A Foreword by Doug Draper
The ongoing cleanup of the Buffalo River – a major tributary to the Niagara River – will be the focus of a public meeting in Buffalo this coming Tuesday, January 25.
The Buffalo River's 'elebator alley'. Photo courtesy of the citizen group Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper
The waters of the Buffalo River, flowing by numerous old and often abandoned industrial mills along its shores before emptying into the upper Niagara, was so polluted a few decades ago, about the only fish that could survive in it were bullheads or catfish and scientists found visible tumors on half the ones they caught for examination.
More recently, the river’s waters and bottom sediment have shown visible signs of impairment as government agencies have worked together with private industry and citizen groups like Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper on numerous projects aimed at revitalizing this important waterbody.
You can learn more about this ongoing cleanup effort – one that is critical to all of us in Ontario and New York State who share these waters – by attending the public meeting in Buffalo on January 25.
Niagara At Large is posting below a media release from Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, with more details about the public meeting, including time and location.
From: Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER
Contact: Jill Jedlicka, Director of Ecological Programs, Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER, 716-852-7483 ext.21
PUBLIC MEETING TO PRESENT MAJOR MILESTONE IN BUFFALO RIVER CLEANUP
A public meeting hosted by the Buffalo River Restoration Partnership will be held on Tuesday, January 25, from 6-8p.m. at School #33 on 157 Elk Street and will provide the public an opportunity to learn more about the cleanup and restoration of the Buffalo River.
This is the second public meeting on the project and will include a formal technical presentation and question and answer session with partnership members, which include the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, Honeywell, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers-Buffalo District.
The partnership has worked collaboratively for the past four years to develop a preferred remedial alternative for 6.2-miles of the Buffalo River and 1.4-miles of the City Ship Canal.
Significant progress was achieved this past fall in restoring the Buffalo River with the public release of a consensus-based Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for the cleanup of nearly one million cubic yards of contaminated river sediment as well as habitat restoration.
The first phase of the project is a sediment dredging effort within the commercial navigation channel that is funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and will be conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning this spring. The second phase of the project includes sediment dredging, capping and habitat restoration, as described in the RI/FS, which will be implemented under the Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) program. Once public input has been integrated into the GLLA project, engineering designs completed, and final agreements negotiated, GLLA dredging outside of the commercial navigation channel will begin. The GLLA phase is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2012.
The Buffalo River Restoration Partnership invites all interested members of the public to attend the public meeting and presentation about the project, ask questions of the project partners, and provide feedback on the proposed plans for the Buffalo River cleanup and habitat restoration.
There is a 60-day public input period. Written correspondence will be accepted until January 30, 2011. The RI/FS is available at http://www.buffaloriverrestoration.org, or through direct request. For more information, visit the website or contact Jill Jedlicka, Director of Ecological Programs at Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper at 716-852-7483, ext. 21 or jedlicka@bnriverkeeper.org.
More background, including a fact sheet on the Buffalo River, can also be accessed by visiting http://www.buffaloriverrestoration.org.
(Visit Niagara At Large at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater binational Niagara region.
Niagara At Large 
The US side is starting to live up to it’s responsibilities uder the Great Lakes Clean Waters Act , Cleveland Ohio is speding 15 Billion dollars on waste water treatment without any Federal funding, Toledo Ohio has an ongoing program to remove toxic silt from off shore putting it in barges and sealing it in old quarrys etc, Buffalo has adopted a program to get rid of cobined sewers, big bucks ! but will pay off in a healthier environment later. Our Region owns sludge ponds sewage lagoons overflowing into the Niagara River, one in Nigara Falls and one in NOTL. sludge pond in Fort Erie.the Town of Fort Erie dumps overflows into the creeks and done so for 40 years.
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