Coke's Recycling Grants are Open

Here's the press release, unedited:

Coca-Cola and Keep America Beautiful Announce 2011 Recycling Bin Grant Program
Grants Provide Recycling Bins and Consultation for Parks, Schools, Offices, and Special Events

STAMFORD, Conn. (Feb. 14, 2011) — The Coca-Cola Company and Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) today announced the Coca-Cola/KAB Recycling Bin Grant Program, an effort designed to promote and support community recycling.

Grant recipients receive both donated recycling bins and expertise on how to set up recycling programs from Keep America Beautiful. This Bin Grant program is part of KAB’s larger Public Space initiative, an effort among KAB and its sponsors, such as Coca-Cola, to enhance the access to and convenience of recycling away from home. The grant program is also part of a $60 million investment by The Coca-Cola Company in recycling initiatives in the U.S.

“The great demand for recycling bins in public spaces reflects a growing interest in, and need for, expanded recycling access away from home,” said Matthew M. McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. “We’re thankful to The Coca-Cola Company for its support of this bin grant program, and the company's commitment to community recycling nationwide.”

The spring 2011 grant cycle opens today, Monday, Feb. 14. Interested parties may visit http://bingrant.org and submit an online grant application through March 18, 2011. Eligible grant recipients include government agencies, civic organizations, schools and nonprofit groups. Successful applicants will be notified on or before April 15.

Since its inception in the fall of 2007, the Bin Grant program has placed more than 16,000 recycling bins in 320 communities in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Recipients have included municipalities, colleges, Native American tribes, and community- based NGOs.

“The entire recycling process begins when a consumer chooses to put their empty beverage container in a recycle bin instead of the trash,” said John Burgess, president of Coca-Cola Recycling LLC. “Through our work with KAB to provide bins to community-based organizations, we can help raise recycling rates by making recycling more accessible to more consumers.”

Single Family Homes, Senior Housing, Hotel? What's the Future of 600 Acres on the Hudson?

With the intended abandonment by Cabrini of their 600-acre West Park property on the Hudson River, the future of a huge tract of riverfront land adjacent to the Marist Bros. property and the Burroughs' Riverby house, and across from Vanderbilt, is up in the air.

The three ideas that have become public are 1. single-family housing, 2. senior housing or 3. a hotel. That's according to Supervisor Coutant's quote in the Freeman.

The Record and the Journal are also following the story, and the Watershed Post is aggregating the news.

FEMA Implements Flood Insurance Provisions

As of January 1, 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)began implementing a flood insurance provision to the National FloodInsurance Program (NFIP) to help reduce the financial burden placed onproperty owners whose buildings are newly mapped into a high-riskflood area. The NFIP’s Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) offers low-costflood insurance to owners and tenants of eligible residential and non-residential buildings located in moderate- to low-risk areas.

Before 2003, more than 70 percent of the nation’s flood maps were atleast ten years old. Congress passed a law and appropriated funds in2003 directing FEMA to create the five-year Flood Map Modernizationprogram, which used more current data and the latest technology toupdate the maps. Consequently, many property owners are finding theirbuildings have been accurately mapped into higher risk areas. Agingflood control infrastructure, including levees, dams, and otherstructures have also resulted in large numbers of properties beingdesignated within Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) where they arerequired by lenders to purchase flood insurance.

For more information and links to fact sheets and answers toFrequently Asked Questions (FAQs), please see:http://www.semo.state.ny.us/programs/mitigation/federal_flood_insuran...
Rick Lord
Chief of Mitigation Programs & Agency Preservation Officer
NYS Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services
NYS OEM Office of Emergency Management
1220 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12226-2251
518.292.2370 landline 518.322.4983 fax 518.867.9482 cell
www.dhses.ny.gov
P Please don't print if you don't have to
New York State Warning PointNew York State Office of Emergency Management
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services24/7 Phone: (518) 292-220024/7 fax: (518) 322-498224/7 Email: ny...@dhses.ny.gov (Note New EMAIL Address)

Supporting the Removal of PCBs from the Hudson

At the December 20th meeting of the Environmental Subcommittee a resolution was brought forward supporting the continued removal of PCBs from the Hudson. Despite lobbying from GE representatives, and an early letter from the County Chairman, Clearwater spokesperson Manna Jo Greene presented information that moving forward with removal of PCBs was necessary.

DEC: Hudson River Communities Must Prepare for Sea Level Rise

I haven't read the whole report, but I jumped to drinking water treatment because that's the first and most important impact I would expect Esopus will deal with. Here's what the report said:

Salt water intrusion...threatens the Hudson River, which is a primary water supply source for many communities.... Saltwater intrusion could affect freshwater intakes at the Chelsea Pumping Station, Castle Point Medical Center, Poughkeepsie, Port Ewen, Highland/Town of Lloyd, Dutchess County Water Authority, and Rhinebeck.

In addition, flooding and other sea level rise impacts pose many of the same risks to drinking water treatment facilities as those that threaten other infrastructure types: corrosion, erosion and deterioration.

Water treatment plants in the coastal zone are at risk from flooding and the associated corrosion caused by salt water infiltraion. In addition to the treatment facilities themselves, the substrate for distribution pipes could be damaged by erosion and a rising groundwater table....

Costs of necessary repairs, placements and updates to New York State's water infrastructure over the next 20 years have been estimated at $38.7 billion, although estimates of the costs of modifications to respond to climate change specifically have not been developed. These costs will, however, be significant.

In my mind, the Port Ewen water treatment plant has already likely been damaged by climate change, in combination with poor runoff management. Why? Climate change is expected to produce more frequent strong storms, and it's very strong storms on the order of 100-year storms that have repeatedly caused erosion that damaged the water treatment plant.

10/19/10: GASLAND at UUCC Kingston

If you haven't seen GASLAND yet,
get thee to the UUCC tonight! --

7 PM on Tuesday, October 19
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road
Kingston, NY

Sponsored by the Social Action Committee of UUCC
as part of its Issues Of Our Times series. Free admission.
For more information, call Paula at 845-679-2821.

10/18/10: NYS Gubernatorial Debate

Tonight at 7 PM:
Watch the first-ever NYS Gubernatorial Debate
live — on your TV or online.

Water, water everywhere....

Today is Blog Action Day 2010. The topic is water.

Now showing: GASLAND at Upstate Films

If you haven't seen GASLAND yet, here's your chance! It's showing this week - Tues (10/5), Wed. (10/6), and Thurs. (10/7) at 5:45 PM and 8 PM - at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, NY.

When Catskill/Pocono filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for natural gas drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies, and contamination. Fox encounters EPA whistleblowers, congressmen, world-recognized scientists, and some of the most incredibly inspiring and heart-wrenching stories of ordinary Americans fighting against fossil fuel giants for environmental justice.

Fox: "Right now the Marcellus Shale is under attack by natural gas drillers. Nowhere is it more important for citizens to see GASLAND and get engaged in fighting unregulated hydro-fracking than in the Catskills. "

Congressman Maurice Hinchey: "GASLAND is a very important film about the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing - a method of drilling for natural gas that currently lacks proper oversight. We've seen what happens when energy companies are granted unfettered access to our precious natural resources without that oversight. In the wake of one of the largest environmental disasters in our nation's history, as millions of gallons of oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico, it is abundantly clear that we simply cannot rely on the promises made by those who have everything to gain and nothing to lose from drilling. We cannot allow drilling to move forward without rules in place to protect drinking water and our overall environment."

An important and timely exposé, GASLAND reveals the practices of the largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history. Developed by Halliburton, hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," has swept across the United States, opening up new territory in 34 states to extensive drilling, including the Marcellus Shale, a vast formation that underlies most of New York and Pennsylvania, as well as the New York watershed and the Catskills/Poconos.

Take Action:
1. Submit written comments on NYS DEC's Draft Strategic Plan for State Forest Management by 10/29. Let's ask DEC to remove the entire Mineral Resources section (pages 225 to 242) from this document, and ask that our state forests never be leased to the gas industry.
2. Visit these sites for more action items:
http://dontfrackwithny.com/
http://frackaction.com/
http://gaslandthemovie.com/
http://www.riverkeeper.org/

9/23/10: Public hearing on NYS DEC's State Forest Management Plan

Public hearing tonight (9/23):
6:30 to 9:30 PM
DEC Region 3 Headquarters
Main Conference Room
21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz

The NYS DEC's Draft Strategic Plan for State Forest Management includes information about how DEC will proceed with leasing our state forests* for natural gas exploration and use of water for gas extraction once the DEC's SGEIS on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is finalized.

Meeting agenda:
6:30 to 7 PM - Sign in (and sign up if you want to speak)
You can also speak "one-on-one" with DEC personnel at this time
7 PM - Welcome
7:10 PM - Presentation about the draft plan (20 to 30 minutes)
7:40 to 9:30 PM - Public comments on all aspects of the draft plan

Let's ask DEC to remove the entire Mineral Resources section (pages 225 to 242) from this document, and ask that our state forests never be leased to the gas industry.

For the full plan and information about the public hearings, go to:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/64567.html

Written comments will be accepted through October 29.

For more information about fracking, go to:
http://frackaction.com/
http://gaslandthemovie.com/

* These forests include 786,000 acres, but not do not include the Adirondack or Catskill Forest Preserves.