Algal blooms in New York are getting worse

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Monitor: Algal blooms in New York are getting worse

Something is wrong with Cayuga Lake.

Harmful Algal Blooms, or HABs, have been widespread there. While New York state is supposed to be doing assessments and comprehensive watershed cleanup of the blooms, it hasn’t been, according to Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, an independent environmental monitor.

According to Hang’s just released data, which he obtained from the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, while Cayuga Lake has more reported HABs than any other waterbody in the state, these blooms threaten critical drinking water sources for more than 10 million New Yorkers.

“There are 186 HABs so far this year in New York state,” Hang told Capital Tonight.

Progress Toward Powering the Empire State Plaza with Renewable Energy – Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy

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Progress Toward Powering the Empire State Plaza with Renewable Energy – Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy

Representatives of the Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE), the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the NY State Office of General Services (OGS) met on December 15, 2021 for an update on the energy-related work being done on the Empire State Plaza.

Several years ago, SHARE successfully advocated for the state agencies to drop their former plan to build a gas-fueled combined heat and power plant in the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood to provide heating, cooling and electricity to the Empire State Plaza and other governmental buildings in downtown Albany. In September, 2019, NYPA and OGS announced a revised plan that included partially converting the Plaza’s cooling system to electric power in place of steam, installing LED lighting, replacing the emergency generator with one that is less polluting, and getting electricity from a solar farm that would be built at an old airport in Oriskany, Oneida County.

In the December 15 meeting, NYPA and OGS reported that one of the steam-powered chillers has been replaced with a new 6,500 Ton electric chiller. It will need to be tested further but work on it is expected to be finished in the summer of 2022. Two new 500 Ton electric chillers for data protection are installed and running. The exterior lighting has been changed to LED and the interior lighting is still being changed.