Sign this petition at www.onondagacreek.org

To:
NYS Department of Conservation, NYS Comptroller,
NYS Attorney General,
County Executive Joanie Mahoney,
Onondaga County Legislators

Onondaga County is rushing ahead to build a pricey $121 million Downtown sewage plant. The county wants to quickly award the bids for the plant. Unwisely, the county is foregoing a complete environmental review. As in the case of the Midland sewage plant, the county is ignoring that the lowest bids are $50 million more than the approved engineering estimate. Such haste does not benefit the local taxpayer, the City of Syracuse or our waterways.

County monitoring data show that Onondaga Lake does not have a bacteria problem. But, Onondaga Creek does. 90% of the time the creek is out of compliance with the state’s bacteria standards. Recent scientific analysis also shows that whether it rains or shines, bacteria levels remain alarmingly high, meaning that these “rainy day” sewage plants won’t bring us into compliance because the probable culprit is Syracuse’s old, leaky sewers.

We, the undersigned, call for a moratorium on expensive “rainy day” sewage plants and their conveyances. We need a fiscally and environmentally responsible plan for OUR waterways and for OUR millions of dollars.

To sign this petition, go to http://onondagacreek.thiscause.org or our web site at www.onondagacreek.org

Please circulate!