Send a Powerful, Personalized Request to Require A TMDL to Clean Up Cayuga Lake and Halt Cornell's Lake Source Cooling Untreated Discharge of Soluble Reactive Phosphorus that Contributes to Harmful Algal Blooms

Greetings Stalwart Activists,

Our campaign to clean up beleaguered Cayuga Lake is kicking into high gear.

First, I implore everyone battling Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in New York to prove that "the pen is mightier than the sword."

Send a Personalized Request That a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Comprehensive Watershed Clean Up Plan be Adopted for Cayuga Lake that Eliminates Lake Source Cooling's Improperly Authorized Untreated Phosphorus Discharge

This is your big chance to emulate Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Nader or any other knowledgeable advocate who inspires you to take effective action. Check out a letter below that is a powerful expression of one activist's concerns. Nice job.

I especially ask all Cornellians, including faculty, staff, students, alums and board members, to write respectfully to the President of their beloved and esteemed institution. Your activism can carry a great deal of weight. Read our well-documented letter. It contains links to irrefutable documents and provides a clear explanation of the applicable laws and regulations.

Second, you will be shocked when you read the documents which reveal: U. S. EPA's Failed 7/99 Landmark Lake Source Cooling/Cayuga Lake Clean Up Proposal

Third, please join more than 1,500 signatories to our: Coalition Letter Which Requests That Governor Cuomo Take Urgent Action to Eliminate Water Quality Impairments That Cause Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms Across New York State

Finally, CALL the three key decision makers to hold them strictly accountable for cleaning up Cayuga Lake and halting Lake Source Cooling's untreated Soluble Reactive Phosphorus discharge:

EPA Region 2 Administrator Peter Lopez (212 637-5000), lopez.peter@epa.gov

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (518 474 8390), Governor Contact Form | Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Cornell President Martha E. Pollack (607 255 5201), president@cornell.edu)

I invite you to respectfully throw your political weight around, but you must know what you are talking about. Read the personalized letter carefully.

Tell your tales of HAB woes, promise to withhold CU/political contributions, express outrage if you like.

Use every trick in the advocacy book. Echo our three requests and demand a favorable response.

Crank up the political heat. Do not take "no" for an answer.

Put your foot in the door and engage in knowledgeable debate. Demand that the U.S. Clean Water Act be enforced. Tie the hotlines into Gordian Knots.

Have fun in the knowledge that you are engaging in democracy and fighting a noble battle. This is how activists win big fights.

Thanks for your assistance. Smile and dial. Go hard. Do not stop until you drop.

Onward and upward,

Walter

To: lopez.peter@epa.gov
cc: president@cornell.edu
Subject: Cayuga Lake

My name is Jean H and I live at __ Rd., McDonough, NY 13801-3101. I am contacting you because a clean and healthy environment is essential for life.

a) I request that a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) comprehensive watershed clean up plan be adopted for Cayuga Lake that HALTS the Lake Source Cooling untreated discharge of Soluble Reactive Phosphorus into the shallow southeastern area of the lake where Harmful Algal Blooms (HABS) and water quality impairments are rampant. Soluble Reactive Phosphorus is quickly absorbed by algae and can cause massive HABs;

b) I request that Cornell's Lake Source Cooling discharge pipe be: a) extended "off the shelf" in order to send the Soluble Reactive Phosphorus back down to cold, dark depths of Cayuga Lake where HABS cannot occur, b) converted into a closed loop system or c) treated to remove all phosphorus; and

c) I request that the Cayuga Lake TMDL require a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to be conducted over its entire watershed in order to pinpoint where phosphorus and other nutrients originate so that the contamination sources can be investigated and cleaned up on a comprehensive basis. Shorelines and tributaries must be assessed on a top-priority basis.

These scientific matters about which one does not claim to be informed, are the technical facts used to inflict against the public the manifestation of poisoning of environment that undermines healthy life. The reason this is permitted by the government, seems to be greed in the reality of campaign contributions to place into office politicians who comply to demands by big-money interests.

The dual level of governing that is over-regulating We The People and under-regulating commercial interests, as mandated through legislation, seems contrary to our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.

Local communities are under ongoing assault by capitalistic hierarchical Establishment. One demands a government of, by and for The People. To begin in NYS is justifiable when one considers the prevalence of local community members who care about the environment. That we today have with which to deal, an infrastructure that is unhealthy to humanity and nature is dangerous. That the dangerous but money-making infrastructure is pleasing to industry/politicians but harmful to the public/nature requires attention.