JFK Expansion Options Debated by David J. Harvey - The Forum Newsgroup

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John F. Kennedy Airport is one of the nation’s busiest airports and travellers face frequent delays. As air travel around New York increases, it could get worse. A new report on air traffic capacity contains, among several options to alleviate overcrowding, the possibility of expanding JFK Airport into Jamaica Bay. Local residents and conservation groups have reacted in an uproar.

At the beginning of the year, the Regional Plan Association (RPA)—an independent urban research and advocacy group—released a report on the growth of aviation traffic in New York City.

The report’s authors predict that passenger volume in New York will grow from 104 million passengers in 2010 to 150 million passengers in the 2030s. This growth, without improvements to the current aviation infrastructure, could cost billions of dollars in lost wages and business income. The report predicts that by 2030, as many as 125,000 jobs, $6 billion in wages and $16 billion in business sales would be lost yearly due to airport congestions and delays.

Among the possible solutions for accommodating increased commuter traffic is expanding JFK into Jamaica Bay. One proposal suggests an expansion of nearly 400 acres—almost two-thirds the size of LaGuardia Airport—while another would involve no reclamation of the bay.

Click on image to enlarge

After RPA released their report, a tide of criticism rose in the community that left some residents calling the RPA tools for the Port Authority.

On April 7, at the American Legion Hall on Crossbay Boulevard in Broad Channel, Dan Mundy of the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers hosted a presentation to counter the RPA report.

Mundy opened the presentation by arguing that the central premise of the RPA report—that New York will have a significant rise in airline traffic—is based on a growth that would bring the city’s aviation to “a crippling halt.”

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens) who flew in from Washington D.C. and was running late for a flight back to Washington, spoke briefly during Mundy’s presentation and promised he would do everything in his power to stop expansion into the bay.

“I have made it very clear that while there is ability for the Secretary [of the Interior] to make minor changes to the map, this is not minor, this is major, I’m against this, and I’m not going to let it happen,” Weiner said.

One of the biggest complaints Mundy had with the RPA report was that previous reports about air traffic growth were always overestimated.

“It’s a doomsday prediction,” he said. “We went back 55 years and looked at all these reports. What we found was that the predictions were always overstated.”

A 1969 RPA report predicted that by the year 2000 there would be at least 250 million air passengers per year in the New York area—there were actually 90 million. Mundy said that by following historical data, an increase to between 115 and 125 million air passengers by 2030 could be predicted, rather than the 150 million predicted in the RPA report.

RPA Director of Transportation Richard Barone, one of the report’s authors, defended the current report and joked that he “wasn’t even born when [the 1969] report came out.”

“[The 1969] predictions were very optimistic, it was a period of very aggressive growth in air travel,” he said, adding that the old RPA reports used a six percent growth rate.

The recent report was based on a conservative, two percent growth rate, he said.

Barone said the RPA had attended the meeting to get input and hopes to return to the area and present updates.

“Obviously in the report we state that expanding into Jamaica Bay is huge deal,” Barone said. “We’re not opposed to making changes.”

Despite Barone’s concessions, and insistence that the RPA has no other agenda than presenting their analysis to “start a conversation,” the immediate response after he finished speaking was vitriolic. “I should take that as a direct insult to my intelligence,” said John, a local resident.

Don Riepe, Director of the American Littoral Society’s Northeast Chapter, pointed out that the bay has been reclaimed for development since New York City was founded. At one time, the bay was twice its current size, spreading out as salt marshes across Brooklyn and Queens. Today, the bay’s wildlife, including migrating hawks, peregrine falcons, osprey, herons and more than 100 types of finfish, compete for less and less livable space, Riepe said.

He noted that JFK already has problems with animals trying to coexist with planes. Last year, the city euthanized thousands of geese over fears the migrating birds would cause an incident like the forced Hudson River emergency landing. JFK now has a full time biologist on staff to deal with local wildlife.

“Just because you have an urban airport doesn’t mean you won’t have wildlife,” Riepe said.

Bradford H. Sewell, Senior Project Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained that proposed changes would alter the flight paths, adding to noise pollution over the bay—disturbing the natural “soundscape” of the bay. He added that new flights would pass, at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 feet, directly over the Jamaica Bay visitor center. If the frequency of traffic doubles at the airport, flights could pass overhead every 30 seconds.

“I hope that we can double our efforts … because the impacts of this sort of expansion into Jamaica Bay would be unacceptable,” said Sewell, who has had prior experience in airport expansion battles.

In the RPA report, there are four proposals for the expansion of JFK. Three include reclaiming some of the bay. The report’s authors noted—based on NY Port Authority reports—that the area of expansion is a dead zone, depleted of oxygen as a result of dredging. Mundy, Riepe and Sewell all refute that claim.

Vinnie Calabro, a Jamaica Bay fisherman and charter boat captain, said the area the NY Port Authority considers a dead zone is teeming with wildlife, and is the site of several recent catches.

“We’ll be on the boat some days looking at the people on the tarmac reading the New York Timesand we’ll catch another one of these big fish.” said Calabro. “They don’t realize what’s going on. They’re caught up in the headlines, but there are headlines right here in the bay. We have to speak out.”

One RPA proposal that does not include expansion of JFK into the bay, which Barone said was overlooked by Sewell, would require upgrading the airport’s air traffic control with NextGen capabilities. NextGen, being implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration over the next few years, includes Global Positioning Systems and operational and procedural changes.

The biggest hurdles JFK must overcome—be aided by NextGen—is reducing flight delays and optimizing capacity, said the report.

Despite the report’s findings, no one is planning an actual airport expansion so far.

Edward Knoesel, manager of the New York Port Authority’s Environmental Services Aviation Department, said that the RPA report was commissioned by the Port Authority, stressing that the organization has a responsibility to look into their facilities and plan for the future of commerce and travel in the tri-state area.

“The RPA is a long-standing, very respected organization,” he said. “They have produced a series of options for further study. … The Port Authority is not proposing to do any fill in Jamaica Bay.”

“We’re not proposing to do any expansion at any airport,” Knoesel added. “What were doing is taking a look at what the RPA proposed and what [the community says] and see what is feasible.”

American Littoral Society Annual Holiday Party - Sunday Dec 5th at the Broad Channel VFW Hall

American Littoral Society Annual Holiday Party

When: Sunday, December 5th ( 5pm-9pm)

Where: VFW Hall on Shad Creek Road in Broad Channel...( first right after the first light - between 6th & 8th Roads)

Donation: $45 ( still !) includes appetizers, buffet dinner, desserts, beer & wine, entertainment.

Activities include "Ugly Auction", Silent Auction, door prizes, Flamenco & exotic dancers.

There is also a 3pm walk at the nearby JBWR before the party.

To reserve space send check ( American Littoral Society) to Don Riepe, 28 West 9th Road, Broad Channel, NY 11693 .

Call (718) 318-9344 for more info or e-mail:donriepe@gmail.com.

Dress: informal

5th Annual Jamaica Bay Birding Festival Coming Soon!

The 5th Annual Jamaica Bay Shorebird Festival sponsored by the American Littoral Society and New York City Audubon is coming soon.


Here is a brief schedule of events.

August 14th, 2010

9:00am Coffee and Donuts

9:30am Don Riepe Slideshow presentation on history of the bay and problems we're facing.

10am – 11:45am Guided walks to both the East and West Pond.

12pm Break for lunch (bring you own, there are picnic tables or both Howard Beach and Broad Channel have several places to find food and drink.

1pm Lloyd Spitalnik will present a slideshow on the "Shorebirds of Jamaica Bay"

1:30pm Guided walk on the north end of the East Pond (bring rubber boots or the like.

4pm Kevin Karlson will present Shorebirds by Impression: A Different Approach to Field ID, (60 minutes)

Agenda is subject to change

A $20 donation is requested.



For reservations please call the American Littoral Society at 718-318-9344 or email Don driepe@nyc.rr.com

Sunday, August 15th

Kevin Karlson and Lloyd Spitalnik will be conducting two field workshops limited to 15 per session.


1. ID workshop from 8:30am -1130 am.

2.Photography Workshop from 4pm-7pm.

Rubber boots are a smart idea for both workshops, waders are a great idea for the photography workshop.

For more information on these opportunities,reservations and fees please visit http://www.blog.lloydspitalnikphotos.com/

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Can the City -- and the Oyster -- Save Jamaica Bay? by Anya Khalamayzer - (Gotham Gazette, May 2010)

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The marshes of Jamaica Bay have been shrinking for decades, essentially vanishing into New York's toxic waters. Photo by Unforth

The largest urban wildlife preserve in the United States sits adjacent to Kennedy Airport, near the high-rise apartments of Starrett City and the Rockaway housing projects. Home to the peregrine falcon, the loggerhead sea turtle, the short-eared owl, the area -- Jamaica Bay -- at the intersection of Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island, serves as a stopover for 20 percent of American bird species on their annual migration along the East Coast.

For years, though, this estuary, a shallow marsh where fresh and saltwater meet, has been vanishing into the toxic waters of the New York City harbor, losing an estimated 33 acres annually to deterioration, nitrogen buildup and rising sea levels. Spanning some 16,000 acres about a century ago, the salt march islands have shrunk to a mere 800 acres. Thought not nearly as dramatic as the environmental catastrophe now confronting the Louisiana coast, the threat to Jamaica Bay could completely destroy the marsh by 2024, decimating the home for an abundance of rare and endangered plants and animals.

"Marshland completely changes the nature of the bay," says Larry Levine, staff attorney for the Natural Resource Defense Council. "If it were to ever disappear and become open water, it would be a tremendous loss of natural habitat."

Now, the federal state and city governments, prodded by citizen's groups, have stepped up their efforts to preserve the area. This year, government and private groups collaborated to update the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan to try to avert disaster in the urban refuge. Whether government will keep its commitment and whether its actions can reverse the decades of deterioration remains to be seen.

[For more on efforts to revitalize New York's waterfront, go here.]

Destruction of an Ecosystem

Spartina cod grass anchors the land of the marsh in place. To survive, the grass must receive fresh water rich with oxygen and nutrient-loaded sediment. Small streams in Queens and Brooklyn once provided this, but many of these vital veins have been paved over the decades.

Four sewage plants ringing Jamaica Bay contribute further to the deterioration of the marsh by spewing 250 million gallons of nitrogen and large amounts of chlorine into the water every day. Ironically the nitrogen has worsened since 1992 when the government, in an effort to prevent pollution, banned the dumping of sewage into the ocean and instead diverted the treated wastewater into the bay. The excess nitrogen in the water is naturally converted into hydrogen sulfide, which kills the roots of the marsh grass.

In this nitrogen-rich environment, weed-like algae blooms thrive, suffocating the estuary by draining it of dissolved oxygen. Algae blooms kill the thousands of fish found floating belly-up in the very waters that are meant to nourish them.

In addition, during heavy rains, untreated oils and toxins wash from nearby streets and parking lots when storm drains overflow and end up in the bay. The bay also shares many of the contaminants that pollute the rest of New York harbor, such as dioxins, PCB particles, and mercury.

"The New York harbor is a wasteland," said Jeff Levinton, professor of marine ecology at SUNY Stonybrook.

Photo by Gail Robinson

Humans have taken their toll on Jamaica Bay.

Next-generation issues also are emerging, explained Levine. Studies show that Jamaica Bay flounder are affected by pharmaceuticals flushed through the sewage system and not removed by treatment plants. The population of male flounder has drastically diminished because of the feminizing effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals -- a pattern Levine says is being observed around the world.

Sounding the Alarm

Dan Mundy, founder of citizen group EcoWatchers, noticed that Jamaica Bay was ailing in the mid 1990s. By 2000, he said, as many as 50 acres of saltwater marsh were being lost every year. And in 2002, the state authorized a study of why the marshland might be vanishing.

It was not until 2005, though, that Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a measure calling for the city Department of Environmental Protection to devise a plan to save the bay and creating a seven-person advisory task force. The committee included community activists and representatives of nonprofit organizations and government agencies. The resulting report presented a number of options, including installing storm sewers for flood prevention, dredging and re-contouring creeks, restoring eroded land, re-oxygenating the water and hiring pump-out boats to clean waste. Overall, the committee wanted visitors to Jamaica Bay and the government to be more vigilant of the estuary's condition.

Gradually, steps to restore and preserve the marsh began. Between 2006 and 2007, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers allocated $13 million to restore Elders Point East, an island marsh which once spanned 132 vegetated acres, but which had broken apart to a mere 21 acres.

While activists applauded many of these efforts, a number of them faulted the city for failing to do more to reduce nitrogen levels in the bay. For years city officials maintained that little evidence linked the disappearance of the marshes and nitrogen levels in the bay and balked at spending millions and millions of dollars to address the nitrogen levels.

By 2010, New York City faced a possible lawsuit under the federal Clean Water Act. The threat spurred intense negotiations between citizen groups, the Department of Environmental Protection, then Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler and other City Hall officials. The city, according to Mundy, expressed concern about the cost of the technological upgrades needed to address the nitrogen problem, but over time became convinced that the installations were necessary for the bay's survival.

"It shouldn't be a matter of economics. Not when it comes to the environment. Not when it comes to Jamaica Bay," Mundy said.

Cutting the Nitrogen

In February 2010, Bloomberg announced the city would commit $115 million for a combination of efforts to safeguard the only wildlife refuge accessible via subway. As part of that, he said New York would spend $100 million to install new nitrogen control technology at sewage treatment plants on the bay.

Don Riepe, who headed negotiations on behalf of the American Littoral Society, said the city pledged another $15 million to support marsh restoration. The Army Corps of Engineers will match the restoration funds two-to-one.

The first of the plant upgrades will begin operating in 2014. Technology to control nitrogen will be installed at the 26th Ward and Coney Island wastewater treatment plants in Brooklyn, and at the Rockaway plant in Queens. These efforts are predicted to reduce nitrogen discharges by 50 percent over the next decade and to allow the bay to filter its waters over time.

Reclamation of Elders Point West Island has already begun. Clean fill, or "slurry" -- muck being dredged from waters around the city -- is currently being shipped from the harbor and Long Island and will become 35 new acres of marsh. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers is hand-seeding Spartina grass into the fill. When they finish this at the end of the summer, they will move on to reclaim Yellow Bar island.

Photo by Gail Robinson

Restoring grassland is essential to the survival of marshes so many animals call home.

Wave attenuators, marina-like docks that act as buffers against beach-deteriorating waves, are to be installed between 2014 and 2019.

Despite all this technology, though, Jamaica Bay's brightest new hope may be a bivalve that once lived in the 350 square miles of the estuary: the oyster.

A Natural Solution

Oysters last thrived in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary in the early 20th century. Describing the bivalve as a "keystone" species that affects other components of its ecosystem, NY/NJ Baykeeper has championed experimental oyster farming. Every animal can filter nitrogen and pollutants from 50 gallons of water daily. They eat oxygen-guzzling phytoplankton that suffocates the bay. In, addition the beds where the oysters live serve as homes for small marine organisms and the fish that feed on them.

"Right now you can hardly find a live oyster in Jamaica Bay," says Levinton.

Their decline both signifies and intensifies the bay's ailments. Chester Zarnoch, associate professor of natural sciences at Baruch College, and his colleague Tim Hoellein have received funds from the National Science Foundation to study the growth and survival of oysters in the estuary and to determine their potential in restoring it.

Zarnoch says that there has been tremendous growth and evidence of spawning where the bivalves have been re-introduced.

While that is good news, the oysters may not solve the nitrogen problem in the long term. Research has brought to light that oysters, while they do filter nitrogen, they simply store the substance in their bodies and release it back into the environment upon their death. Scientists now hope to harness the oyster's digestive cycle to remove the nitrogen from the water.

"In Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound, you can remove nitrogen from the water by removing oysters and consuming them," said Zarnoch. "But we can't consume them from Jamaica Bay because of the amount of bacteria present."

Oyster gardening is still in the beginnings stages of a two-year experiment that will determine whether they will benefit the bay's condition. The next several years will be critical to see if the oysters can once again thrive in the estuary as part of a recovering environment and if the marshes can once again shelter and nourish an authentic mix of native New Yorkers.

This article was written under a partnership between Gotham Gazette and the Baruch College's Department of Journalism and Writing Professions.

Vacant Jamaica Bay Property Originally Tabbed for Private Developments Set to Become Waterfront Park by Daniel Edward Rosen - NY Daily News

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A vacant Jamaica Bay property originally tabbed for private developments is slated to be transformed into the borough's newest waterfront park.

The 1.2-acre site along Beach 88 St. near the Cross Bay Bridge, will offer a range of activities to the public such as picnicking, fishing and boating.

The property was snapped up by the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit group that specializes in land conservation, for $1.925 million, more than $1 million less than its market price, according to the owners.

"We basically purchased and donated the property within five minutes," says Matt Shaffer, assistant director of marketing services for the nonprofit group. Funding by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey allowed the Trust to give the property to the city for the park's construction set to begin in Spring 2010.

"(The Trust for Public Land) is proud to continue supporting both the needs of New York neighborhoods in gaining new, much-needed park space, and our city harbor and estuaries in maintaining sound ecological balance. This does both," said Leslie Wright, the state director of the Trust.

Hudson Companies LLC, the original owners, planned to build 20 single-family homes on the waterfront property sometime in the next year, said Alan Ball, an owner of Hudson Companies.

"We had no debt on the property, and we could have held on to it pretty easily, so we said we might as well cut bait and move on," he said. "Moving this project to the Trust for Public Land was a very good thing to do.

The addition of the waterside park would bring much-needed parkland and open space to the Jamaica Bay area, which some environmental activists say is being overdeveloped.

"The more public access we have in the area, the better. We have too much development in the area," says Daniel Mundy Jr. of the Jamaica Bay Eco-watchers.

Don Riepe, director of the Northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society noted that "Any park of any size is welcome... every piece of open land has been developed in the Rockaways in the past10 years."

Earth Day Restoration Project at Plum Beach, Jamaica Bay - April 18th from 10am-3pm...

Join us on Saturday, April 18th from 10am-3pm for a marsh/beach/dune cleanup and planting at Plum Beach, Jamaica Bay. Volunteers needed to help remove floatable debris and plant native coastal plants ( beach plum, red cedar, pitch pine, American beachgrass ) at this National Park Service site.

Meet 10am at the parking lot just off the eastbound lane of the Belt Parkway between Knapp St. ( exit 9) and Flatbush Avenue ( exit 11 ). Bring lunch and old clothes, shoes, etc. We will provide water, bags, gloves, tools, plants and free investment advice.

This is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and the American Littoral Society, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection, NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation, Bloomberg Company, NYC Audubon Society, NYC Sierra Club, Sebago Canoe & Kayak Club, Jamaica Bay EcoWatchers, as well as several school and community groups (TBA).

This project funded in part by grants from the NOAA-RAE Partnership and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation...

For more information and registration

Call: (718) 318-9344

E-mail: driepe@nyc.rr.com

Rockaway Beach Area is Fenced to Protect Endangered Plovers' Nesting Ground by Asya Farr- NY Daily News

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The breeding grounds of the plover, an endangered bird, are threatened by development on the Rockaway peninsula. Conservationists are trying to preserve its nesting areas. Farriella for News

A group of endangered birds that breed on the Atlantic coast have shrunk in numbers this year after violent storms wiped out several nests in the Queens area, conservationists said.

The piping plover - a plump, sparrow-sized, sandy-colored bird - builds its nest in the sand near the shoreline, making it vulnerable to storm tides. During the height of the mating season this summer, high swells swept several nests out to sea, leaving the number of endangered birds in Queens lower than last year.

"Productivity has been down across the board in this region," said Sarah Aucoin, director of the city's Urban Park Rangers.

Aucoin, who has been managing sites on the Rockaway peninsula for 13 years, said there had been a steady population growth over the years, but recently the numbers have declined.

"It's a very dynamic and complicated environment with a lot of different pressures on it," said Aucoin, noting other factors - including predators and human activity - also disturb the birds, which are protected under state and federal laws.

In the four preservation areas on the Rockaway peninsula, there were 19 nesting pairs and five fledged offspring in 2008, parks officials said. That's a drop from the 25 nesting pairs and 10 fledged offspring last year.

Fenced-off areas keep beachgoers away from birds and their nests. Roca/News

Rangers have taken steps to protect the population, such as putting up fencing and banning beachgoers from protected areas, which take up a total of 23 blocks along the shoreline.

"Once the birds are there, we don't allow any traffic through that site. There is no bathing or walking on the sand," Aucoin said.

People can unwittingly crush eggs, and too much activity near the site can cause the plovers to desert nests and expose them to predators. "When we remove human activity, we are removing a factor that directly affects the birds," Aucoin said.

The piping plover - named for its plaintive, bell-like whistle - was once abundant on the Atlantic coast, but commercial, residential and recreational development destroyed the habitats suitable for the birds to breed.

Conservationists said the new building boom on the peninsula presents a new threat.

"There is just too much development in Rockaway that poses a problem for the nesting birds," said Don Riepe, director of the northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society, a coastal conservation group.

"These are areas we shouldn't overdevelop," said Riepe. "With people come stray cats, dogs, trash and everything that will negatively impact the piping plovers."

However, some locals said having to sidestep these protected areas is frustrating.

"I'm not a fan of the birds," lifelong resident Jeanne Broder, 34, said, noting she wished the beach wasn't fenced off.

"The beach ball or umbrella that blows away - you can't go into the nesting area to get. If you do, you'll get punished for it," she said.

But other residents, like Cesar Hidalgo, 46, said they think restricting access to portions of the beach is good for both fowl and humans.

"Sometimes the beaches are overcrowded and we invade their environment," Hidalgo said. "I respect what they reserve for nature."