Bronx Council for Environmental Quality » Environmental Reviews

BCEQ’s Comments on Fracking, 01.11.12

karen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:12:55 +0000

Here is what we submitted.

DECjs_Public_Hearing_on_High-Volume_Hydraulic_Fracturing_011112

Comments on CSO and Green Infrastructure 11.18.11

karen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:15:16 +0000

Here is some of what we submitted:

Green Infrastructure (GI) has to be incorporated into the Long Term Control Plans in a meaning and measurablemanner. While this plan goes a long way toward that goal, there is no need for additional planning for incorporation of GIwhile the Long Term Control Plans (LTCPs) are being developed. Just do it; it is already widely accepted all over thecountry and by EPA.

11-9 Hearing – Green Infrastructure: NYC is the last to “Get It”

karen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:29:00 +0000

NYSDEC & NYCDEP Reach Innovative Draft Agreement to

Improve New York Harbor Water Quality

Agreement Will Result In an Estimated $2.4 Billion in Green Infrastructure Over 20 Years and More Than $1.6 Billion in Gray Infrastructure Projects to Reduce CSOs

Public Comment Period on Proposal Begins Today; Public Meeting Set for November 9

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection reached a draft agreement to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSO) into area water bodies, the agencies announced today. The agreement modifies New York City’s approach to improving harbor water quality, under which the city will invest an estimated $187 million in green infrastructure projects by 2015, part of a planned $2.4 billion public and private investment over the next 20 years. The city will also complete work on approximately $1.6 billion in gray infrastructure projects. A public comment period on the proposal begins today and runs through November 18.

DEC is holding a public meeting on the draft consent order on November 9 at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at DEC’s Region 2 Annex Building located at 11-15 47^th Avenue, Long Island City, NY. Public comments on the draft agreement can be emailed togekline@gw.dec.state.ny.us or faxed to 518-402-9029.

For more information:

10-19-11_NYSDEC_&_NYCDEP_Reach_Innovative_Draft_Agreement_to_

Huffington Post: Robert Kennedy on Fracking, 10-21

karen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:18:35 +0000

________

The Fracking Industry’s War On TheNew York Times — And The Truth

10/20/11, Robert Kennedy, President, Waterkeeper Alliance; Professor, Pace University

Superb investigative journalism by the New York Times has brought the paper under attack by the natural gas industry. That campaign of intimidation and obfuscation has been orchestrated by top shelf players like Exxon and Chesapeake aligned with the industry’s worst bottom feeders. This coalition has launched an impressive propaganda effort carried by slick PR firms, industry funded front groups and a predictable cabal of right wing industry toadies from cable TV and talk radio. In pitting itself against public disclosure and reasonable regulation, the natural gas industry is once again proving that it is its own worst enemy.

For the rest of the story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/fracking-natural-gas-new-york-times-_b_1022337.html

Oh where oh where are our replacement parks II

karen — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:59:05 +0000

Great Report by community member last August. Still no word from the State Parks Department. What’s up with that?

Garage A project inconsistencies 082309

We hear that the waterfront parks (many miles from where the people live, but across from the shopping mall) will open on Thurs, October 22, 2009.

Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Bronx Borough Commissioner Hector M. Aponte cordially invite you to attend a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Mill Pond Park, Located at One Bronx Terminal Market, Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 A.M.

Mill Pond Flyer

Although the flyer did not mention it, there is a scheduled tennis clinic that day for anyone who wants to play on the new courts.

Vice Presidents Blog: Kingsbridge Armory testimony

karen — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:27:14 +0000

At its monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 14th, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ) considered your request to become part of the Alliance that is fighting for responsible development of the Kingsbridge Armory.

We were unanimous in that, while we support KARA’s Community Benefit Principles, we have environmental concerns raised in the EIS that do not seem to be resolved. We do not wish to have our name included in your listof well respected organizations but will support your efforts as it relates to our environmental concerns. Please keep us abreast of any developments and where we can offer testimony, we would be happy to do so.

To that end, BCEQ will submit its own testimony to the City Planning Commission against this project.

We put up the testimony on www.bceq.org – Bronx Council for Environmental Quality » Blog Archive » Kingsbridge Armory comments to the CPC and EDC http://bit.ly/1ugmAU

Joyce Hogi, 2nd VP, BCEQ

NYC DEP Minor Modification to the Croton Water Treatment Plant Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement of June 2004

karen — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:17:25 +0000

Below please find the New York City Department of Environmental Proteciton Minor Modification to the Croton Water Treatment Plant Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement of June 2004

Notice dated May 1, 2009

minor_modification_notice

Minor Modification dated April 30, 2009

minor_modification

FOILing the NPS for Yankee Stadium parks replacements

karen — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:10:12 +0000

Below are the documents we received based upon a FOIL request to the National Park Service (NPS). These files are in pdf form and are many pages. They are grouped together generally with a letter at the end — most are from the summer of 2006.

NPS review of NYS report on the replacement parklands: foilnpsreviewnys-a

NPS review of the Bronx Terminal Market lands: foilnpsreviewnysbtm-b

NPS request for info from NYS: foilnpsrequestnys-c

NPS request from NYC: foilnpsrequestnyc-d

NPS review to NPS DC: foilnpsreviewnps-e

The appraisals are online at the Good Jobs NY site. Let us know if you need them.

Grass Roots Assure Environmental Promises are Kept

karen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:15:42 +0000

On September 3, we returned to court to argue that 76 days ago on June 19, 2008 – the DEP announced for the first time, that it was going to make a substantial change to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the work proposed at the Jerome Park Reservoir related to the now almost $3 Billion Croton Water Treatment Plant (CWTP).

This change was not a minor deviation from a prior approved plan but rather a literal bombshell dropped by DEP when it proposed to blast a shaft through soil and rock along “Education Mile” adjacent to the Jerome Park Reservoir. Had DEP stayed this ill-advised course, this substantial change would have resulted in numerous significant adverse environmental impacts as outlined in Plaintiff’s brief.

The subject matter of this dispute involves an important project to ensure that NYC continues to enjoy plentiful and safe drinking water and the impacts of this project were reviewed for many years culminating in a then and now (even more so) seemingly wrong-headed decision to locate the plant on parkland in Van Cortlandt Park at the Mosholu Golf Course and not in Mount Pleasant at the Eastview site where we now know it would have been much less expensive to build.

Be that as it may, the many years of environmental review under CEQR, SEQRA & ULURP also resulted in a decision not to undertake major construction of the plant at the Jerome Park Reservoir or to blast there in large part because of the significant potential for adverse impacts. Final agency action and exhaustion of the then available administrative remedies occurred on July 16, 2004 with DEP’s issuance of a Statement of Findings.

Yet, knowing the concerns of the Bronx community for this site and its sensitive nature with many residential and institutional receptors of adverse impacts, DEP nonetheless proposed this past June to undertake blasting – an ultra hazardous activity – without a supplemental environmental impact statement. It proposed to do this even after the FSEIS stated that there would be “no blasting or surface drilling” at the Jerome Park Reservoir. Nothing could have been clearer – no blasting meant no blasting. This agency action motivated the Bronx Borough President to write DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd on July 11th to express his dismay that DEP did not bring this decision to blast to the public sooner. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz echoed the Borough President’s dismay in a late July letter.

We are delighted that this litigation caused DEP to re-think this arbitrary and capricious decision and now concurs with DEP – if indeed blasting at the JPR as it pertains to work related to the CWTP project is off the table and is no longer being considered as an available alternative – that this issue is now moot.

We reminded the Court that DEP has flip-flopped on the issue of blasting. In the 2004 FSEIS, it said “no blasting,” yet on June 19, 2008 DEP was extolling the “Benefits of Controlled Blasting” in its PowerPoint presentation “Upcoming Construction at the Jerome Park Reservoir.” In the late August 2008 just released Technical Memorandum (prepared solely in response to this litigation) DEP announced “updated design and construction changes” and mentions “mechanical excavation” but does not mention either blasting (or hoe-ramming or surface drilling for that matter). It is only by looking at litigation documents for this case – the August 28th affidavit of Gary Heath of the DEP that the community learned that DEP decided to proceed with mechanical excavation (i.e. hoe ramming) instead of blasting.

Because of DEP’s flip-flopping and its continuing attempts at purposeful vagueness and, while we believe Mr. Heath, we were prepared to ask the Court to conform the pleadings to this new evidence available only for the last 2 business days by amending our request for relief to now become either: a) an extension of the preliminary injunction and TRO issued by this Court on July 29th up to the date and time that DEP reviews this proposed “updated design and construction change” not to blast with the Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee (FMC) as required by City Council Resolution # 933 or b) to ensure the sincerity of DEP and to ensure that DEP ratifies its Director’s assertion that no blasting will take place, the Court issue a permanent injunction barring DEP and its contractors from any and all blasting at the Jerome Park Reservoir site as it relates to the CWTP.

The community won a big fight as there will be no blasting at the reservoir.

While the Court denied our request for a permanent injunction, it was because the Judge believed DEP when it stated that the “blasting” issue was Moot.

Justice Betty Owen Stinson will make her final decision on remaining issues concerning the FMC and surface drilling by the end of the month.

The DEP intends on beginning “hoe ramming” by the end of the month.

On July 29, 2008, the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality joined by other community organizations and leaders brought an Order to Show Cause to stop the City from blasting at the Jerome Park Reservoir. This first successful temporary restraining order (TRO) brought against the City on the Croton Water Treatment Plant (CWTP) project, was prepared by a group of community pro-bono attorneys. Aimed with the premise of we are not going to be pushed around, this grass root effort demonstrated how Bronx community people working together could assure that promises made in environmental impact statements by agencies and developers are kept. We hope this message is clear and has been heard!

For more information and/or to see the actual court documents, visit www.waterblogged.org

/Karen and Walter

NYC DEP is building the CWTP in Van Cortlandt Park

karen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:09:49 +0000

Since there is so much information on this topic, we decided to organize it by groupings.

1. GOVERNMENT – The City of New York’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) formed a Facilities Monitoring Committee as required by the City Council Approval of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in 1999. (Facilities Monitoring Committees are formed as a result of the Fair Share doctrine of the New York City Charter.)

The Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee (CFMC) Meetings will be noted on the BCEQ calendar for meeting notices as we find out about it.
CFMC Minutes, go to this link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/croton.shtml
The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) of 2004, including the Commissioner’s Statement of Findings, and the Executive Summary. See all these links at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/crotoneis.shtml
Promised Parks Projects and their status are listed on the Department of Parks and Recreation site, at: http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/croton/html/main_page.html

2. ELECTED OFFICIAL’S RESPOND – Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz questioned the project’s high cost rising to $3 Billion.

3. MEDIA COVERAGE

4. LEGAL ACTIONS – On Wednesday, July 30, 2008, BCEQ’s pro-bono attorney and Bronx resident Ezra B. Glaser appeared before Justice Betty Owen Stinson seeking an Order to Show Cause (OSC) for a temporary restraining order against the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s proposal to blast in and around the Jerome Park Reservoir. The DEP and the City showed up to argue against the OSC. The Judge granted the TRO on the blasting issue. The next court appearance was on September 3, where the DEP withdrew its proposal to blast. The community won this one. For more information, go to this link: http://www.waterblogged.org/city-responds-agree-to-no-blasting/

Documents and attachments to the press releases

Updated List of Parks as promised to the NYC Council on 09/13/04 – updatedlistfor10m091304

Handouts from the FMC meeting of May 17, 2007 (selected) – handouts FMC 051707.pdf

Department of Investigation Letter to Assemblyman Dinowitz on May 29, 2007 – Investigation LTR 052907.pdf
Assemblyman Dinowitz Letter to the Department of Investigation – Dinowitz Letter DOI 092707.pdf and Attachments to DOI letter 092707.pdf
DOI response to Assemblyman Dinowitz on October 4, 2007 – DOI response to Dinowitz 100407.pdf
Press Release and report by Assembly Member Dinowitz on the High Costs of the CWTP – pr-dinowitz-cwtp-high-cost-111107 and a-critical-analysis-of-the-dep-explanation-for-high-costs-e280a6
Revised Chart of Expenses based on DEP information provided at the FMC meetings as prepared by Karen Argenti. See the chart here:chart-031008