Environment

A major step in the clean up of Onondaga Lake is about to begin. Honeywell International will begin the dredging and capping of contaminated lake sediment this summer.

The city of Syracuse wants to get half its power from renewable energy sources by 2020.

That's just one of the targets laid out in a draft version of Syracuse's first sustainability plan [PDF].

It still has a ways to go, however: about 24 percent of New York's power currently comes from renewable sources - with hydropower accounting for the vast majority of that number, according to the New York Independent System Operator [PDF].

Syracuse is also hoping to reduce its energy consumption, advance education about environmental stewardship and increase urban agriculture and tree cover.

Onondaga County could soon be saving rain in the suburbs.

Lawmakers are considering expansion of the "Save the Rain" program, which has already kept 125 million gallons of water out of the sewage treatment plant in the city of Syracuse.

Every spring, a state Department of Environmental Conservation biologist drives along north country highways at dawn or dusk, stopping every so often to pull over and listen to the nature sounds.

She's listening for the distinctive “peent” of the singing American woodcock, a brown speckled bird a little larger than a songbird with a long, narrow beak for pulling earthworms out of the newly thawed ground.

A new report from Environmental Advocates of New York is questioning the state's regulation of wastewater from oil and gas wells. The study is based on about 100 drilling applications filed with the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Paul Roberts is an environmental journalist and the author of the widely acclaimed books "The End of Oil" and "The End of Food." In this conversation he relates the importance of a concept known as 'peak oil,' and considers possible bridge fuels to a new energy economy, including natural gas and nuclear power.

Earth Day came and went in New York  without too much discussion of what many environmentalists believe to be the biggest issue facing the state- when and where the gas drilling process known as hydrofracking will  occur.

The American Lung Association says there is some good news for those in this area who suffer from breathing problems. Many parts of New York state have seen improved air quality this year over last.

Scaling back urban sprawl could reduce carbon emissions released by communities throughout the Northeast, according to research done in part by New York scientists and engineers.

The study is by Hubbard Brooks Research Foundation and focused on nine counties, including Tompkins County in New York.

It found that a reduction in sprawl limits emissions from the first step of development onward by preventing the release of the carbon in vegetation when land is first cleared.

"So if you can work on redeveloping previously developed land, and think about land development smartly to try and minimize disturbance, that’s greatly going to reduce the carbon footprint," says Syracuse University professor Charles Driscoll, who co-wrote the study.

The Finger Lakes are buzzing these days with the debate on hydro-fracking and many communities want it banned.  Thursday night the town of Skaneateles held a public forum to give residents the chance to speak their minds about a proposed law to prohibit the controversial process for natural gas drilling.

The window blinds control themselves, adjusting automatically to light conditions.

The roof is covered with plants.

Each cubicle has its own individual climate control system.

Ed Bogucz and his colleagues are guinea pigs, working inside a giant, building-sized science experiment: the Syracuse Center of Excellence.

Just a few days after the city of Niagara Falls voted unanimously to ban the treatment of fracking fluid at its municipal treatment plant, the city of Auburn has voted to rescind theirs.

Auburn City Councilors voted in July of 2011 to ban the treatment of fracking wastewater, which could contain chemicals and heavy metals. 

Environmental advocates were in Albany Monday making the case that investing in the state's natural resources is good economic sense.

In part one of our series on Canadian power, we brought you a first story on the hydroelectricity New York imports from Canada. Today, we visit the site of a proposed plan that might send more power our way from the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador. 

New York imports hydroelectricity generated by giant dams on Canadian rivers. And some would like to see the state get more of that renewable power. But there's also opposition to that idea. 

In 1976, three of Jackie Harvey’s friends went to jail for protesting the construction of a new power  line through her town. A few nights before Christmas she was standing outside the Franklin County Jail. 

Bowing to pressure from environmental groups and the public, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is extending the public comment period on its draft hydrofracking regulations.