March worldwide water, climate events are close to home

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March marks two worldwide awareness events for the environment: World Water Day and Earth Hour. In Rochester, New York, these events connect us to the global community and are also particularly close to home in light of recent developments with current opportunities for public comment.

World Water Day

On Tuesday, March 22, World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the nearly 2.2 billion people without access to safe water. This annual event was created by a 1993 resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, which recognizes water and sanitation measures as key to poverty reduction, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. Each year, World Water Day highlights a different water issue, but the focus is always on the importance of freshwater.

Living on one of the Great Lakes and enjoying a river flowing through our city, the Rochester community has amazing freshwater resources. In honor of the upcoming World Water Day, we might take a moment to acknowledge how the quality of our freshwater water is improving.

In 1987, the United States and Canada, through the International Joint Commission, designated a number of Areas of Concern (AOC) on the Great Lakes that were environmentally degraded and in need of special priority for ecological restoration. One such AOC is the Rochester Embayment, which is 35-square miles of broad bay on the south shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Genesee River. It includes the lower portion of the Genesee River from Lower Falls to the mouth of the river in Lake Ontario as well as the areas of the lake, wetlands, and bays between Bogus Point in the town of Parma to Nine Mile Point in the town of Webster.

In an AOC, different types of significant environmental degradation are designated by Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs). Examples of BUIs include restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, beach closings, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat. As remediation and restoration work is successfully completed and monitoring shows environmental health improvements, BUIs can gradually be removed.

Over the years, federal, state, and local partners have completed multiple projects to improve the condition of sediment, restore wetlands and improve habitat throughout the Rochester Embayment AOC. As a result, the EPA reported that eleven of fourteen BUIs have already successfully been removed from the Rochester Embayment AOC list. Most recently, in February 2022, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Monroe County Department of Public Health issued a draft report supporting the removal of one more BUI.

The Degradation of Aesthetics BUI was applied to the Rochester Embayment AOC because of accumulations of algae, litter, dead alewife fish and more. According to the report, the “remedial actions completed to date have substantially improved aesthetic conditions and significantly reduced the risk of resurfacing issues in the future.” The report highlights additional activities supporting this BUI removal, including the Lake Ontario Action and Management Plan, the Genesee River Nine Element Plan, and the work of local groups like the Water Education Collaborative/H20 Hero, and the Genesee River Watch.

For more information or ways to participate in the global World Water Day, check out worldwaterday.org. To read the full report describing the BUI removal efforts see https://www.monroecounty.gov/eh-watershed. Monroe County is currently accepting public comments on this report until Friday, March 25.

Earth Hour

After World Water Day, people around the world will switch off lights for Earth Hour in support of nature and our planet. Locally, Earth Hour occurs at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26. The World Wildlife Federation and its partners began this annual event in 2007 to raise awareness of climate change. Over the years, participation has grown to include millions of people from 190 countries and territories as well as thousands of famous landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, the pyramids of Egypt, and the Empire State Building all switching off their lights in solidarity.

Earth Hour organizers strive for Earth Hour events to be a catalyst for climate action: it is “a crucial opportunity to get the world talking about our planet and the issues we face, building the momentum and public awareness needed to pressure world leaders into action later in the year,” leading up to the fifteenth meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (UN CBD COP 15). The goal of inspiring climate change conversation and action is particularly relevant this year because Earth Hour 2022 follows the February 28, 2022, release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) sixth assessment report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. The IPCC chair describes this climate change report as “a dire warning about the consequences of inaction.”

For New Yorkers, state climate action plans are currently underway. In anticipation of Earth Hour, March seems like the right time to reflect on what our state’s climate plans entail.

On December 30, 2021, the New York State Climate Action Council issued the much-anticipated 861-page Draft Scoping Plan, considered a roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the state. The New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) of 2019 created the Climate Action Council tasked with developing a Draft Scoping Plan to serve as the “initial framework for how the State will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net-zero emissions, increase renewable energy usage, and ensure climate justice.” The main strategies of the Draft Scoping Plan are organized by industry sector, including transportation, building, electricity, industry, agriculture and forestry, and waste. The Draft Scoping Plan also addresses cross-sector and state-wide policies, such as greenhouse gas pricing, the managed transition from fossil fuels, “smart” land use, local government climate actions, and adaptation and resilience strategies to address impacts of climate change.

The Draft Scoping Plan impacts virtually every industry sector in New York State to implement key climate actions. It acknowledges the partnerships necessary to effectively address climate change, including action needed by the federal government. Importantly, the Draft Scoping Plan also describes how success will be measured in New York State and discusses the reporting requirements under the CLCPA necessary to track New York’s progress in meeting greenhouse gas emissions limits.

Moving forward, the Climate Action Council plans to hold at least six public hearings virtually and across the state on the Draft Scoping Plan. Hearing details and how to participate will be announced in early 2022. A final Scoping Plan will be released by January 1, 2023. After that, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation must propose and finalize regulations to achieve the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits by no later than January 1, 2024. Thereafter, the Scoping Plan must be updated every five years.

For more information or ways to participate in the international Earth Hour on climate change, check out earthhour.org. To read the New York State Climate Action Council Draft Scoping Plan, see https://climate.ny.gov/Our-Climate-Act/Draft-Scoping-Plan. The State is currently accepting public comments on the Draft Scoping Plan until Sunday, May 1.

Whether celebrating our region’s freshwater on World Water Day, March 22, participating in Earth Hour on March 26, or just enjoying the first day of Spring on March 20, March provides plenty of opportunities to reflect on, or perhaps even provide public comment on, the current water and climate-related environmental actions, regulations, laws, and policies that shape our environment here in Rochester and New York State.

Sarah Lobe, an associate in Nixon Peabody’s Environmental and Energy practice, represents clients in environmental regulatory, enforcement and permitting matters.