Dear Neighbor,
We call for your help in protecting your health, environment, and laws. We are Scriba residents concerned about the proposed TransGas coal-to-gas plant in our town. TransGas promises an increased tax base and jobs, but the disturbance this plant will cause to our town and the harsh environmental impact far outweigh any positive gain to be had. Please consider:
- It is irresponsible to build this plant:
- It would produce an enormous amount, 10,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. CO2 is a greenhouse gas. The global climate change is a reality, and we should strive to decrease CO2 emissions, not increase them.
- It would produce up to 100 tons of each regulated pollutant per year.
- 8,000,000 gallons of water would be consumed from Lake Ontario daily.
- Coal mining is dirty and dangerous. We should rely more on renewable fuels.
- It is illogical to build this plant here.
- There is no coal here. 20,000 tons of coal would have to be brought here daily.
- There are no oil fields here to store the CO2 produced, as is being proposed in other states, so it could not be sequestered.
- Only 2 to 5 % of the fuel produced would be used locally, with more than 95% being piped away, while we’d get all pollution and noise.
- The proposed location is next to Teal Marsh, Lake Ontario, and residences.
- The product, methane, is an explosive fuel. By existing Scriba Town Laws, this plant would be illegal. Scriba Law #2 section 1.90.b prohibits building fuel production facilities. Note that nuclear stations produce electrical power, not any fuels.
- This plant would be experimental. There is no plant of this kind of the proposed size anywhere in the world.
- Oswego County already ranks 2nd in lung and bronchial cancer, 7th in thyroid cancer, and 8th in colon cancer among all counties of NY State. We do not need more pollution.
- According to a Material Safety Data Sheet for CO2 produced at a similar, smaller plant at N.D., 1% of this gas is hydrogen sulfide, a toxic chemical that smells like rotten eggs.
- The plan is to have 220 train carloads of coal supplied on a daily basis. Whether delivered by train or alternatively by truck, the noise and disturbance from these deliveries, the increased traffic, and the potential dust, will severely affect the peace and atmosphere of our town – the reason many of us love and have chosen to live here.
TransGas wants us to modify the only law protecting us against fuel facilities being built here. We must convince the Board members to uphold the Law # 2 section 1.90.b, protect our health, environment, and laws!TransGas can be stopped. The Supreme Court gave the EPA power to regulate CO
2, and NY state is about to join the NE greenhouse initiative. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating five major energy companies to determine if plans to create coal-fired power plants present an undisclosed financial risk to investors. People in Brooklyn defeated TransGas in their attempt to build a power plant there; they definitely did not want it. Also, people in Jamesville recently successfully halted TransGas from building a similar plant to that proposed for Scriba. We can do it too.
We are asking the Scriba Town to:
- Adhere and uphold the Local Law #2;
- Do a biological survey of the Teal Marsh;
- Do a financial feasibility study;
- Insist on TransGas undergoing the New Major Source Review by the NYDEC;
- Make the DEC or EPA the lead agency in evaluating the TransGas proposal;
- Request the Environmental Impact Statement;
- Contact the EPA and the Gov. Spitzer’s office about potential CO2 emissions;
- Involve local experts and the CRC in making decisions.
With best wishes of happiness and health to you and your family,
Coalition of Responsible Citizens (CRC); www.scribaCRC.org; 246 Joe Fultz Blvd., Oswego, NY 13126; ph. 315-343-9366 (spokesperson-
Dr. Kestas Bendinskas)
