BESECKER: Work continues to reduce air pollution, improve Great Lakes

By Aaron Besecker/beseckera@gnnewspaper.com

A Niagara Falls facility that turns municipal solid waste into steam and electricity is looking for a renewed air pollution control permit from the state.

Covanta Niagara, formerly American Ref-fuel, has applied to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for approval. Public comment is being accepted on the matter until April 6.

The plant, located at 100 Energy Blvd., has the capacity to process 4.5 million pounds of waste per day.

The company, which has 86 employees, sells steam to five local manufacturers, said plant manager Richard Peers.

Occidental Chemical, Praxair, Niacet, Norampac Industries and Goodyear all purchase the energy for their own industrial uses.

Covanta also sells enough electricity into the statewide grid to power 30,000 homes per year, said Peers, who has worked on site for 10 years and been manager for about the last year.

The company’s compliance record consists of only one violation, said DEC spokeswoman Meaghan Boice-Green.

In the fall of 2006, Covanta exceeded in its emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide over a period of several days. The error occurred due to incorrect data entered into an emission monitoring system, according to Boice-Green.

The company notified state officials of the problem and an enforcement action is being pursued, she added.

New legislation aimed at better mercury monitoring

Some federal lawmakers have introduced a bill in the Senate to create a nationwide mercury monitoring program.

The Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act is aimed at replacing 2005’s Clean Air Mercury Rule. The earlier rule, enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency, has been criticized for being based on a perceived flawed computer model.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

Environmental groups on board with budget and new bill

Earlier this month, three major environmental groups spoke out in favor of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed budget and a federal bill to restore the Great Lakes.

Audubon New York, a 50,000-member state organization of the National Audubon Society, hailed Spitzer’s proposition to increase the Environmental Protection Fund in his proposed state budget for 2007-2008.

The proposed spending increase calls for the fund to be hiked by $100 million over the next two years.

It also includes increases in staff positions in the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Adirondack Park Agency.

Audubon New York, along with Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Environmental Advocates of New York, also expressed support for a new law proposed by Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate.

The Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act of 2007 would aim to combat sewage contamination, promote the restoration of wetlands and work to prevent the introduction of invasive species.

Reps. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., and Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., and Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Carl Levin, D-Mich., sponsored the bill.

Contact reporter Aaron Besecker at 282-2311, ext. 2263.