An Erie County lawmaker welcomed several speakers to County Hall Monday morning to discuss the water quality of Lake Erie, and how the county may best invest in a cleanup.
Legislator Patrick Burke hosted the forum, which was attended by county staff, representatives of numerous environmental advocacy groups and a local educator. While acknowledging the role the waterfront has played in Buffalo and Erie County's economic redevelopment, Burke says there are serious issues such as contamination that need to be addressed.
"We're investing significant public money in waterfront amenities, but not enough in the actual water," said Burke. "We tell people come down, look at the beautiful lake, enjoy the sunset, but for God's sake don't touch it, and don't let your children in it."
Speakers agreed with the opinion that cleanup involves more than just Lake Erie itself. Frederick Floss, the chair of the Economics and Finance Department at Buffalo State College, suggests that the county needs to invest in a holistic approach, including infrastructure improvements.
"We also have to make sure that we control the runoff from upstream projects, making sure that we know how to deal with agriculture, manufacturing and, in fact, our own communities."
Also invited to speak were deputy commissioners from the county's Department of Environment and Planning. Thomas Hersey, Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Compliance, recalled a state study conducted 15 years ago on local improvements including sewer lines.
"In this part of the state we're looking at a hundred, 200 million dollars over the next 20 years that needs to be spent to bring our infrastructure up to the level where we are providing that type of protection that we need for our Great Lake resource," Hersey said.
Others added that Lake Erie needs to be looked upon as more that just a commodity. As Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper executive director Jill Jedlicka puts it, environment and economy are not mutually exclusive.
"We have an opportunity in Western New York and in our region to look at it as a fabric of our quality of life and a catalytic investment in our water resources," Jedlicka said. "We need a strategic framework for our blue economy here in Western New York. We don't have that."
Floss, in his remarks, noted that while regulating and making parties guilty of pollution pay for cleanup may create a negative economic impact in the short term, allowing them to continue contaminating the water system will hurt the economy by keeping potential patrons away.
