J-Bay Task Force Meeting - JFK AIRPORT EXPANSION RESPONSE!

"Reclamation", the powers that be are calling the proposal to turn some number of acres of Jamaica Bay into airport runways...

Here's a meeting that should be of great interest to those who love Jamaica Bay. I highly doubt that I will be able to make it because of work pressures, but I did want to spread the word.

JAMAICA BAY TASK FORCE MEETING

APRIL 7, 2011 @ 6:30 pm

NPS Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Cross Bay Blvd. Broad Channel, NY 11693

AGENDA
6:30 - 6:45 Sign in, Introductions, Acknowledgment of Elected/Agency
Officials
6:45 - 7:05 Overview of Regional Plan Association Proposed Plan for
Expansion of JFK Airport- Environmental Response
Dan Mundy Jr. Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers
7:05 - 7:15 Potential impacts of JFK Expansion
Brad Sewell, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense
Council
7:15 - 7:35 JFK Airport Expansion and Bird Hazard issues
Don Riepe, Jamaica Bay Guardian
7:35 - 7:55 Marine Life in the targeted areas; A
commercial/recreational
Perspective from the local Fishing Industry
Captain Vincent Calabro
7:55- 8:30 Discussion, Q & A
Dan Mundy, Don Riepe
Co-Chairs
For more information and directions, please call 718-318-9344

Stop Jet Ski Expansion in Jamaica Bay

I just got the notice (at the bottom) regarding a proposal by the Department of the Interior to expand the areas in Jamaica Bay where jet skis are permitted. This seems to me (and many) like a very bad idea. If you want to speak out against this proposal, try using the information below in the links, which provides ample reasons why the idea is a bad one. The deadline for comment is October 4, and the contact information for comments is at the bottom of the DOI notice.

The links below are good sources of information for opposing the Dept of Interior's proposal to expand the use of Jet Skis within Jamaica Bay. The basic reasons this is a truly awful idea are:

1. Jet skis are known to be far more dangerous (as designed and operated) than other watercraft
2. In addition to terrible noise pollution, they produce a much higher level of water and air pollution than other motor boats
3. The enjoyment of wildlife in the bay will be adversely impacted
4. As will the wildlife itself (marine, avian, and other)
5. Jamaica Bay is already struggling for survival
6. The supposed "restrictions" and buffer zones will likely not be enforced (as there is already very little enforcement. The deadline for responses is Oct. 4.
   

Mary

http://www.rbbi.com/folders/acc/pwcstudy.htm (re AMA study on high incidence of jet ski accidents)http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/campaign_pl_pwc.shtml (organization that has already done much of the groundwork/studies to limit jet skis in National Wildlife areas)http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/reports/rep_pl_pwc_jetskiposition.pdf (Bluewaternetwork Position Paper, which seems thorough and very disturbing -- but useful to quote)http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/reports/rep_pl_pwc_awaposition.pdf (response to Watercraft Position Paper)

From DOI Notice
In F-2007-0739(DA), the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service is proposing to authorize the use of Personal watercraft (PWC) at the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, in Kings and Queens Counties, New York. Under the proposed action, a special regulation would be promulgated to continue PWC use within the Jamaica Bay unit but only in the following navigational channels: North Channel (Island channel), Beach channel (south Channel), Grass Hassock Channel, Rockaway Inlet, and Broad Channel to the trestle bridge (the Raunt). PWC users would be prohibited from landing or launching within the unit. PWC owners living on the adjacent creeks, basins, and waterways would be allowed access through the unit; however, the must stay within the buoyed route (if one is present) or take the most direct route to access the designated navigational channels from Gerritsen Creek, Mill Basin, Paerdegat Basin, Shellbank Basin, Hawtree Creek, Breezy Point, and Roxbury. PWC use would be restricted from all waters along Breezy Point, and a 150-foot buffer would be implemented around all protected areas within Jamaica Bay (even if they occur within a channel).

Any interested parties and/or agencies desiring to express their views concerning the above proposed activity may do so by filing their comments, in writing, no later than 4:30 p.m., 15 days from the date of publication of this notice, or, October 4, 2007.

Comments should be addressed to the Division of Coastal Resources and Waterfront Revitalization, New York State Department of State, 41 State Street, Albany, New York 12231. Telephone (518) 474-6000; Fax (518) 473-2464. This notice is promulgated in accordance with Title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 930.

Surfrider.org is testing water in Rockaways....

Surfrider Strategic Initiatives
The core activities and campaigns that the Surfrider Foundation uses to protect our oceans, waves and beaches fall into the categories of Clean Water, Beach Access, Beach Preservation and Protecting Special Places.
The Clean Water initiative is primarily focused on protecting water quality in coastal watersheds and in the near-shore marine environment. Consequently, the Surfrider Foundation advocates for strong water quality regulations, adequate marine recreational water quality monitoring, reporting and posting, reduction of polluted discharges into the ocean and education regarding personal responsibility for the reduction water pollution. We also support smart land use planning to ensure that coastal environmental resources are protected and healthy watersheds are maintained. Surfrider conducts a very extensive test of the water quality using a 5 test tube method. To get results, click below and select Beach 90th street for results.Here are the test results.

Is it raining more than ever?

It's been raining, unusually hard, in several parts of the world--England, China, India, and parts of the U.S.--and, quite by coincidence, there is a paper coming in this Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, reporting that, "for the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the last century."

The abstract of the paper is HERE.

The full paper is not online without a subscription, but Nature does have a news piece of its own HERE.

A Kayaker Picture in "Thousands Evacuate in British Flooding"

Some 48,000 homes in Gloucestershire were flooded. But there is a picture of kayaker.



For more about flooding in England! Are we at the tipping point?
More

Pulitzer Prize for Article on Altered Oceans

A Los Angeles Times series describing the profound degradation of the world's oceans won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting today, the 38th time the newspaper has been awarded journalism's top honor.

The five-part "Altered Oceans" project, headed by environmental reporter Kenneth R. Weiss, revealed how man has choked the oceans with trash and basic nutrients--killing advanced sea life, making people sick and effectively reversing the course of evolution back toward "the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago."

click here for the article:altered oceans

Free Bicycles - Almost in Paris

Parisienne woke up to find shiny bicycles; free.

How about we start "Free Kayaks"? Only on Wednesday and Saturday.

Spring Creek Park, Queens, NY. October 6, 2006. A worker empties human waste load into a hole in the ground in a DEPdump site. © Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates. AllRights reserved for the article click here

Jamaica Bay video

AP has a new video on Jamaica Bay...

click here for video

Hundreds of dead fish wash up in Raritan Bay

By REBECCA SANTANA
Associated Press Writer

July 3, 2007, 6:38 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- Beachgoers and anglers looking to enjoy the waters of the Raritan Bay may see their holiday spoiled by dead fish washing up in the area.

Hundreds of dead menhaden, an oily fish often used for bait or to make fish meal, have been spotted along the shores of the bay or floating in the waters, an incident state environmentalists have said is naturally occurring but that has worried environmentalists and marred the shoreline.

for the rest of article from Newsday, click here...

Article in Paddling Instructor Magazine

What's In Your Water?
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Washington, DC - Every year hundreds of billions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage are dumped into the rivers and lakes of America and people living nearby don't even know it. Thanks to the hard work of Congressman Timothy Bishop (D-NY) and Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) communities could get the information they need to begin protecting people from sewage pollution. Today both lawmakers joined to introduce the Raw Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act of 2007. If passed, it would be the first law that would require sewage treatment plants to tell Americans exactly what's in their water.

for the rest of the article, click here..