**GOOD/BAD IDEAS**

Good Ideas for Rochester's Environment

Bad Ideas for Rochester's Environment

You can respond to this section by writing Frank J. Regan

You got to love it.  Politicians and even individuals, come up with and even make it to the media with some great and then some really bad ideas about our Rochester-area environment.  Over time I'll list and comment on some of each.

Good Ideas to help Rochester's Environment

• 8/30/07 -- **GOOD/BAD IDEAS** Reducing Waste should be a primary goal for this new century, the Environment Century as E.O. Wilson coined it. One great idea, and there are many, is a story coming out of Binghamton, NY. Maybe our county can adopt something like this: Compost bins available "Binghamton – The Broome County Division of Solid Waste Management is launching a home composting program to enable residents to care for the earth in their backyards and reduce the amount of garbage going into the landfill." (August30, 07) New York State News on the Net!
• 8/24/07 - **GOOD/BAD IDEAS** We Don’t Have to Machinegun Our Lakes. Just when you thought the government seemed hell-bent on something as reckless and environmentally unfriendly (remember lead bullets mean lead poisoning (that’s why we have laws against using lead sinkers anymore)) as using live machine gun fire on the open Great Lakes, they come up with something sensible. How many other crazy and environmental detrimental things are we doing (like drinking billions of gallons of water from plastic bottles that don’t get recycled when most city in the US have not only an adequate water supply, but a federally mandated safe one? This story quietly mentioned in another city’s newspaper highlights how when the public demands some sense and sensibility on safety and environmental matters, our government miraculously comes up with some reasonable solutions. Coast Guard tries lasers as a live-fire alternative- mlive.com The U.S. Coast Guard caused an uproar last year when it proposed training with live machine guns on the Great Lakes. (August 23, 07) MLive.com: Everything Michigan
• 01/21/07-- **GOOD/BAD IDEAS**  Pandemic Flu Plan In Monroe County Too often environmental issues descend into a dismal political morass--like Global Warming, renewable energy, and cleaning up the Great Lakes--making wide-spread solutions impossible. For example, there is no chance of the United States choosing sustainable practices that would address Global Warming if leaders don't even believe in the concept of Global Warming. (Former Ranking Member James Inhofe R-Okla of the Environment & Public Works had said that Global Warming was a hoax.)

  Thankfully, most have 'Got it' that the possibility of a pandemic flu is as serious as an environmental health problem gets. The reality of thousands, perhaps a hundred thousand deaths worldwide in the 1918-19 Spanish flu did the convincing. Read Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic by Gina Kolata if you harbor any doubts about the most catastrophic single disease outbreak in human history. The Black Plague killed a larger percentage of a 14th century population, but not more people.

  So our government (the Monroe County Government) and business (Wegmans joining in a program to prepare for the possibility of such an outbreak is good news and a great thoughtful policy. It isn’t about panic and Chicken Little. A pandemic flu hitting our area, as it had during 1919, and being able this time around to do something practical to prevent widespread death is a reality. Most probably a pandemic flu will hit fast and die quickly. The best prevention is probably holding tight (staying out of contact for awhile with large groups) until the disease is identified, isolated, and allowed to perish on its own. That can be done most effectively by informing an entire community as the program outlined by County Executive Maggie Brooks does. And that Wegmans, our community’s largest grocer would chip in and help distribute the pamphlets to inform as many people as possible is such a great idea that I double-dog dare all markets and all stores to pick up the idea and help out.

  I think this program outlined by our County Executive offers a model on how we should anticipate many of our environmental problems: don’t wait around doing nothing until a potential disaster strikes, but wisely plan ahead and make it clear to the public what their part in such a disaster will be. How different the Iraq War might have been had George W. Bush told the American People back when he started the war that the American people must pitch in and at least engage their attention, instead of just asking us to go shopping.

• 07/07/06 -- **GOOD/BAD IDEAS** "Ontario County Health Department officials are trying to get the word out about how important it is for local governments to prepare for a pandemic if the disease mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person. "There will be no help from the state and federal levels, or very, very limited because they are going to be helping everybody. You have to plan to be on your own for at least the first few days," said Jody Gray, Ontario County public health director."-from MPNnow.com: Canandaigua talks bird flu  Wise Words: Though I am far from an expert on pandemics, the words of the Ontario Health Officials seem prudent in the event of a flu pandemic. The scary thing about a flu pandemic is the speed it moves (from 50 million to 100 million in the fall of 1918) and it 'moves' by passing quickly from person to person. Mandatory quarantines, vaccines, and poo pooing the whole thing are not the answer. Quick and immediate voluntary quarantines within an informed public is the only thing that makes sense to save millions from dying. Of course staying indoors and skipping work are not, like a bad patient, easy to take for a busy population like our own. Loss time means loss dollars--and educators are loathe to let children fall behind. But, there are times (and reading up on the Spanish flu of 1918-19) when it's best to stand aside and appreciate the full power of Nature running its course. Thankfully, and ironically, a disease as 'stupid' as the Spanish Flu will quickly 'burn' itself out if there are no victims to spread the disease.
• The City of Rochester takes pride in its environment: We here at RochesterEnvironment.com do our utmost to find ways Rochesterians can help their local environment.   Well, our new mayor, Mayor Robert Duffy, has kicked off his administration with a fantastic effort to get the public's attention on our environment with the Rochester Clean Sweep Program.  I applaud the new mayor's real efforts to get the the public take pride in their environment and do something specific that will make a difference.  Check out this site for all information on how you can commit to a cleaner Rochester:  Rochester's Clean Sweep Program - Be A Part of the Action! Help Clean Up Our Streets! Clean and attractive neighborhoods are vital to the health of our city! - “Rochester's Clean Sweep... Showing Pride in Our City” - A six-week spring clean up initiative that begins April 17 --from Welcome to the City of Rochester
•  Lead Poisoning is a serious problem that Rochester takes seriously: City of Rochester's GetTheLeadOut program - Lead poisoning is a serious health problem that affects thousands of children each year. Although lead comes from many sources (the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink), lead poisoning in young children most often results from their eating lead-based paint chips or inhaling the dust. Lead-based paints are most often found in houses and buildings built before 1950. One way to protect children against lead poisoning is to remove the hazard.  This document explains the methods you can use to safely remove lead-based paints when remodeling or repairing your home. If you suspect any child is exposed to any lead hazards, that child should be tested for lead poisoning. Testing can be done by a physician, health center and/or the Monroe County Health Department.
•  One of the problems with changing our country's dependence on oil is doing so without causing major disruptions in our energy use.  This program by RG&E looks on the face of it as a reasonable way to merge wind power technology into the existing power grid.  10/01/04 -- Democrat & Chronicle: 1,000th customer catches the wind RG&E plan brings in power on the breeze. To learn more For more information on RG&E's Catch the Wind, call (877) 743-9463 or go online to www.rge.com. — The winds of fortune were with Nancy Runser of Fairport this week. The stay-at-home mother of three was named the 1,000th customer for Catch the Wind. The Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. program, announced in April, offers a way for customers to buy wind-generated electricity. Most power is generated from such sources as coal, natural gas and nuclear energy.  (October 1, 2004) Democrat and Chronicle
•  Now, here's a great recycling idea.  On a large scale, finding recycling opportunities, instead of throwing trash into the ground would really help the environment.  Democrat & Chronicle: School recycles old roof Discarded slate pieces get decorative makeover for sale. — IRONDEQUOIT — Last year, they sold the windows. This year, they're selling the roof. In keeping with the tradition of recycling pieces taken from West Irondequoit schools during the district's recent $56.8 million expansion and renovation projects, the West Irondequoit Foundation is selling engraved pieces of slate taken from the roof of Dake Junior High School. The building's 75-year-old slate roof was replaced during the renovations, and about 250 pieces of the old roof were saved. (September 22, 2004) Democrat and Chronicle
•  Renewable Energy--there's no argument against it. Democrat & Chronicle: Plan pushes renewable energy A proposal wants 25% of electricity sold to be from green power by 2013.- — By 2013, 25 percent of the electricity sold in New York should come from renewable resources, such as hydropower, wind, solar and biomass. That’s the gist of a recommendation made Thursday by Eleanor Stein, an administrative law judge with the New York state Department of Public Service. (June  4, 2004) Democrat and Chronicle
•  Glad to see developers thinking of our environment and recycling: EPA: Resource Conservation Challenge - Shopping Centers The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and EPA have teamed up to form America's Marketplace Recycles! (AMR!), a new initiative under the EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge. AMR! is an award program aimed at shopping centers, their retail tenants and employees, and the shopping public. The purpose of America's Marketplace Recycles is to: 1. Promote recycling at shopping centers by shopping centers themselves, retail tenants, and consumers; 2. Help promote and energize the recycling message; and 3. Encourage waste reduction in packaging.
•  The Deer Problem in New York State is a serious one.  Here's an interesting solution to one of the issues surrounding the Deer Problem: State Tests Deer Reflectors - For the past two years, New York State has been experimenting with reflectors designed to keep deer from crossing the busy highway. A three-mile stretch of the reflectors line the sides and in the middle of the NYS Thruway near Exit 45. In theory, when headlights hit the reflectors, they create a red beam visible to deer that criss-crosses the thruway and shines into woods, ditches, and the roadside. (May 15, 2004)  WOKR-TV 13 || ROCHESTER
• As time goes on, if we don't make the difficult environmental choices, they will not get easier because we put them off.  Here's a good proposal that might cost some more for a house and help preserve open space: Democrat & Chronicle: Environmental tax proposed — ALBANY — Communities would have the option of adding a tax to real estate transactions to fund environmental preservation projects under a bill introduced Tuesday by two legislators. Under legislation proposed by Sen. Carl Marcellino and Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, chairmen of the environmental conservation committees in their houses, communities could adopt a tax of up to 2 percent on a portion of real-estate sales. The state currently charges a 0.4 percent transfer rate. (May 5, 2004) Democrat and Chronicle
•  Don't' Give up on your Pet.  There's help.  Pet Peeves and know that help is available, said Alice Calabrese, acting president at Lollypop Farms. -The line - (585) 295-2999 - is open 24 hours. Callers leave a message and a volunteer returns the call. Russ Roberts, a Pet Peeves volunteer, said that the help line has already received more than 400 calls. Sometimes the owner gets off the phone with enough information to correct or change behavior issues; other times a follow-up call is necessary.
• Ready to get serious about Recycling? Check this out: Yahoo! Groups : freecyclerochesterny Rochester (NY) Freecycle Network -Need an item? Need to get rid of an item? Rochester Freecycle can help! -Whether you're looking to discard or acquire an item, you've come to the right place. Computers, furniture, clothing, paper - no item is too big or too small. Since this is a FREEcycle list, ALL items must be 100% FREE (no money, no trading). In order to prevent SPAM, all new members must be approved by the moderators; before your membership is approved, YOU MUST REPLY TO A CONFIRMATION EMAIL sent from the address rochester@kcfreecycle.org . Upon subscription, you will receive a welcome message via e-mail - please take a moment to read through this before participating. More info on Netiquette and Yahoo Groups can be found in our List Guidelines - see http://www.kcfreecycle.org/roch/guidelines.htm l. The Rochester Freecycle Network serves Rochester, NY and the surrounding areas (please, no one from outside NY). No freecycle group in your town? Start one! Go to www.freecycle.org  for more info. The Rochester Freecycle Network is inspired by the Tucson Freecycle Network, the original freecyclers. Find out more about the international freecycle movement at www.freecycle.org . Questions? Comments? E-mail the Rochester Freecycle Network at rochester@kcfreecycle.org
•  Diesel fuel pollution is an important matter, good to see our governor on top of it:  WXXI: Pataki Brings "Clean Bus" Funds to Monroe (2004-04-22) ROCHESTER, NY (2004-04-22) Governor Pataki marked Earth Day in Rochester by announcing that some school buses will be more environmentally friendly. Three local school districts will be participating in the "New York State Clean Air School Bus Program." It's designed to modify existing diesel school buses into cleaner running vehicles. (April 26, 2004) Public NewsRoom
• Of course, RochesterEnvironment.com is for this bill: Bill pushes for access to hazard data - Lawmaker wants all environmental data on Internet - New York residents should have better access to environmental information through the Internet, a state assemblyman said Wednesday. (April 22, 2004) pressconnects.com | Binghamton, NY | Press & Sun-Bulletin
•  Let us make this energy plan work for our area: Democrat & Chronicle: Wind power now an option (April 20, 2004) — Starting today, electricity customers of Rochester Gas & Electric can get all or some of their power from wind turbines based in New York. It’s a first for the state, which hopes to buy 25 percent of its electrical power from alternative sources by 2012. Customers have three ways to sign up: Through a form coming with the normal bill in May, on the Internet (www.rge.com) or by calling (877) 743-9463.
•  Our neighbors up north are on the right track about energy: London Free Press: News Section - Ontario aims to cut electricity use by 5% TORONTO -- Within six years, all homeowners in Ontario will be buying electricity at higher rates during the day and lower rates at night, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday   TIPS TO CONSERVE ELECTRICITY -Premier Dalton McGuinty's top five tips on trimming your electricity use: -- Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs that use a quarter of the electricity. -- Turn up the air conditioner setting a few degrees. -- Close the refrigerator door on a slip of paper and pull. If it comes out easily, it's time to fix or replace the door seal. -- Don't leave computers running when they're not in use. A continuously running computer can cost $250 a year. -- For those with electric hot water heaters, fixing leaky taps, insulating water heaters and using efficient showerheads can save money. --CANOE - Canada's news, sports, entertainment, finance and lifestyle site - Canadian Online Explorer
•  We have to commend Monroe County under Maggie Brooks for this excellent Recyclying Program initiatve -  County Announces New Recycling Initiative For Public Events - Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks today announced a new initiative aimed at increasing container recycling at public events. The pilot program will begin with this year’s Lilac Festival in May...(April 9, 2004) Monroe County
•  Second Life Bikes' (SLB)  (page from bikeRochester) mission is to provide bikes and bike services free to children of low income families. We take in bikes that are no longer being used or are thrown away and give them a second life, but SLB does not accept monetary donation at this time. -"My name is Ray Fitzgerald and I am the founder of Second Life Bikes. Second Life Bikes is committed to providing bicycles and bicycle services to low income families and has been in existence for 6 years. In addition, SLB helps with training youths on bicycle maintenance, provides bikes for other non-profits/community organizations and works with a local disposal company to keep old bikes out of landfills. SLB distributed about 350 bikes last year in addition to many repairs of those who had bikes. The plan for 2004 is to distribute 400+, repair an equal number, assist a food pantry with setting up their own bike distribution/repair program and raise safety awareness. In order to meet this goal, we are asking for your assistance. The most important resource needed is volunteers. Knowledge of repair/maintenance is unnecessary. There are task that do not require such skills. SLB also requires specialty tools (Cone Wrenches, Chain Tools, etc.), bike stands, electric air pumps, patches, tubes, tires, spare parts (especially cables), safety equipment, refreshments/snacks for the volunteers and, of course, bikes in need of a “Second Life”. Even a discount on such materials would be very much appreciated. Store gift certificates and checks may also be donated (Federal EIN90-0140387). Second Life Bikes isn’t so much about bikes as it is about hope; to reach out into a community of despair, poverty and crime, and show that people do care. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I can be reached at the following: E-Mail: SecondLifeBikes@frontiernet.net Sincerely yours, Ray Fitzgerald
•  Just across the waters, they seem to get getting the idea of clean, sustainable energy: Wind farm of 150 turbines planned for Wolfe - Arenewable energy firm and a hydro company have agreed to build a $400-million wind farm on Wolfe Island, the firms announced yesterday. “We are looking at up to 150 turbines,” Ian Baines, president and chief operating officer of Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., said. All the testing is completed, the project has the support of Wolfe Islanders, and construction is almost ready to begin, Baines told The Whig-Standard in an interview from his firm’s Mississauga headquarters, (April 2, 2004) Osprey Media Group Inc. - The Kingston Whig-Standard
• If there is actual money for this program this would be a good idea.  Fishing stocks die when reintroduced into the Great Lakes because of pollution. President wants $45M for Great Lakes cleanup activities - DETROIT - Though $5 million shy of what Congress has authorized, President Bush’s upcoming fiscal year budget proposal includes $45 million for ongoing Great Lakes cleanup activities. If approved, it would be the largest single-year allocation for addressing longstanding pollution in the world’s largest collection of fresh surface water. It also would be a $35 million increase over this year’s expenditure of $10 million. (January 30, 2004) http://www.toledoblade.com/home
•  Good to see New York State leading on car emissions: EMS - Auto emissions, state-level standards This month, New Jersey became the first Mid-Atlantic state and fifth one in the country to adopt California's stricter automobile emissions standards. New Jersey has joined New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine in implementing more environment-friendly auto-emissions standards than the federal government requires. --from Environmental Media Services - facts and contacts for journalists
•  Good to see our area taking recycling so seriously City has Bar Coded Trash Bins - Rochester is taking technology to the trash. It says it is the first city in the world to use bar coded trashcans, a move it says will save money in the long haul.

Bad Ideas for Rochester's Environment

• 01/19/07 -- **GOOD/BAD IDEAS**   If it sounds too good to be true…

  Harnessing power from a landfill sounds like the perfect solution to waste management and our present energy crisis and Global Warming. And while I believe that all of our Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks reasons why getting power from the Riga Landfill are good, there is a major problem with trying to solve our energy problems by capturing and utilizing methane gases that naturally accompany landfills. This concept presents to the public an illusion that it has conceived of an idea that solves some of our major problems. But, what it really does is continue landfills as waste management and produces no immediate concern in the public’s mind that we have a waste and resource problem.

  In other words, hailing this present program as a solution to waste management and energy allows the public to believe that landfills are OK. They are not. Landfills, as a by-product, do produce some methane gas. Methane gas pound per pound is many times more effective at trapping heat from the sun and adding to the Global Warming problem, so untapped it will go into the atmosphere and continue to the problem of man-made climate change. But, landfills also put into the grounds tons and tons of toxic chemicals from human-made products that eventually go into our atmosphere and ground. Much of the toxic waste takes a long time to become inert causing further problems down the road when landfill are covered over and building built upon it.

  It is a better idea to slowly get rid of the idea of landfills and instead find ways to recycle those things we toss into them. Recycling our waste—organic, furniture, plastics, aluminum, etc.—would provide a wealth of resources for businesses, instead of having to further deplete our natural resources. So, in the short term, shunting methane gas into an energy source instead of letting it go into our atmosphere is a good idea, but only if it is part of a process that eventually leads to major efforts to recycle.

  With American ingenuity most, if not all, the thing we throw away can probable be reused and done so at a fraction of the cost of digging (say aluminum) out of the ground. If we continue to hail landfills as an energy source we are deluding ourselves that we have found an easy fix to the problems of pollution, Brownfields (which many used-up landfills become), and energy—and we have not.

• The trouble with killing contests is that they don't help us understand our environment and usually lead to a heated debate instead of a rational one.  Rather than launching a killing contest to deal with the alleged acts of the Eastern Coyote, our efforts should be to learn more about the role the Eastern Coyote plays in our environment.  We should learn about the larger role of top predator in an environment increasing hostile towards anything that annoys some people. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation itself admits that it needs to investigate the role that the Eastern Coyote now plays in an area without other major predators. But that is going to be difficult if a thoughtful inquiry is set against a background of prejudice, misinformation, and hideous retaliations for differing views on the worth of another creature.  Read today's D&C: Coyote hunt sparks debate - Contest to kill common predator upsets some in Ontario County— In the greater Rochester area, most residents' only knowledge of coyotes is the occasional sound of their yips and howls on clear nights. But in Ontario County, where local hunters have fanned out through the woods to kill as many of the predators as possible for a $2,000 prize, coyotes are a hot topic. So hot, in fact, that one vocal opponent of the Honeoye coyote derby awoke last week to find what he took to be a bloody message in his front yard. - (March 20, 2006) Democrat and Chronicle
•  11/07/05 - Here's a sad step backwards.  Rather than come up with the money to clean up the Great Lakes or help the environment much at all, except to give corporations free license to do what they want and funnel away all monies to clean up, protect, and preserve our environment, the government is taking a new step backward: We here at RochesterEnvironment.com thought one of the best reasons to connect to the Internet to find out about your environment, because our media and government put this so far back on the back burner that it's almost invisible, that one of the few ways to find about about pollution was this search service, now they are taking away:  The EPA might relax toxic report rules. For the past 18 years, any citizen with access to a computer could discover what kind of toxic chemicals were being released in his or her community. But the EPA is about to change the rules. Tampa Tribune, Florida. [ view related stories < http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/archives.jsp?related=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.tbo.com%2Fnews%2FMGBT9MRJKFE.html  >] http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBT9MRJKFE.html
•  06/19/05 --Bass fishing year round is a bad idea.  Why not give our fish a break?  This option by the DEC to open up bass fishing year round, despite catch-and-release is a constant stress on our fish and waterways without a break.  The decision has more to do about money, than making sure there is not a constant assault on our fish population, not to mention, gas in our lakes, and the continual disruption of the lake ecosystems.  Already, our cod and fishing industry on off the Northeast US has been decimated by over fishing, and our oceans in crisis because of man's constant intrusion of these waters.  Now, to make money, the DEC is going to open up our lakes to this kind of continual stress on our fish and waters.  Why not consider the importance of giving our fish and waters a recovery time?  Why must we drive our environment right into the ground with our obsessions?   DEC to consider all-season fishing of bass in New York Albany – Bass fishing could become a year-round sport in New York. In most of the state, the season for largemouth and smallmouth bass opens Saturday and runs through the end of November. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is considering opening up the season in the spring and winter, under certain restrictions. The spring and winter season would be catch-and-release with only artificial lures allowed. The year-round season would not be in effect in some waters, including much of the Hudson River. (June 19, 2005) recordonline.com - The Times Herald-Record, serving New York's Hudson Valley and the CatskillsThe DEC is accepting comments on the proposal until June 30. Comments can be e-mailed to fwfish@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
•  Be afraid, be very afraid: This is not the way to handle the long-term problem of West Nile Virus: SILive.com - Staten Island Advance - City defends anti-mosquito spraying without permits City environmental law attorneys claim the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't require the Health Department to obtain permits before it sprays pesticides to combat mosquitoes that can carry West Nile virus. SILive.com: Everything Staten Island
•  Given all the potential problems (terrorist attack, inability to discard nuclear waste safely, mistakes made at nuclear plants( should Rochester be proud of the fact that is has the longest-running Nuclear Plant?  WXXI: Nation's Oldest Nuke Plant Changes Hands (2004-06-11) Employees at the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant watched Friday as a new corporate logo went up on the side of the green metal building that houses the plant's nuclear reactor. Constellation Energy took ownership of the nation's longest-running nuclear plant from Rochester Gas and Electric, which first put the plant on line in Wayne County in 1969.Public NewsRoom
• Cause for Concern? Why not use nontoxic ways to curb unwanted plants along our highways?--DOT Begins Spraying Weeds - The New York State Department of Transportation will begin mowing the grass and chemically treating the roadside on highways.  For more information about the roadside work, call the DOT toll free at 1-877-201-8762. R News: Your NewsChannel -- When you call you find out that in Monroe County Roundup and Oust are being used to control plant growth around our highways.  Are they safe?  Oust herbicide information - ROUNDUP ORIGINAL Liquid Herbicide AGRICULTURAL and INDUSTRIAL CAUTION IRRITANT
• City Newspaper shouldn't be reducing the amount of environmental coverage for our area: You cannot fix the environment if you do not know what is going on. Most of us do not have the time, nor the inclination to give to our environment the time and attention it needs for us to have a healthy environment.  We have to depend on the intelligence and abilities of our best reporters and we have lost one of the best: We have learned that Jack Bradigan Spula no longer works as environmental reporter for City Newspaper.  City's says, City Newspaper: Jack Spula "We're sorry to notify readers that longtime City writer Jack Bradigan Spula is no longer on our staff. As readers know, Jack has great strengths, and he has made important contributions to this newspaper. His broad breadth and depth of knowledge and his coverage of such issues as the environment, human rights, and national and international affairs have informed and challenged us all. He has a knack for connecting the dots on crucial issues and --- especially important at this time, in this country --- of putting local issues in the context of national developments and trends." Our position at RochesterEnvironment.com is this: For whatever reason, the dismissal of Jack Bradigan Spula is a severe loss for the city of Rochester.  As most cities around the country have fewer and fewer newspapers due to merging and some bad rulings by the FCC on the allowable percentage of corporate takeovers of medias, we citizens are getting less objective news.  This is especially true on the environment, where we need continuous good reporting in order to access the health of our environment and make the best choices for sustainability. You cannot fix the environment if you do not know what is going on.  Jack Bradigan Spula is one of our city's best eyes and ears on the environment and we cannot replace this loss.  Please contact City Newspaper and let them know how absolutely important that our city have the voice of Mr. Spula back again to counteract the dearth of environmental news reporting in this city we need to monitor our environment.  
• "Farmers in Monroe County say that deer destroy up to 80 percent of their crops." 80% - I don't think so.  (Think about it, a state-wide Tornado wouldn't create that kind of damage.)  However attractive to some, you cannot solve environmental problems with a gun.  Year round hunting of deer is a bad idea because it simply looks for a quick attractive solution to a deep environmental problem about perceived pests and our ecology: The problem with the overpopulation of deer is about Urban Sprawl and our human intolerance of what we perceive to be pests, which in the case of deer were an integral part of this land's ecology long before we arrived.  The solution to this problem lies not in a shooting-gallery approach, but a long-term (sustainable) solution that keeps our environment (that which our species needs to survive) intact while understanding that our economy (which is man-made) is not more important than our environment.  Deer Dilemma -- Farmers in Monroe County say that deer destroy up to 80 percent of their crops. Now, Clifford Crouch--a state assemblyman from Binghamton--has proposed a year-round deer hunting season to alleviate the state-wide problem. (April 2, 2004) WOKR-TV 13 || ROCHESTER
• Perhaps the way to save the fishing industry is not to devastate one species for the proliferation of another.  Maybe the solution is to curb pollution. State targeting waterfowl - ithacajournal.com ALBANY (AP) -- Empowered by new federal rules, the Pataki administration said Wednesday it will be more aggressive beginning this spring at controlling New York's flocks of double-crested cormorants, a hungry predatory waterfowl blamed in some areas for thinning fisheries favored by sportsmen. The state will step up the "oiling" of cormorant eggs to prevent their hatching, destroy more cormorant nests and increase "hazing" of nesting areas in spring and fall to try to prevent the birds from feeding on fish. The state will kill up to 600 of the birds where other methods fail to reduce overpopulations, said state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty. (March 25, 2004) theithacajournal.com - News and information for - Ithaca and Tompkins County, N.Y.
• Being just across Ontario Lake, this solution to Canada's energy problem is not good or safe for the environment:  Future is nuclear, OPG told - Manley report embraces atomic energy as the way out of Ontario's power problem - Ontario must base its future power supply on nuclear energy and should start with a $600-million project to rebuild one of three mothballed reactors at Pickering A, according to a major report on the province's controversial electricity utility, Ontario Power Generation, that is to be released today. (March 18, 2004) globeandmail.com - Canada's best source for news continuously updated from The Globe and Mail
• Here's an example of what bad economic times mean for solving environmental problems--they are the first to be cut and reduces when times are tough.  It may make economic sense, but not in the long run because toxic sites that aren't cleaned up have a way of getting in your face. Buffalo News - Simpler plan sought for brownfields The Erie County Legislature approved a resolution Thursday asking the state to allow Western New York to adopt an industrial brownfields cleanup plan that would allow Erie County to follow a less rigorous standard for the cleanup of toxic waste sites. (March 8, 2004) The Buffalo News
• Is our state so desperate for funds that gambling & burning trash for energy is the best the governor can come up with? - Buffalo News - Incineration as energy source blasted Environmentalists Thursday asked Gov. George E. Pataki not to include incineration as a renewable energy technology when the state draws up a new energy plan. "Contrary to what industry lobbyists say, burning trash is neither renewable nor a clean energy source and must not be allowed to be considered as such," said Mary Carney, Western New York coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group. (February 12, 2004) The Buffalo News
• Should this make you feel more confident about having more nuclear power plants? Toxic cleanups may be scaled back Department of Energy causes uproar over plan for old nuclear weapons sites Facing a national nuclear cleanup costing at least $220 billion and lasting several decades, the U.S. Department of Energy is pushing what it believes is a faster, cheaper approach that requires setting aside environmental regulations and longstanding agreements with states. The agency's new "Risk-Based End States Vision" is premised on limiting the cleanup of factories and labs contaminated by cold war weapons work to no more than is needed to protect humans or wildlife. Oakland Tribune Online - Home 
•  Although most of our politicians think the Downtown Bus Terminal (in the works for five years) will be a a great attraction and a good job getter for our area.  It is a bad idea because it is a boondoggle that doesn't solve our area's mass transit needs.  Even thought we have or are approaching a 'no attainment zone' (meaning no more new roads) because of the quality of our county's air, instead of putting together a mass transit system that will reduce fossil fuel polluting vehicles, the best politically attractive scheme is this serious flawed bus terminal. Democrat & Chronicle: Transit proposal may be altered The bus station project could need new environmental review.— Where’d the downtown bus station go? For several years, the proposed transit center was portrayed with a façade fronting East Main Street, modeled after a train station designed by the late Claude Bragdon, a Rochester architect.  (January 20, 2004) Democrat and Chronicle
•  Here's a particularly bad idea that could, if implemented, seriously compromise the health of our Great Lakes Health profoundly. Pioneer Press | 01/21/2004 | More nuclear power called for Less than a year after Minnesota lawmakers tangled over nuclear waste storage, the head of the Public Utilities Commission said Tuesday the state needs more atomic power plants. PUC chairman LeRoy Koppendrayer said natural gas is becoming too expensive to fuel large generating plants, and coal-burning plants pollute. If Minnesota wants clean, cheap energy, he said, it needs more nuclear plants than the two it now has. (January 21/04) Twincities.com - Your Twin Cities Everything Guide