Critical Anti-Fracking Resolutions Up For Vote In Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York

A Niagara At Large News Brief by Doug Draper

If you are among those concerned about the potential impact of chemically contaminated “fracking” waste our health and environment, decisions this March 5 and 6 could help determine whether this waste ever gets dumped into the waters of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.

This Monday, March 5, Niagara Falls, New York’s city council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance opposing the treatment of the chemical-laced swill left over from the hydraulic fracturing of shale for below-ground deposits of natural gas through a city owned and operated plant that discharges wastewater to the Niagara River near the  Horseshoe and American Falls.

The Niagara Falls, New York council meeting will be open to the public and get underway at 7 p.m. with an opportunity for members of the public to speak to any item  on the agenda before councillors cast their vote. Those opposed to the discharge of fracking effluent to the Niagara River, including people from the Niagara, Ontario side of the river, are hoping members of the public will attend the meeting in a show of support for those who speak against using the city’s wastewater plant to treat and discharge this waste to the Niagara River.

This Tuesday, March 6 at Buffalo City Hall on Niagara Square, the city’s council will meet at 2 p.m. and among the items it is dealing is a motion to support a statewide ban against hydraulic fracturing in layers of shale for the purposes of extracting natural gas. The city’s mayor Byron Brown and council is also expected to make public a letter it is planning to send to the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo to implement such a ban. 

According to a note Niagara Falls, Ontario residents and anti-fracking activists Andrea and Malcolm Duncan shared with Niagara At Large this March 4, “Buffalo was the first city in New York State (in February of last year) to pass municipal legislation opposing fracking and fracking waste in order to protect residents from drilling and waste disposal. … Now, the second largest city in New York is standing up again – this time to protect it’s neighbors,” adds the note.

You can learn more about public efforts to encourage Buffalo councillors to oppose fracking  by clicking on http://bit.ly/wdj442****** .

In Niagara, Ontario, a resolution tabled last falls by Niagara-on-the-Lake town councillor Jamie King and supported by the council to rally the Ontario government and federal government in Ottawa to press for a U.S. moratorium on any decision to discharge fracking wastes to Niagara River and Great Lakes waters until the potential risks are more fully explored. Other local councils in Niagara, including Fort Erie, Pelham, Thorold and Port Colborne have supported King’s resolution but so far, councillors for Niagara’s regional councillor have only voted to receive it.

American petro-chemical companies are claiming that fracking is safe but, due to weaknesses in U.S. law, they can’t be made to divulge all of the chemicals they are using in the process. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, for government environmental agencies and others to fully determine what impact the leftover wastes from the process could have on human health and the environment, let alone test for the chemicals in water, soil and air.

Niagara At Large plans to inform readers of the outcome of the council votes in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York, and will continue to take a lead in reporting on this and other issues of concern to our Great Lakes environment.

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