Read the full article by Fernando Figueroa (The Ithaca Voice)
“ITHACA, N.Y. — The City of Ithaca Planning Board decided on Tuesday to move forward with Cornell’s controversial synthetic turf project in a 4-0 vote. The decision vexed environmental advocates, and was celebrated by university athletes.
The city planning board meeting, which are often sparsely attended, became the destination for bus loads of Cornell athletes who advocated for the approval of the Cornell’s Meinig Fieldhouse Project, and more than 40 environmentalists who raised concerns over the potential health and environmental impacts of a class of chemicals found to be present in most synthetic turfs, as well as nanoplastics.
The Meinig Fieldhouse project would introduce two new synthetic turf fields onto Cornell’s campus, one of which would be indoors. Athletes say the fields would give them more space to train, safeguarded from Ithaca’s harsh winters.
PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, are a group of thousands of carcinogenic and potentially carcinogenic compounds that do not easily break down in the environment. PFAS have consistently been found in synthetic turf. Environmentalists say the two synthetic turf fields will only add more of these chemicals, while also introducing alarming levels of nanoplastics, to local soil and water.”…