Down near the Rush-Avon border sits a state-protected swath of prairie-like land, where grasses, hedges, and wildflowers are interspersed with oak trees. It’s an oak opening, and there used to be places just like it all across the Midwest and this part of New York. But the 228-acre Rush Oak Openings Unique Area is the […]
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
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Irondequoit battles emerald ash borer
Irondequoit is the latest Monroe County community to confirm the presence of emerald ash borer infestations. Town officials say the insects have been found in several locations around Irondequoit, and they plan to remove infested trees in public rights-of-way and plant new trees in their place. The town won’t immediately remove healthy ash trees, they […]
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New York makes its fracking ban official
It is done: New York has officially banned high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state’s shale formations. State officials announced their intention to ban high-volume fracking back in December, but they also said that they needed to complete a few steps to finish out the environmental review. That’s done, and today, the Department of Environmental issued […]
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Report: DEC staff make case for Seneca Lake gas-storage project
Department of Environmental Conservation staff appear to lean toward granting state permits for an underground gas storage facility in the Finger Lakes, based on comments in a procedural filing, reports Capital NY. At issue is an application from a subsidiary of Texas-based Crestwood Holdings to convert a salt cavern into storage for up to 88 […]
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DEC releases final Hemlock-Canadice plan
Pretty much out of the blue, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has released its final Hemlock-Canadice State Forest unit management plan, and simultaneously announced the addition of 165 acres to the preserve. The state bought the land at Burch Hill Road and County Route 37 in Canadice earlier this month from Barbara Christoff, who wanted to […]
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New York officials reject fracking
State environmental and public health officials have concluded that high-volume hydraulic fracturing is too risky to allow in New York. In January, the State Department of Environmental Conservation will finalize its environmental statement on high-volume fracking, and as part of that process will officially prohibit the extraction technique in New York. Fracking is used in […]
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Rochester’s poisoned past
A graffiti-covered building hulks over the end of Flint Street — a dilapidated monument on a blighted landscape in southwest Rochester’s Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood. The building is part of the Vacuum Oil site, a 24-acre property along the Genesee River waterfront that once held an oil refinery (it shut down in the 1930’s). In the decades […]
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State releases plan for Hemlock, Canadice
The State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a draft plan outlining how it will manage its land around Canadice and Hemlock Lakes. The DEC will accept comments on the draft unit management plan – available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/68822.html – through April 15. And it has scheduled a public information session for 6:30 p.m. on March […]
