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TOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 Telephone (607) 274-5560 http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/emc 1 Minutes 2 November 10, 2016, 4PM 3 Tompkins County Old Jail Conference Room, 125 E. Court Street, Ithaca, NY 4 5 Member Seat Member Seat Steve Bissen P Town of Dryden Linda Spielman P Village of Dryden Kenny Christianson P At-Large Ron Szymanski P Village of Freeville John Dennis A Village of Lansing Roger Yonkin A At-Large Brian Eden P Village of Cayuga Heights Karen Edelstein A Associate Member Bill Evans P Town of Danby Dooley Kiefer P Associate Member Pegi Ficken P Town of Groton Dan Klein A Associate Member John Hertzler P Town of Ulysses Jose Lozano P Associate Member Roy Luft P At-Large David Weinstein A Associate Member Jim McGarry P At-Large Robert Wesley A Associate Member Vladimir Micic P Town of Ithaca Anna Kelles P Associate Member Steve Nicholson P Town of Caroline Scott Doyle P EMC Coordinator Susan Riley P At-Large Kristin McCarthy P Administrative Assistant Tom Shelley P Ithaca CAC Nidia Trejo P IAWWTF 6 Guests: Katherine McComas, Cornell University Department of Communications 7 8 A quorum (requires 9) was present. 9 Others – No one else was in attendance. 10 Call to Order – Chair Steve Nicholson called the meeting to order at approximately 4:02 PM. 11 Privilege of the Floor – No speakers 12 Agenda Review/Changes – 13 The Strategic Plan was added to the Committee Reports, and recruitment for the Nominating Committee was 14 slated for discussion after the Executive Committee report. 15 Opening Remarks – 16 Dooley Kiefer told the group of the recent passing of an early long-time EMC member, Harlan Brumsted. 17 Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources at Cornell, he was a warm, kind man who contributed much to the 18 Council and greater Ithaca community through his love of the outdoors. 19 20 Minutes approval (Oct. 13, 2016) – 21 The October minutes were accepted as distributed, with the exception of one edit on line 46: “wetland data” was 22 changed to “2016 Nicholas Hollingshead wetland data.” 23 RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Jim McGarry SECONDER: Linda Spielman 24 Committee Reports and Member Questions 25 A. Energy – Brian E.: A resolution urging the U.S. Congress to pass carbon fee and dividend legislation will 26 be coming before the PDEQ at their next meeting (Wed., Nov. 16, at 3pm). On a background note, the first 27 carbon tax legislation in the country (Wash. State, #732) just lost 58-42 yesterday; however many of the groups 28 Brian works with (environmental, labor, social justice, etc.) opposed it on the grounds of who benefits, who 29 approves it, and who decides. Often corporations prefer to pay carbon tax rather than reduce their emissions. 30 Anna K: This legislation was spearheaded by a national group with various regional offices advocating for it 31 on the local level. The intention nationally is to make it as bipartisan as possible, given that anything proposed 32 before has met with defeat based on party lines. The fee, which would be placed on producers, needs to be 33 revenue neutral. Money that comes in from the taxation will be redistributed as a credit to all taxpayers. Brian 34 E: How does this initiative address front-line community concerns? Anna K: On the local level, Rep. Tom 35 Reed’s office stated he needs to see if his constituents support the legislation before committing to it. The City 36 just passed resolution in support, and hopes the County will follow suit. Congressman Reed also wants certain 37 constituent groups and the business community to be consulted. Dooley K.: Unclear what the term “dividend” 38 means in the title of the resolution. Tom Shelley: Is this the organization run by Miranda Phillips? Yes. 39 Brian E.: A“solar rights” proposition just failed in Florida; it was actually sponsored by Florida Power and 40 Light and Duke Energy. • Don Smith, former dean of the Cornell Vet School, recently passed away. Brian 41 collaborated with him on the vet incinerator issue about Cornell and found him to be a compassionate, open-42 minded person. Both he and Dooley paid their respects at his calling hours, in particular to relay their esteem 43 for him to his wife. • Filed on November 1 with the Public Service Commission for financial accounting of the 44 “mothball proceeding.” • Wants to meet with Cayuga Medical Associates and City Centre to talk about energy 45 use with large construction projects. Has fielded questions on the enhanced geothermal heating systems 46 including seismic concerns. There will be an environmental review process. • November 15th is Day of Action 47 for Dakota Pipeline. • President-Elect Trump has promised to rescind Obama’s executive order on the clean 48 power plan and other initiatives. • Public Service Commission will vote Nov. 17 to approve sale of Fitzpatrick 49 nuclear power plant to Exelon. • Other topics were discussed, including Solar Tompkins’ extended search for a 50 program director. 51 B. Environmental Review – Brian E.: Cargill resolution was modified and brought, by Carol Chock, to the 52 full Legislature last Tuesday. Many people were there in support. Although it failed 8-6, Brian felt the message 53 got across. EMC won’t keep working on it as a group but some members might individually. The EMC will 54 continue to promote extending the comment period and making sure information on the project is available to 55 anyone in the community who wants it. • The Lake Source Cooling Outfall Relocation Study should be done 56 shortly. • New facilities at the Taughannock Falls Outlook are impressive. • Bill Evans: Reviewed the draft 57 EIS for Maplewood, focusing on artificial light from the project. There is no language in the document that talks 58 about the spectrum of lighting being used for the project. Discussion continued in more detail among Bill and 59 the other members, and slides from his earlier presentation to the EMC on the topic were requested by several 60 members. Steve N. suggested putting the slides on the website. 61 C. Unique Natural Areas – Steve N: Had meeting where consultants presented maps of their next 30 62 revisions. Group had a few changes, which are being made now, and should be ready by end of the month for 63 the committee’s recommendations. Bell Station will definitely be considered for inclusion. 64 Steve N. briefly brought up the need for more members to volunteer for the Nominating Committee. However, 65 with the arrival of guest speaker Katherine McComas, the discussion was backburnered for later in the meeting. 66 Presentation – Katherine McComas, “Climate Change Communication” 67 Dr. Katherine McComas, a professor in the department of communication at Cornell, gave a talk on more 68 effectively communicating and engaging with the community on climate change. The slides from her 69 presentation can be found on the EMC website. In particular, she asked the EMC to name their motivations for 70 wanting people to better grasp the urgency of climate change as well as to identify their target audience. Other 71 highlights from the subsequent discussion included how to encourage people to be less reactive and more 72 proactive to global warming, and once you get their attention, how to give them a way to do something about it. 73 Strategic Planning – 74 Anna K. led a discussion about how the EMC could be more strategic moving forward in working with the 75 Legislature. A key issue is the dissonance between what the EMC prioritizes and the Legislature does. Ideas for 76 addressing it included the EMC trying to work, at least for the time being, in concert with the Legislature’s 77 goals and identifying topics of interest earlier so the PDEQ Committee can have more information at their 78 disposal before passing on their recommendations to the Legislature. In addition, Anna and her fellow 79 committee members talked of scheduling an annual retreat to identify the EMC’s priorities for the coming year, 80 as well as other suggestions. 81 Staff Report – 82 Given the late hour, Scott indicated he would forgo the staff report. 83 Municipal Reports – 84 None (also because of time constraints) 85 Member Items – 86 A few brief comments and announcements were made in the final minutes of the meeting: 87 88 • Brian E.: In the discouragement of post-election blues, he suggested members need to reflect on 89 how to stay optimistic so they can continue working on these important subjects on the local 90 level. 91 92 • Steve N.: People clearly vote on an emotional basis, and the EMC could find common 93 ground with folks across the aisle by appealing to their emotions. He felt that open space 94 is one such example of an environmental issue that everyone in the area agrees upon. 95 Steve also added he would not be continuing as chair and encouraged everyone to pass on 96 their recommendations for his replacement to the Nominating Committee, which 97 included Linda Spielman and Tom Shelley. Likewise, he passed on the news that Jim 98 McGarry would not be renewing his seat on the board. 99 100 Adjournment – Chair adjourned the meeting at 5:30 PM. 101 102 Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning Department 103 Approved by Board: December 8, 2016. 104