Public Meeting: Sewer Study

Times-Union: Sewer system discussion set at HVCC

An update on study plans for repairs to inadequate sewage systems along the Hudson River will be held Nov. 10 at Hudson Valley Community College.

The study is being done by cities of Albany, Troy, Watervliet, Rensselaer, Cohoes and the village Green Island as a condition of their water pollution permits under the federal Clean Water Act. ...

When: Tue., Nov. 10, 7 p.m.
Where: Bulmer Communications Building at HVCC [campus map].

Harbor vs. Seaweed

The harbor may have to be modified or dropped from the design of the de Laet's Landing project, so as not to disturb the underwater vegetation. The article below is currently hidden behind a pay wall, but a few paragraphs are visible.

The Business Review: Seaweed stymies U.W. Marx plans for Rensselaer harbor project

Underwater vegetation—seaweed, essentially—is forcing big changes to a proposed $250 million to $300 million riverfront marina, residential and office development with views of the downtown Albany skyline.

In the meantime, you can read the State Environmental Quality Review Findings Statement. Go to the Rensselaer Riverfront Redevelopment Google Group and click on "DeLaet's Landing SEQR Findings_FINAL.PDF" (excerpt below).

Findings Statement - Rensselaer Waterfront Redevelopment Project
...
V. Project Impacts
...
4. Impacts to Flora and Fauna: The proposed action proposes reshaping and engineering of Hudson River shoreline adjacent to the project site. Habitat areas for sturgeon, mussels and other aquatic species have been indicated in the Albany waterfront area. Additionally, there are submerged aquatic vegetation beds with potential ecological significance that would be negatively impacted by reconfiguration and engineering the shoreline. DEC Environmental Resource maps indicated that the project is located within the vicinity of one or more rare animals. A site-specific habitat study, however, confirmed that no rare or endangered animal species were present.

Here's the U.W. Marx site for the project. Learn about the State Environmental Quality Review here.

UPDATE:

Times-Union: De Laet's Landing delayed by weed

State wants waterfront project reworked to protect 'water celery'

Groundwater Monitoring at BASF Site

Times-Union: Never Say Dye
[Scroll down below the cotton candy story - the Rensselaer story starts at the bottom of the page.]

More work is to be done to clean an old industrial dye factory near the Hudson River in Rensselaer's Fort Crailo neighborhood, as the state Department of Environmental Conservation tries to reassure residents concerned over continuing high levels of arsenic in groundwater.

In an April 27 letter to city officials, DEC environmental engineer John Strang wrote that new wells to monitor arsenic will be installed to replace those removed from the former arsenic-tainted lagoon areas around the former BASF facility on Riverside Drive.
...
"New monitoring wells will be installed in locations selected by DEC to replace those wells that were abandoned, for continued monitoring and proposed treatment of the groundwater," Strang wrote. DEC will hold a public meeting in "late 2009 or early 2010," after its sampling of river water to test contamination is finished, to discuss a cleanup plan.
...
In 2000, the Germany-based BASF chemical company closed its dye-making plant, which had run for 117 years. The plant, which pioneered the use of dyes from petroleum-based coal tars, opened in 1883 as the Hudson River Aniline & Chemical Works, a descendant of a company founded in Albany in 1868.

Falcon Cam Returns

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has the Dunn Memorial Bridge webcam working again. Their site said they had a bad transmitter earlier this month, but it seems to be fixed now, just in time for egg watching:

Dunn Memorial Bridge Falcon Nest - Larger View


Albany-Rensselaer, NY Peregrine Falcon Nest Site History

Albany, the state's capital, is fortunate to have a pair of endangered Peregrine Falcons nesting on the Dunn Memorial Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between the Cities of Albany and Rensselaer.

I'm quoting the DEC's 2008 summary for our Peregrines, as it doesn't seem to be linked from the rest of the site (the image is a screen capture I saved):

2008 was the fourth year in a row that a clutch of five eggs was produced, and egg laying began a couple of weeks earlier than has been typical at this nest site. Three of the eggs hatched on April 28th, and a fourth egg hatched on May 1st. On May 21st, four female chicks were fitted with metal leg bands and the single unhatched egg was removed from the nest box along with prey remains. During the fledging period in mid May, one of the four chicks was found swimming in the Hudson River by a tugboat crew. They removed the bird from the water, and Wildlife staff who found the bird to be well fed and without apparent injury, took it to the Rensselaer Riverfront Park to dry off and continue the fledging process. Although we do not know for certain, it is believed that the four chicks ultimately fledged from the bridge successfully.

She was just living up to her name - "peregrine" means "having a tendency to wander". According to Word For The Wise, peregrine falcons got the name because the young were captured while wandering from their nests, which were inaccessible to the falconers.

Here is the DEC's report on New York State Peregrine Falcons 2008 (great cover photo!). Here's a Times-Union article from Feb. 13, 2009, when the report was released:

Peregrine falcons fly to top in state
Reintroduced in 1983, birds produce record number of chicks, dominate East

DEC Chemical Collection

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is providing free disposal for pesticides and other chemicals. The program is designed to reduce environmental contamination and eliminate chemical hazards. Check your garages, barns, and storage areas at home and at work for obsolete and unwanted chemicals, and be sure to register in advance.

Here's the web site with all the details: DEC's Clean Sweep NY

Collection dates and sites (pre-registration is mandatory):
April 6 - Hudson, NY, April 7-8 - Schenectady, NY, April 9 - Oneonta, NY

Cost: No charge to farmers. All others receive free 100 lb pesticide benefit. All non-pesticide disposal costs are on a per-pound basis at a nominal fee.

Here's the Press Release: State to Collect Thousands of Pounds of Pesticides and Chemicals in Capital Region Counties

1000 MW of Wind

Press Release: NYISO Marks Wind Power Milestone

Total output reaches 1,000 megawatts

Rensselaer, N.Y. – The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) recently observed a milestone in the expansion of wind power generation in New York. At 6:00 pm on February 19, 2009, the combined total output of all wind plants in New York reached 1,000 megawatts (MW).
...
At the time when wind output reached 1,000 MW, it provided nearly 5% of the roughly 21,000 MW of total system demand.

Choose renewable power for your home at National Grid by choosing a provider like Community Energy, EnviroGen, Green Mountain Energy, or Sterling Planet.

Hybrid Buses

Times-Union: CDTA to buy 40 buses

Agency board expects to receive $15.7 million in federal stimulus funding expected stimulus funds

RENSSELAER — The Capital District Transportation Authority board voted Wednesday to use an expected $15.7 million in federal economic stimulus money to purchase 40 new buses.

Daily Gazette:

$15.7M in stimulus money will enable CDTA to pay cash for buses

... The new buses will be a combination of diesel-electric hybrid and clean-fuel diesel that has yet to be determined, said CDTA Executive Director Raymond Melleady.

Editorial: CDTA should use some stimulus $$$ for fare mitigation

For awhile it looked as if the Capital District Transportation Authority would have no choice but to use any stimulus money for capital purchases. But in the final legislation, Congress wisely gave bus service providers discretion with the funds, allowing some to be used for operating expenses. Unfortunately, CDTA has decided to use all of its $15.7 million allocation to buy new buses and none to mitigate fair [sic] increases, one planned for April and another under consideration for 2010.

The Daily Gazette stated in an earlier article (CDTA, riders happy with hybrid buses) that CDTA's hybrid buses cost about $475,ooo ($150,000 more than a conventional diesel bus), and get about 4.8 miles per gallon versus 3.8 mpg for a conventional bus. This 2007 CDTA press release said that they had 280 buses and operated about 7.2 million miles each year.

Using those figures, the average miles per bus would be 25,714. Reducing mpg from 4.8 to 3.8 for one bus would reduce the gallons used from 6,767 to 5,357 gallons per bus per year (a savings of 1,410 gallons per bus per year).

Given the higher cost of the buses, fuel prices would have to triple for CDTA to break-even (not counting the cost of battery replacement), but I think this is the right thing to do. A state grant will help offset about a sixth of that cost, and not paying interest to finance the purchase will save a great deal of money (I haven't found the information yet to let me estimate how much).

This white paper "Hybrid Bus Benefits - a Gillig Persepective" discusses the difficulty of estimating fuel efficiency on diesel buses, but points out the added benefits of cleaner emissions and quieter operations. (CDTA will be buying the bus from Gillig Corporation, but this white paper wasn't on their site, but on the site of a Michigan customer.)

E. Albany Gas Light

From the Times Union last week: Old industrial site tested for pollution

Representatives for National Grid and the state Department of Environmental Conservation are working at the site near the corner of Huyck Square and Washington Street where a manufactured gas plant stood more than 100 years ago. ... The East Albany Gas Light Co. once sat on the property. It began operation sometime between 1860 and 1887 and ceased operations around 1925.

To learn more about the DEC's cleanup efforts for such sites, you can read: New York State’s Approach to the Remediation of Former Manufactured Gas Plant Sites.

Gas lighting transformed people's lives in the 1800's, providing illumination for industry and the home. By the end of the 19th century, almost a thousand US companies were making gas from coal, and this "town gas" was widely used for lighting, heating, and cooking. Manufactured gas was eventually replaced by natural gas, as the pipeline infrastructure was built.

If you have historic photographs or documents relating to the East Albany Gas Light Co., please consider donating them to the city historian - they have no info. in the City Hall research room. From the report of a NYS factory inspection I learned that the E. Albany Gas Light Co. was generating both electric and gas light by 1899, and employed 3 men working a 60 hour week.

In 1909, the E. Albany Gas Light Co. merged into the Albany Southern Railroad Co., along with several small light/electric companies, the Albany & Greenbush Bridge Co., and the Albany & Hudson Railroad (a novel third-rail electrical railway between Rensselaer and Hudson). In 1912, the Albany Southern Railroad owned all the gas and electric light plants in Rensselaer and Hudson.

Coal gasification has become a hot topic again. The US Department of Energy is pushing the environmental benefits. GE Energy has a test plant in Schenectady, and many sites use their gasification technology.

Rensselaer Iron Works

Yesterday the New York Department of State announced $23.3M in grants from the environmental protection fund, for 88 waterfront revitalization projects in NYS. No projects were included for Rensselaer in this round of funding, but the City of Troy received money to support their planned Hudson River promenade and park at the former Rensselaer Iron Works site at the end of Madison St.

The New York Times archives has this article detailing a shut-down of the Albany and Rensselaer Iron Works, almost 125 years ago. This history of labor and industry from SUNY Albany describes the lives of the iron workers in Troy. These Wikipedia articles on Erastus Corning and John F. Winslow include some history of the Iron Works as well.

You can walk along Madison Street circa late summer 2007 using Google Maps Street View, but there isn't an exact address to link you there. This image (c2008 Google) is from Google Satellite view.