Media Advisory: EPA, UB to host green infrastructure forum on March 14

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Engineers, architects, government administrators, scientists and others will meet in Buffalo on March 14 to discuss how Western New York can prepare for, fund and create green infrastructure projects.

The event, called the Western New York Green Infrastructure Forum, will focus on land-use, transportation, energy, housing and other issues. It also will include discussions on how communities can improve water quality, specifically as it relates to pollution caused by stormwater runoff.

Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the University at Buffalo (UB), the forum includes a range of speakers with experience in developing green infrastructure. Among them:

• Matt Millea, Onondaga County deputy executive for physical services. He will deliver the keynote address focusing on the county’s “Save the Rain” program, which is a comprehensive stormwater management plan designed to reduce pollution in Onondaga Lake.
• Robert Shibley, dean of UB’s School of Architecture and Planning. He will discuss an initiative called “One Region Forward,” a regional effort that focuses on sustainable planning in Western New York.
• Jill Spisiak Jedlicka, executive director of the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper. She will discuss how healthy waterways support tourism and recreation-based economies.
• Alan Rabideau, professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering at UB. He will discuss Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange, a UB-led initiative that helps restore damaged ecosystems including the former nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in West Valley, N.Y.

 From helping investigate toxic chemicals in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls in the 1970s to committing to be climate neutral by 2030, UB has a long history in environmental leadership. The forum is another example of its commitment to educate, inspire and enable people both on and off campus to create a more sustainable world.

It will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Clinical and Translational Research Center, 875 Ellicott St., in Buffalo. Because the event is at capacity, organizers are no longer accepting registrants. Reporters interested in attending are asked to contact Cory Nealo.