. We are concerned because even the DEC EJ Work Group had trouble agreeing upon a disproportionate impact methodology. If these professional EJ participants had trouble establishing disproportionate impact methodology, we are concerned that applicants will have the capacity to provide an adequate framework for the EJ evaluation.

In New York City, it is estimated that there are 2,290 deaths, 1,580 hospitalizations, 546 asthma-related emergency rooms visits, 1,490 cases of chronic bronchitis, and 46,200 asthma attacks yearly attributable to power plant pollution.  The New York City Area has also been ranked as one of the top five U.S. metropolitan areas for particulate air pollution. And again, these adverse effects disproportionately affect minority communities. In one study, nonwhites in New York City were found to be hospitalized twice as many times as whites on days when ozone levels were high. Another study found that, of the 23 counties in New York State that fail to meet Federal air pollution standards, 37.7% of them are populated by people of color.

That African Americans and other minorities are disproportionately affected by air pollution in New York is not surprising when considering the fact that the majority of air polluting power plants in the New York metropolitan area are located in African American and other minority communities. Based on figures from the 2000 U.S. Census, only 12.3% of New York State is identified as being African American, and 29.4 % of the total population is classified as a minority. However, in communities that are predominantly minority, such as Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, there are a disproportionate number of fossil-fuel power plants emitting criteria air pollutants. For example, there are approximately 1,563,400 people of color, 271,247 children living in poverty, and 40,248 children who suffer from pediatric asthma within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant bordering the New York City metropolitan area. In the Bronx, which is 35.6% African American and 88% minority, there are two power plants. In Brooklyn, which is 36.4% African American and 64% minority, there are seven power plants. In Queens, which is 20% African American and 63.2% minority, there are six power plants. Queens is also ranked among the 10% of U.S. counties in terms of its exposure to criteria air pollutants, and is one of two city boroughs that violates federal standards. In total, there are 24 power plants in the New York Metropolitan area, only a handful of which are in areas where minorities do not comprise the majority of the population.

Finally, from a clean air environmental justice perspective, AAEA - NY is concerned about the potential closure of Indian Point nuclear power plant. If this plant is closed, there will be significant pressure to replace this emission free facility with fossil fuel power plants. This will only increase the burdens on environmental justice areas if replacement power is located in these areas.

Enacted Article 10 Statute:

Power NY Act of 2011

On August 4, 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law Chapter 388 of the Laws of 2011 that enacts Article 10 of the Public Service Law. The primary purpose of Article 10 is to provide for the siting review of new and repowered or modified Major Electric Generating Facilities in New York State by the Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) in a unified proceeding instead of requiring a developer or owner of such a facility to apply for numerous state and local permits. A previous version of such a law expired on January 1, 2003. Key provisions of the law include:

1. Defines a major electric generating facility as facilities of 25 megawatts or more;

2. Requires environmental and public health impact analysis, studies regarding environmental justice and public safety, and consideration of local laws;

3. Directs applicants to provide funding for both the pre-application and application phases. It allows funding to be used to help intervenors (affected municipalities and other parties) hire experts to participate in the review of the application and for legal fees (but not for judicial challenges);

4. Requires a utility security plan reviewed by Homeland Security and, for New York City (NYC) plants, NYC's emergency management office;

5. Provides for appointment of ad hoc public members of the Siting Board from the municipality where the facility is proposed to be sited; and,

6. Requires a public information coordinator within the Department of Public Service (Department) to "assist and advise interested parties and members of the public" in participating in the siting process.

Chapter 388 of the Laws of 2011 can be accessed via the link below:

CHAPTER 388

Other useful information on the enacted Article 10 statute: Peter McGowan, General Counsel, Department of Public Service, Presentation at ACE NY Conference

Working Draft of Article 10 Regulations for Stakeholder Review and Comment (NYSDPS, Dated: January 13, 2012):The working draft of the Article 10 regulations was developed using the old regulations for the former generating facility siting laws known as Article VIII and Article X of the Public Service Law; detailed stipulations parties had developed under the old Article X law that defined the scope and methodology of studies and analyses that would need to be in an application; and the experience of the Department of Public Service in reviewing requests for approval to site electric generating facilities.

Practitioners who had experience with the former Article X will recognize that the working draft borrows heavily in a generic fashion from the detailed stipulations that were developed under Article X. We hope that by incorporating the comprehensive generic parts of the stipulations into the draft regulations that all parties involved will be informed in advance of the types of studies and analysis that must be included in an application. We envision that parties will still execute stipulations, however, those stipulations will be more narrowly focused on the unique characteristics of the project and its location such that all participants will be able to use their time and resources more efficiently.

Staff from the Department of Public Service will begin receiving oral feedback on the working draft from stakeholders during the week of January 23, 2012. We ask that stakeholders familiarize themselves with the draft before commenting and in particular to try to focus their comments on specific provisions of the draft regulations. This is a working document. The drafting team will continue to improve the document during the stakeholder process. After all the stakeholders are heard from, the team drafting the regulations will consider the feedback and make revisions to the draft, as appropriate, and then present a final draft to the Siting Board for its consideration. When the Siting Board is satisfied with the draft, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, pursuant to the State Administrative Procedure Act, will then be published in the State Register and a formal written comment period will commence where everyone will have an opportunity for further input.

The individuals who signed up to participate as stakeholders represent a broad spectrum of interests and we greatly appreciate your cooperation and assistance. (NYPSC)

Working Draft of Article 10 Regulations 1-13-12.pdf

MORE

$1 Million in DEC Environmental Justice Community Grants

Awarded to 24 Organizations Statewide

Grants Help At-Risk Communities Mitigate Environmental Harm

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) awarded 24 Environmental Justice Community Impact Grants to organizations across the state that serve communities facing environmental harm and risk, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced today.

The Environmental Justice Grants Program, created with input from the DEC Environmental Justice Advisory Group, helps communities understand and mitigate environmental harms or risks to improve quality of life.

The funding comes from the Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grant (EJ Grant) program. Launched in 2006, the program helps local organizations with projects to address environmental or public health concerns. The program concentrates on communities that historically have been overburdened by such problems as a high density of industrial emissions, a concentration of contaminated sites; disproportionate noise, air and water pollution; environmental health problems and lack of green space and waterfront access.

Interest in the Environmental Justice Community Impact Grant program has grown dramatically. This year, 123 groups from around the state applied for funding. Detailed reviews by DEC staff resulted in 24 grant awards totaling $1 million. Individual awards range from $5,180 to $50,000. A wide variety of projects will be supported this year, including community gardens and green infrastructure, air and water quality monitoring, waste recycling in public housing, lead poisoning prevention, building deconstruction and expansion of an urban aquaponics facility and environmental education for urban and Native American youth.

Grants were awarded to the following organizations:

New York Metropolitan area - $441,970

• The Morningside Heights / West Harlem Sanitation Coalition - $25,000 for the "Public Housing Recycling Pilot Program"

• Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation - $49,991 for the "Gowanus Canal Pilot Sponge Park"

• The Newtown Creek Alliance - $39,848 for the project titled, "Aircasting"

• Brooklyn Food Coalition - $48,843 for the project titled, "Joining the Natural World: Gardens in All Our Schools"

• Roots of Peace Community Garden - $5,180 for the project titled, "Spreading the Roots of Peace"

• West Harlem Environmental Action - $28,200 for the project titled, "Building Community Capacity to Reduce Lead Poisoning Hazards"

• The Point Community Development Corp. - $50,000 for the project titled, "The Point's South Bronx Community Green Roof"

• Eastern Queens Alliance - $50,000 for the "Eastern Queens Alliance Environmental Awareness Community Advocacy Project"

• Bronx River Alliance - $50,000 for the "Bronx River Education Program"

• United Community Centers - $49,908 for the project titled, "East New York Farms!"

• Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corp. - $44,995 for the "NEBHDCo Healthy Green Environment Initiative"


Western New York - $295,280

• Massachusetts Avenue Project - $50,000 for the "Buffalo Aquaponics Project"

• Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper - $50,000 for the "Environmental Justice Education and Citizen Action for Buffalo and Niagara Rivers Project"

• Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo - $50,000 for the "Community Garden Workshop Series"

• Salamanca Healthy Homes Committee - $50,000 for the "Salamanca Healthy Homes Project"

• Groundwork Buffalo - $45,277 for the project titled, "Pelion Community Garden"

• Valley Community Association - $50,000 for the project titled, "In Our Backyard"


Central New York - $99,970

• Onondaga Earth Corps and Partnership for Onondaga Creek - $49,967 for the project titled, "Growing Syracuse's Next Generation of Environmental Justice Leaders"

• Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments - $50,000 for the "Binghamton Urban Farm Expansion and Remediation Project"


Rochester Area - $42,060

• North East Area Development - $42,060 for the "Building Deconstruction Research and Documentation Project"

Hudson Valley Region - $63,000

• Poughkeepsie Farm Project - $49,942 for the project titled, "Growing City Seeds"

• Groundwork Hudson Valley - $13,090 for the project titled, "Stewardship, Training and Restoration in Yonkers Public Housing"


North Country - $49,760

• Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club - $49,756 for the project titled, "The Documentation of Mohawk Traditional and Medicinal Uses of Aquatic Furbearer Mammals"


Capital Region - $10,367

• Green Tech Charter High School - $10,367 for the project titled, "Green Tech High Storm Water Management Research"

For a complete list of project descriptions, visit DEC's website at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/31226.html.

For more information on the Environmental Justice Grants Program or the Environmental Justice Advisory Group, visit the DEC Office of Environmental Justice website.

New York Assembly Hearing on IPEC

The New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Energy and Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions held a hearing on the Potential Closure of Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC) on January 12, 2012 in New York City. The hearing examined alternatives to IPEC, including new generation facilities and upgrades to the state's electric transmission system that would prevent power supply disruptions and adequately address the electricity needs of New Yorkers.

Norris McDonald Statement

Dan Durett Statement

Indian Point Energy Center, located in Buchanan, Westchester County, New York, has two active nuclear reactors with a combined rated capacity of 2,000 megawatts. In 2012 and 2015 respectively, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) operational licenses for both reactors will expire. Entergy Corporation, which operates both reactors, has petitioned the NRC to operate the reactors for an additional 20 years.

Norris McDonald Interviewed by Channel 1

The hearing was held in New York City in the Assembly Hearing Room at 250 Broadway on the 19th floor in room 1923.
 
AAEA President Norris McDonald was interviewed by Channel 1, quoted in The New York Times (see article at link), and quoted in Your News Now.
 

Blacks Get Short End Of Stick In NY Set-Aside Contracts

Blacks have trouble competing in the private sector largely because of continued discrimination.  That is why government set-aside programs are necessary to 'allow Blacks to do some business.'  But these programs usually fall far short of putting dollars into black business coffers.  New York City's contracting set-aside program is about par for the course. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council approved a law in 2005 that set voluntary goals for awarding a certain percentage of contracts to businesses registered as owned by minorities or women.

In the last year and a half, about three-quarters of city dollars paid to contractors participating in the program went to companies owned by either Asian Americans or white women. Businesses run by Latinos received 15% of that pool of money. The smallest share, 7%, went to black-run firms. Overall, of the $28 billion paid to prime contractors since January 2010, less than 3% went to companies registered as minority or women-owned. Within that 3%—a pool of $700 million —40% went to firms certified as Asian American. And about 35% of that went to firms owned by white women.

A Long Island staffing agency with $5 million in contracts in 2010 was the black-owned certified company with the highest amount.

Bloomberg aides say the data are misleading, noting that the figures don't account for hundreds of millions going to minority subcontractors or firms that did not register with the program. The figures also don't account for contracts to nonprofits. City officials say black-run businesses have secured a larger and increasing share of sub-contract dollars. In 2010, black-certified firms won 20% of subcontract dollars awarded to firms participating in the program.

Clearly there needs to be a program targeted specifically to Black businesses.  Until the private sector is more user-friendly to Black businesses, such government programs will remain necessary.  (WSJ, 8/1/2011)

DEC Removes 'Nigger' From State Documents

The term Nigger still lingers in environmental conservation laws classifying bodies of water in New York. A regional researcher alerted the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) about the racial epithet two years ago. Officials then did a computer search and found three other examples buried in regulatory indexes and a map. This week, the state quietly moved to correct the problem. While it can't rename local roads and water bodies, the agency is finally scrubbing the n-word from its regulations.

Since it's technically a rule change, the deletions can't happen instantaneously but must first be proposed. The result is one of the more unusual rule changes announced in the official state register, the latest edition of which carries the headline: "Removing a Racially Offensive Term That Appears in the Regulations."

The agency proposed it as a "consensus rule," obviating the need for any public hearings. "DEC has determined that no person is likely to object to the adoption of the rule as written," the register states.
In the meantime, DEC deleted the word from regulations posted on its website. One of those instances, a little, narrow lake in the wooded wilderness of Hamilton County, is now referred to as "unnamed lake."

The required public-comment period still stands, which means the regulations won't officially be amended for another month and a half.

An offensively named road in the town of Danby in Tompkins County is cited in a report posted online in February. The agency was unaware of that until a reporter brought it to its attention on Thursday.

The federal government began to strip the n-word from its topographic maps in the early 1960s. But within the more obscure reaches of cartographic bureaucracy, the n-word occasionally endures. (WSJ, 7/22/2011)

Power NY Act of 2011

Article 10 Reauthorization Law

The Power NY Act of 2011 

The New York Legislature has passed and Govern Andrew Cuomo has signed the “Power NY Act of 2011.” Section 12 of the new law reauthorizes and modernizes Article X of the Public Service Law, which expired on January 1, 2003, governing the siting and approval of power plants in New York.

Like its predecessor, the new version of Article X aims to centralize and streamline the siting approval process, although the threshold for application of the law has been lowered from 80 to 25 megawatts. The law creates and vests permitting authority with the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (“the Board”). The statute provides that two local residents will be part of the Board with the other five members being State officials for each proceeding. The law also provides for “intervenor funding” which will enable municipalities and other local parties to participate in all phases of the administrative review, including the mandated adjudicatory hearing.

The Board is given authority to override local laws and ordinances if they are “unreasonably burdensome.” Unless otherwise agreed to by an applicant or extended due to a “material and substantial amendment to the application” or “extraordinary circumstances,” Board decisions must be rendered within a year of the application being deemed complete.

Article X displaces the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process for covered projects, but mandates several environmental analyses of the facility’s impacts. These analyses include a “cumulative air quality analysis” of the combined effects from the proposed facility, other proposed sources and all existing sources; a description of the demographics of the surrounding community; and a description of “reasonable and available” alternative locations. It also requires the Board to find that the project minimizes or avoids disproportionate impacts on the surrounding community.

There are significant differences between the new version of Article X and the expired version. The lower 25 megawatt threshold will allow smaller projects to be covered by the law and may particularly benefit developers of wind projects, which in most cases would not have been covered by the expired version. The increased emphasis on environmental justice impacts addresses concerns stated by environmental groups. Current applicants for local and state permits for a power plant may elect to be covered by the new law.  (Sive, Paget & Riesel, PC)

Governor Cuomo’s Memorandum on the Legislation

DEC Office of Environmental Justice to host Statewide Teleconference about Environmental Justice Community Impact Grants

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Office of Environmental Justice is hosting a public teleconference on Thursday, July 14, 2011, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM for individuals interested in the Environmental Justice Community Impact Grants (EJ Grants). Aimee Vargas, the Director of the Office of Environmental Justice, will provide interested organizations with detailed information about the EJ Grants and the application process.

The EJ Grants are available to community-based organizations to fund various projects, including but not limited to community gardens and green roofs, air and water quality monitoring, lead poisoning prevention, urban forestry, subsistence fishing education, environmental education, inventories of local pollution sources, and green worker training. Larger not-for-profit organizations, universities and municipalities can partner with community organizations on funded projects. Community-based organizations, community leaders, municipal and university representatives, and other interested stakeholders are welcome to participate in the conference call, which is part of the DEC’s ongoing outreach efforts which included Technical Workshops throughout the State and an upcoming Video Conference/Webinar on August 10th.

Applications are due Friday, September 9, 2011, and awards are expected to be made in November.

The EJ Grants are funded through the Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grant program. Launched in 2006 with input from the DEC Office of Environmental Justice’s Environmental Justice Advisory Group, the program helps local organizations with projects to address environmental and public health concerns. The program concentrates on communities that are historically overburdened by problems such as a high density of contaminated sites; noise, air and water pollution; health problems; and a lack of green space and waterfront access.

Individual awards will range from $2,500 to $50,000, and a total of approximately $1 million is available. During the last funding cycle in 2008, DEC awarded 50 grants totaling $1.6 million.

To join the teleconference, participants may call 1-866-394-2346. When prompted, dial the participant code 5385701554, followed by the # sign. When prompted again, press "1" to join the call.

If you have any questions about the teleconference or other questions about the EJ Grants, please call the DEC Office of Environmental Justice at 1-866-229-0497 or 518-402-8556, or e-mail the Office of EJ .

Funding Delay For Sanitation Sites Is Environmental Injustice

City Council members and activists, including AAEA-NY, believe the mayor's plan to delay funding for four sanitation facilities will unfairly burden low-income and minority communities.

In 2006, following intense negotiations, the council and the mayor's administration agreed on a comprehensive "Solid Waste Management Plan" that sought to distribute equitably the siting of undesirable sanitation facilities in the five boroughs. But the mayor's current budget blueprint upends that objective by delaying funding for all of the proposed solid-waste marine-transfer stations in upscale Manhattan—and one in Brooklyn—for five to eight years, well past the end of Mr. Bloomberg's tenure at City Hall. An aide to the mayor said the proposed delay was necessary because of the economy.

The delayed facilities are:

East 91st Street marine transfer station along the East River in Manhattan (FY11 to FY16)

West 59th Street marine transfer station at Pier 99 on the Hudson River in Manhattan (FY 14 to FY 19)

Gansevoort marine transfer station at Pier 52 along the Hudson River in Manhattan (FY13 to FY18)

Southwest Brooklyn marine transfer station along Gravesend Bay (FY 11 to FY 16)

Source: City Hall; New York City Environmental Justice Alliance

The city already has long-term rail contracts in place and two marine transfer stations, along with a new recycling facility, are currently under construction. The delay in funding means the South Bronx, Sunset Park and East Williamsburg in Brooklyn will continue to shoulder the burden of handling the entire city's waste stream. (WSJ, 4/13/2011)

African American Environmental Association: 25th Anniversary

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald

Today is our 25th anniversary.  We was incorporated on November 20, 1985.  The African American Environmentalist Association (AAEA) is the outreach arm of the Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (Center).

You can see a listing of many of our activities during that time at our original website, which we converted to Multiply when the original Msn Groups platform ended).  There is more activity information at our History page. My career has been very satisfying.  From my beginning in the Fall of 1979 at the Environmental Policy Center (now Friends of the Earth) until today, the adventure has been incredible.  I started out in the Washington, D.C.-based environmental movement.  Jimmy Carter was president and was just finishing a rough 4-year run.  I shook his hand at the Democratic National Convention in New York in 1980 not knowing that Washington was about to get a completely new makeover.  The Reagan era was interesting and quite the challenge for the environmental movement.  I still remember his 'no standard standard' for appliance efficiency standards.  I also remember the Air Florida crash and the Metro subway accident on the day that I was walking back from the U.S. Department of Energy after testifying on appliance standards.

Well, without sounding like the old guy in the room sharing old war time stories that nobody really wants to hear, the situation today is as exciting as ever.  We are embarking on trying to build biomass power plants in Mississippi, California and in Kenya.  The adventure continues and I am having more fun than ever.  Our team is lean and mean and green. 

I have kept the AAEA small on purpose and will continue to do so.  I almost died from respiratory failure in 1991 and 1996 (intubated for 4 days in ICU each time).  After getting divorced and full custody of my son when he was 2 years old, I decided that I wanted to stick around to see my son grow up.  But I also wanted to continue with my entrepreneurial environmentalism.  So keeping it small worked.  Although I still struggle with a chronic acute asthma that could kill me any day, my son is now 18 and I am still 'doing my green thing.'  Life is good.  Hey, and we just opened a new Center Hollywood blog this week (Also see AAEA Hollywood).  Oh, and if you're feeling generous, feel free to click on our Donation button on our sites.

WE SUPPORT CHARLIE RANGEL

Remembering Environmental Justice Legend Dana Alston

Dana Alston was 47 years old when she died 11 years ago on August 7, 1999.

Dana Alston, left, was a leader of the original environmental justice movement that started in the 1980's. She was one of the organizers of the first National Environmental Justice Leadership Summit in 1992. She participated in the meetings to convince the U.S. EPA to open an Office of Environmental Justice. She was a committed environmental justice activist and the movement clearly benefited from her leadership. We remember you Dana. And we will never forget you.

Dana Alston received a Bannerman Fellowship in 1992 in recognition of her leadership in the development of the environmental justice movement. The Bannerman Fellowship Program was founded in 1987 on the belief that the most effective approach to achieving progressive social change is by organizing low-income people at the grassroots level. In 2002, the Fellowship Program was renamed the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program in honor of Dana Alston.

Dana died on August 7, 1999 at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Dana was a native of New York and lived in Washington, D.C. She was in San Francisco for treatment of kidney disease and consequences of a stroke when she died.

Her son, Khalil Alston-Cobb, now 17, resides in Clinton, Maryland. He is (or was at 16) a skateboard enthusiast (see videos). Here is how Khalil describes himself on his MySpace page:

"I like Skateboarding, Playing videogames, listening to music, talking to Gurls, surfing the Web, and Chillin wit the Homies."

Khalil is also on Twitter. He has a great skateboarding video on MonsterArmy.com. He is listed on Children of the Struggle. Dana would be very proud of her teenage son. All who knew her are not surprised that Khalil is an energetic and productive young man.

How Cooling Towers Work: Guide For the Non-Engineer

"Cooling Tower Heat Transfer 101"

By Brad Buecker

[Excerpts]

"Evaporation is utilized to its fullest extent in cooling towers, which are designed to expose the maximum transient water surface to the maximum flow of air – for the longest period of time.”1

For water to evaporate it must consume a large amount of energy to change state from a liquid to a gas.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows process conditions that could easily exist in a cooling system. We will calculate the mass flow rate of air needed to cool 150,000 gpm of tower inlet water to the desired temperature. We will also calculate the water lost by evaporation (go to link for full calculation). So, with an inlet cooling water flow rate of 150,000 gpm (1,251,000 lb/min), the calculated air flow is 1,248,000 lb/min, which, by chance in this case, is close to the cooling water flow rate. (Obviously, the air flow requirement would change significantly depending upon air temperature, inlet water temperature and flow rate, and other factors, and that is why cooling towers typically have multiple cells, often including fans that have adjustable speed control). The mass balance of water = 146,841 gpm. Thus, the water lost to evaporation is 3,159 gpm. A very interesting aspect of this calculation is that only about 2 percent evaporation is sufficient to provide so much cooling.

Evaporation causes dissolved and suspended solids in the cooling water to increase in concentration. This concentration factor is (logically) termed the cycles of concentration (C). Cycles of concentration can be monitored by comparing the ratio of the concentration of a very soluble ion, such as chloride or magnesium, in the makeup (MU) and recirculating (R) water. Very common is a comparison of the specific conductivity of the two streams, particularly where automatic control is utilized to bleed off recirculating water when it becomes too concentrated.

Besides blowdown, some water also escapes the process as fine moisture droplets in the cooling tower fan exhaust. This water loss is known as drift (D). Where towers are well-designed, drift is quite small and can be as low as 0.0005 percent of the recirculation rate.2 Drift particulate minimization is very important, as regulations on particulate emissions from cooling towers continue to tighten. Leaks in the cooling system are referred to as losses (L).

Reference:

1. J.C. Hensley, ed., Cooling Tower Fundamentals, 2nd Edition; The Marley Cooling Tower Company (now part of SPX Cooling Technologies, Overland Park, Kan.), 1985.
2. Personal conversation with Rich Aull of Brentwood Industries.

Power Engineering, July 2010

AAEA Testifies at Nuclear Power Plant Water Quality Hearing

AAEA President Norris McDonald, right, presented testimony before two administrative law judges at a hearing near the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The hearing was held in Cortlandt, New York at Colonial Terrace. The hearing was to address the New York Department of Environmental Conservation's denial of Entergy's Water Quality Certificate Application.

Excerpts of McDonald's written statement:

"AAEA disagrees with DEC's denial of Entergy's Water Quality Certificate and will provide information that the agency overlooked in its evaluation of the certificate application. Entergy's application, including the addition of a cylindrical wedge-wire (CWW) screen system (as proposed in Entergy’s February 12, 2010, submission), not only complies with existing New York State water quality standards, it also enhances those standards.

But nowhere in its discussion of these “other impacts” is there any acknowledgement by the DEC of the air impacts its decision will have on minority communities. This omission is egregious, particularly in light of the DEC’s numerous policy pronouncements, including DEC Policy Statement CP-29: Environmental Justice and Permitting, issued on March 19, 2003, where DEC expressed its commitment to environmental justice. In Policy Statement CP-29, DEC stated:

'It is the general policy of DEC to promote environmental justice and incorporate measures for achieving environmental justice into its programs, policies, regulations, legislative proposals and activities. This policy is specifically intended to ensure that DEC’s environmental permit process promotes environmental justice.'

CP-29 applies to permit applications received after its effective date (March 19, 2003) and the WQC application was submitted to the DEC on April 6, 2009. Thus, CP-29 clearly applies to this certification process.

To date, DEC’s permitting procedure for the Indian Point 2 and 3 facilities, and in particular, DEC’s Notice of Denial, and other considerations and investigations for these facilities, wholly ignores the issue of environmental justice and turns a blind eye to the significant harm to human health. These substantive and significant deficiencies render the Notice of Denial null and void, and preclude the DEC denying the WQC."