The Finger Lakes Area is a place of rare natural beauty. In the past there was an attitude that, yes, the natural gifts of the area might make for a nice fishing weekend or a walk along the lake, but the real business of boosting the local economy consisted of trying to attract industry. Almost any industry, in fact. And to do this, we had to be prepared to give away public lands, tax breaks, permit the degradation of our environment, and above all not create the impression, by asking too many questions, that we intended to place any conditions on industrial development which might offend a business promising to create jobs. In short, we had to be prepared to sacrifice the very features of the area that we love.
In recent years it's become clear to many residents of the Finger Lakes, and perhaps even clearer to people from outside the area, that the area's natural beauty is not just an incidental feature of life here as we go about our business, but is itself our most marketable asset for economic development. Tourism brings with it a constellation of economic opportunities, in the form of restaurants, hotels, wine tours, etc. Beyond that, being recognized as a desirable place to live means having more choice in attracting businesses that make for a diverse and healthy economy.
So asking reasonable questions about a particular proposal for industrial development, and being prepared to set conditions, is not a threat to our economic future, it is a protection of our economic future. The mindset of "jobs at any cost" is a short-sighted attitude that fails to take into account that every decision we make today will either limit or enable the decisions we make tomorrow. If, in order to create a small number of jobs, we create an economic environment that discourages the sort of growth that will sustain our most valuable economic assets, what have we accomplished?
This brings us to the ethanol project which is being proposed for the former Seneca Army Depot site. Apparently, for the sake of 35 jobs, we are being asked to rubber stamp a project which will clearly affect the surrounding area in profound and unknown ways, and we are expected to care so little about these environmental impacts that we should not inconvenience the promoters of this project to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This is a throwback to the "jobs at any cost" mentality that existed in the days when heavy industry was the only hope for employment, and the natural environment was just "scenery", available for the taking, that had nothing to do with the economic health of a region.
Do we really care so little about what we have in this region that we won't even insist on a thorough study of what is being proposed? Are we so casual about a project that will create uncertain levels of emissions, noise, traffic, and visual blight, that will have unknown effects on the nascent tourist economy and on the quality of life, that we won't even require the developers of this project to provide the public with the sort of solid information that only the Environmental Impact Statement process would provide? Are we really so desperate for these promised 35 jobs?
On February 8, 2007, the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency granted a "Negative Declaration" to Empire Green Biofuels, essentially saying that they are not sufficiently concerned about the environmental issues involved to ask the ethanol plant promoters to present their intentions to the public in the rigorous manner prescribed by the EIS process.
We don't believe the future of our area should be treated so lightly. The residents of the Finger Lakes deserve the same level of accountability and responsiveness from their officials that many other communities have demanded and received for projects with this level of environmental impact, even if it might cause some inconvenience to the project's promoters. That is why our group intends to push for an EIS, if necessary in court .
Here's a recent Finger Lakes Times article about our group:
New Alliance still fighting for ethanol plant details
By DENISE M. CHAMPAGNE
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 9:50 AM CDT
ROMULUS - An offshoot of Seneca White Deer is still looking for answers and pushing for a full environmental review of the proposed ethanol plant.
Members of what was recently named the Finger Lakes Future Alliance became acquainted last fall on the wildlife bus tours that were offered at the former Seneca Army Depot. They share the wildlife concerns of Seneca White Deer, which hosted the tours, but have others, too.
They want to know how the proposed plant will affect Seneca Lake's waters and the shore, near which many of them live.
They're also concerned about truck and train traffic's impact on the Finger Lakes' tourism industry and quality of life, given that big rigs heading to area landfills are already controversial.
“I really think the big question is ‘what do we see as the future of this area, and is it really compatible with that?'” said Bobbi Clifford, the group's spokesperson, who lives at Lakeshore Landing, an upscale development on the east side of Seneca Lake.
They believe many of their questions would be answered if the plant's developer, Empire Green Biofuels, would do a full Environmental Impact Statement. However, the project's major investor, California-based Cilion Inc., has opted not to do it.
Project representatives conducted public presentations in March and April in Romulus. Clifford and other women stood outside Romulus Central School at the April 25 session, passing out fliers, asking “Where is the Environmental Impact Statement?”
Group members also don't believe their air quality and odor concerns were adequately addressed at public meetings.
Clifford contends that information presented at the public meetings doesn't match what is in the basic environmental assessment that was done, and she called the public presentations “polished,” with limited responses to questions. Her group also has pointed out that having the public meetings during the day prevented people who work from attending.
Written comments were also accepted.
“We deserve answers,” said Bob Tarzwell, who also lives at Lakeshore Landing. “The larger picture is the beauty of the area and that's what brought us here and what has kept us here.”
Diane Mason of Fayette said the proposal is contrary to what she thinks people are trying to do in the area.
“You don't say, ‘Let's go to the wineries, and let's stop by the ethanol plant,'” she said.
Reached in California late last week, Cilion's executive vice president for business development, Ejnar Knudsen, said he was surprised the group had formed and that he thought their questions had been answered.
Knudsen said every ethanol plant built in New York has been done with an environmental assessment form and that Cilion is offering to do an expanded one.
“This is a pretty benign process,” Knudsen said. “People don't really appreciate that. This is a brewery. You're fermenting grains. These things are generally welcome operations ... We've been available to people ... We have to defer to the regulatory agencies that guide this process.”
“If they feel they have questions that are not answered, then we invite them to meet with our engineers in Buffalo,” Knudsen wrote in a subsequent e-mail that he sent to Clifford, too, offering to arrange a meeting. He suggested that members might benefit from understanding the differences between an Environmental Impact Statement and what is required.
After Clifford forwarded the message to group members, Tarzwell responded at length, noting that the Environmental Impact Statement “will report that Empire forgot to tell us .... that they will be storing huge quantities of dangerous and hazardous materials on site.”
Among them, he mentions 100,000 gallons each of gasoline and diesel fuel; 20,000 gallons of ammonia; and 10,000 gallons each of sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid.
“The EIS will show that, in fact, ethanol is a hazardous material and must be treated as such,” Tarzwell wrote. “Empire has gone to great lengths to hide facts of how dangerous the plant really is and how an error or accident ... could flood the creek and surrounding residential area downhill with 1 million gallons of ethanol that is stored on the site.”
Tarzwell also cites potential fire hazards and concerns about local emergency responders' ability to deal with them.
“Why would we come and talk with your engineers?” he wrote. “[It's] the same company that is telling us there will be no stink and yet any reasonable person who searches the [Internet] will see that even with a thermal oxidizer in place, the smell is still very much a problem.
“ ... I want an independent third party to look at all the things you have failed to tell us so far.”
Knudsen said the company will address relevant points soon “to hopefully put these questions behind us.” He also noted that many concerns are addressed on the Web site www.empiregreenbiofuels.com.
“If the person would take the time to meet with Malcolm Pirnie (the Buffalo engineering firm), they would learn that the EIS could not improve on what [Empire Green Biofuels] has already committed to do through the expanded [Environmental Assessment Form],” he added.
dchampagne@fltimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment