Capital Region/Hudson Valley – August 19, 2010 – Leading environmental organizations today commented on the draft recommendations of an independent review panel evaluating Phase 1 of the Hudson River PCB dredging project, mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The panel’s [...]]]> Environmental Groups Comment on Hudson River
PCB Dredging Project 
 Peer Review Panel’s Draft Recommendations

Capital Region/Hudson Valley – August 19, 2010 – Leading environmental organizations today commented on the draft recommendations of an independent review panel evaluating Phase 1 of the Hudson River PCB dredging project, mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The panel’s detailed technical report was released in draft form on August 16.

 Clearwater, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson—united in support of removing sediment contaminated with toxic chemicals, called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, from the upper Hudson River—echoed the expert panel’s conclusion that Phase 2 of the cleanup can and should move forward on schedule, in spring 2011. The groups call on General Electric, the company responsible for dumping the PCBs into the river 40 years ago, to commit to resuming work next spring and to finishing the entire project, which is vital to making the Hudson River cleaner, healthier and more economically productive.

 Statements from the environmental groups follow:

 “It’s important to maintain momentum to the overall cleanup plan defined by EPA’s 2002 Record of Decision, which would remove the biggest sources of ongoing PCB pollution in the Hudson and return the river to a healthier state. We agree with the panel that, whatever adjustments may be needed in Phase 2, there is no basis to scale back the scope of cleanup, as GE has suggested,” said Ned Sullivan, President, Scenic Hudson.

 “Phase 1 of dredging last year discovered much more contamination than expected, so the panel rightly concluded that GE and the EPA should take the time necessary to complete a good, thorough cleanup of the river, even if it takes longer than the five years originally anticipated. Arbitrary deadlines don’t make sense. We need an aggressive schedule that leverages the technological expertise of GE to do the best possible job when Phase 2 begins in April 2011 as planned,” said Rebecca Troutman, Senior Attorney, Riverkeeper.

 “With the lessons learned from the first phase of dredging, it is clear that G.E. can successfully clean up its mess and finally return a healthy Hudson River to New York communities,” said Lawrence Levine, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We learned from Phase 1 that there are more PCBs in the Hudson than we expected, and we can ensure Phase 2 will be a success by taking immediate steps like more accurately determining the depth of contamination on the river bottom.  G.E. needs to step up its efforts for the next round – no one is better suited to the tackle this challenge than these leading world innovators.” 

 “Our coalition agrees with the Peer Review panel’s conclusion that there is absolutely no need to delay Phase 2 while developing a new computer ‘model’ to project the anticipated benefits of the cleanup. Many important and illuminating lessons already have been learned, and additional data gathered during Phase 2 can be used to adjust the project if needed,” said Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

Click here to listen!

Two Sessions Allow Local Residents a Chance to Discuss Conservation, Water Protection and Reconnecting Communities to the Outdoors

In April at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, President Obama signed [...]]]>  PUBLIC LISTENING SESSIONS ON THE PRESIDENT’S AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS INITIATIVE TO COME TO THE HUDSON VALLEY ON AUGUST 5TH AND 6TH, 2010

Two Sessions Allow Local Residents a Chance to Discuss Conservation, Water Protection and Reconnecting Communities to the Outdoors

In April at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, President Obama signed a memorandum creating the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. The Initiative’s goals are to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors.  In this, the President underlined the importance of  protecting and restoring the lands and waters that we love and reconnecting communities, especially youth,  to the outdoors must happen at the local level.

 President Obama instructed the senior leaders of the Initiative to travel across the country to sit down at a table with people directly involved in utilizing grassroots solutions to conserve our lands and waters and reconnecting Americans to the outdoors.  The President indicated that the sessions should engage the full range of interested groups, including tribal leaders, farmers and ranchers, sportsmen, community park groups, foresters, youth groups, businesspeople, educators, state and local governments, and recreation and conservation groups.

First Session to Focus the Youth Voice in the Valley

The first of  two, a Youth Listening Session, is to be held on Thursday, August 5th from 3-5pm at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center at the Home of FDR and Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY. The session will afford the youth of the Hudson Valley to the chance to participate in round table discussion with their peers and senior representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal agencies. The public listening session for youth will focus on conservation, recreation and reconnecting youth to the outdoors. Important: Click here to follow  RSVP instructions on the DOI site.

General Session to be held on the 6th

A general session open to members of the public will follow the youth session on Friday August 6th from 9am-12noon at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. It too will include a chance for members of the public to voice ideas, concerns and solutions to senior officials from the Obama administration.  Important: Click here to follow RSVP instructions, including listing your choices for concurrent breakout listening sessions.

 The NY State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) held  public hearings on Indian Point at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt on July 20th.   NYS DEC held these hearings because Entergy is challenging the DEC’s decision to deny a Water Quality Certificate (WQC) to [...]]]>  Save Our Hudson River Fish-

 The NY State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) held  public hearings on Indian Point at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt on July 20th.   NYS DEC held these hearings because Entergy is challenging the DEC’s decision to deny a Water Quality Certificate (WQC) to Indian Point, whose current once-through cooling system circulates water for cooling once through the plant, and then it discharges heated water back into the Hudson, resulting in the killing of billions of Hudson River fish, which remain in serious decline.  DEC has ordered Entergy to install closed-cycle cooling to reduce fish kill and thermal pollution, which is the best technology available to address this problem, and, as such, is required by law.

 Entergy is challenging this decision and has launched a massive PR campaign to convince the public that it is unnecessary. 

 It’s vital that Entergy’s corporate voice does not drown out the voice of science and reason.  Please send the below letter to Administrative Law Judge Villa and cc DEC Commissioner Grannis.  We don’t need Indian Point.

 We need clean, safe energy and a healthy, vibrant Hudson River.

 Click here to read Clearwater’s letter to Honorable Judge Villa regarding the above denial of Entergy’s Water Quality Certification Denial

  On Saturday, July 3rd, the Clearwater crew will host free public deck tours from noon until 5pm, as well as a public sail from 5:30-8:30. On Sunday, [...]]]>  
This is the Clearwater’s second return to Cold Spring in approximately 15 years, and we are thrilled to take part in Cold Spring’s remarkable Independence Day celebrations.

 
On Saturday, July 3rd, the Clearwater crew will host free public deck tours from noon until 5pm, as well as a public sail from 5:30-8:30. On Sunday, July 4th, free deck tours take place from noon until 5pm, followed by a public sail from 5:30-8:30.
 
Spots aboard the public sails can be booked online at http://www.clearwater.org/come-sailing/public-sails/public-sail-schedule-2010/ . Pricing is $50/adults; $35/ Clearwater members; $15/kids 12 and under.

CAPITAL REGION/HUDSON VALLEY – May 25, 2010 – Following the results of the first phase of toxic cleanup in the Hudson River, leading environmental groups and an independent scientist told the Environmental Protection Agency they believe [...]]]> Comments to EPA bolstered by work of independent scientist, challenge GE’s calls for delays and reduced cleanup effort

CAPITAL REGION/HUDSON VALLEY – May 25, 2010 – Following the results of the first phase of toxic cleanup in the Hudson River, leading environmental groups and an independent scientist told the Environmental Protection Agency they believe it can continue to successfully meet its major objectives through reasonable adjustments and should see the project through to completion.

As General Electric, the company responsible for the polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs) polluting the river, tries to limit the cleanup through cost-cutting and artificial scheduling constraints, the groups – Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson – concluded that there is no basis to curtail the Phase 2 cleanup, and that the project should proceed on schedule with the second phase starting in May 2011.

Ned Sullivan, President of Scenic Hudson said, “It is essential that we end the public war of words and competing theories of how to complete this cleanup and forge a consensus that will ensure compliance with the USEPA’s 2002 Record of Decision.  We cannot squander the historic opportunity to achieve a lasting cleanup that will restore the health of the river for humans, fish and wildlife and create near term cleanup jobs and a lasting economically viable upper Hudson region. Options that leave massive quantities of PCBs in the river and pose obstacles to navigational dredging and saddle state and federal agencies with long-term costs and responsibilities are not acceptable,” said Mr. Sullivan.  

The groups submitted formal comments to EPA in response to the agency’s Addendum to Phase 1 Evaluation Report for the Hudson River dredging project. This is the second set of formal comments the groups have submitted to EPA about the project, and are based on extensive review of the latest reports from EPA and GE on the success of the first phase.

“For years, GE has said the Hudson River couldn’t be cleaned up, but the experience gained from the first phase of the project shows it can be done,” said NRDC senior attorney Lawrence Levine. “And the higher-than-expected levels of contamination found in Phase 1 reinforce the need to finish the job.  We have leading world innovators on the job – no one is better equipped to rectify the mistakes of their past than GE.”

Both sets of the groups’ comments are based on evaluations of the project data by staff professionals and further supported by a review by an independent academic expert who has co-authored two National Academy of Sciences reports on risk management and cleanup strategies for contaminated sediment sites and is an acknowledged authority on sediment transport processes.

The groups proposed several technical adjustments to improve the success of the next phase of the cleanup, including:

• Targeted additional core sampling to better assess the depth of contamination, in combination with taking deeper ‘bites’ with the dredge to provide a margin for error, which will help ensure the cleanup does not leave behind substantial PCB contamination
• Prohibition on so-called decanting of water from the dredge bucket before it is emptied into a barge, which releases PCBs back into the river
• Use of alternative dredging technologies, where appropriate, that can help minimize the amount of sediment stirred-up in the water column, such as covered excavators or hydraulic dredges with onboard dewatering equipment
• Adding surface absorbent mats to containment booms to help capture any PCB oil that floats to the surface
• Enhanced capacity for unloading barges carrying dredged sediment, to avoid bottlenecks that substantially and unnecessarily slowed progress in Phase 1

Riverkeeper Senior Counsel Rebecca Troutman noted, “These adjustments should make significant differences in achieving the project goals. There’s no question that GE can readily afford the changes, and any posturing about costs should be set aside. After enduring decades of this toxic legacy, the Hudson River deserves no less, and we’ve all come too far to support anything other than the most professional, comprehensive cleanup.”

Following the first phase of the cleanup, GE has suggested changes for the next phase that would result in less dredging and more “capping” (or covering with cleaner material) of contaminated sediment, a technique that federal and state agencies have repeatedly warned is not sufficient to contain PCBs over the long-term and would be an obstacle to navigational use of the river.  The peer review panel of scientists and engineers examining the project should reject that approach, which effectively mortgages the future of the river’s health.  EPA conclusively rejected that approach in its historic 2002 decision to clean-up the river. 

“Leaving a large amount of residual PCB-containing sediment in the river bottom today means that it can become biologically available sometime in the future,” stated Manna Jo Greene, Clearwater’s Environmental Director. “The Hudson River is a very dynamic system; what is buried now can become exposed by unusually turbulent storm surges, which are becoming more common with climate change,” she added.

Instead, GE and EPA must take the time necessary to do the job right, even if that requires more than the five-year duration that was estimated before dredging began.  Ongoing debates between EPA and GE should not, and need not, hold up the implementation of improvements that will make the second phase a success.     

Cleaning up the toxic PCBs that have contaminated the Hudson River for decades will bring huge benefits—including greatly expanded economic opportunities—to communities all along the river. Environmentalists have been fighting for safe, effective removal of the toxins for more than 25 years.

The joint comments submitted by Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson are also supported by several members of the Friends of A Clean Hudson coalition, including Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Corp., Clean Ocean Action, Environmental Advocates of NY, the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, New Jersey Chapter, New York Public Interest Research Group, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter and the W. Haywood Burns Environmental Education Center.

The comments on the addendum to EPA’s Phase 1 Evaluation Report can be viewed at:

 http://www.riverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Bohlen-HudsonRiverPhase1Report.pdf

http://www.riverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Comments-on-Phase-1-Dredging-1.pdf

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Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is a nonprofit, grassroots environmental organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and activate the next generation of environmental leaders. Founded by music legend and activist Pete Seeger, the organization set sail in 1969 with the launch of the sloop Clearwater, a 106-foot heritage vessel created to carry the environmental message up and down the Hudson River. Today, with diverse scientific and educational programs, environmental action, green job-building and sustainable river cities initiatives, Clearwater continues Pete Seeger’s legacy as America’s environmental flagship organization. www.clearwater.org

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Livingston, MT, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing. www.nrdc.org

Riverkeeper is an environmental watchdog organization whose mission is to protect the ecological integrity of the Hudson River and its tributaries, and to safeguard the drinking water supply of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. www.riverkeeper.org.

Scenic Hudson works to protect and restore the Hudson River and its majestic landscape as an irreplaceable national treasure and a vital resource for residents and visitors. A crusader for the valley since 1963, we are credited with saving fabled Storm King Mountain from a destructive industrial project and launching the modern grass-roots environmental movement. To date Scenic Hudson has created or enhanced more than 40 parks up and down the Hudson River and preserved more than 25,000 acres. www.scenichudson.org.

POUGHKEEPSIE—Inner city students, world-class scientists, and environmental leaders will gather at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie on June 5 to unveil a new, mobile environmental monitoring system onboard the sloop Clearwater that will help scientists [...]]]> Government, Science, Environmental Groups, and Pete Seeger take the pulse of the Hudson River, and bring it to thousands of young people.

POUGHKEEPSIE—Inner city students, world-class scientists, and environmental leaders will gather at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie on June 5 to unveil a new, mobile environmental monitoring system onboard the sloop Clearwater that will help scientists take the pulse of the Hudson River.

The state-of-the-art installation is the latest component of the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) — a multi-million dollar monitoring network comprised of eight permanent stations located throughout the Hudson River estuary from Schodack Island in Rensselaer County to the New York/New Jersey harbor. The unique partnership will make a range of real-time data taken from the Hudson River accessible in the classroom via the Internet.

The partnership represents a bold collaborative initiative among New York State government, private scientific, and non-profit environmental organizations to bring real, world-class science being conducted on the Hudson River into the classroom, and to also bring the classroom to the River.

“This is a great opportunity for the thousands of kids who sail on Clearwater to see the direct connection between their experience on the river and the work of some of the best scientific organizations in the country,” said Jeff Rumpf, Executive Director of Clearwater. “This collaboration of State government, scientific institutions, and environmental organizations significantly raises the bar of education, and with no additional cost to taxpayers. At a time when educational funding across New York is being cut, a new collaborative model of science, environmentalism, and government coming together in service to kids seems to be working.”

Several Hudson River environmental leaders will speak at the 12:30 p.m. press event, including New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis; Hudson River Foundation Executive Director Clay Hiles; former Chair of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission Joan Davidson; and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Board President Allan Shope. To launch the partnership, students and members of the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) American Eel Program will join Hudson Valley scientists and government officials on a two-hour sail aboard the sloop Clearwater. Scientists and educators will demonstrate the many useful applications of the river monitoring data.

With funding from the Hudson River Foundation, HRECOS is operated by a consortium of partners from government and the research community including DEC, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the Hudson River Estuary Program, Stevens Institute of Technology, the Cary Institute, Riverkeeper, National Estuarine Research Reserve, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and other organizations.

“Having a capability to acquire data in real-time from the Hudson River via the Clearwater as she sails will greatly benefit all those who care about and use the river. Scientists and engineers in particular will use the data to better understand the estuarine conditions that are occurring at that moment and predict what is likely to occur in the next few days,” said Alan Blumberg, Director of the Center for Maritime Systems at the Stevens Institute. “A successful installation on the Clearwater will be a prototype for similar installation on other vessels, enabling an ever more comprehensive view of the Hudson.”

As part of its mission to inspire, educate, and activate the next generation of environmental leaders, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater integrates educational programs and science curriculum by bringing young people sailing on the Hudson and teaching them first-hand the complex ecological issues facing estuary scientists.

HRECOS stations send continuous updates to www.hrecos.org for the purposes of environmental forecasting and assessment. The partnership with Clearwater not only adds a vital mobile dimension to the monitoring network used by scientists, but serves as the key link between scientists and schools.

Thousands of students who participate in Clearwater’s educational sails along the Hudson each year will be able to work with the same monitoring data that scientists use. Moreover, because the data is collected, stored, and accessed online, students will be able to return to the Hudson River virtually as they continue to monitor the heartbeat of the Hudson from inside their classrooms.

The station on the Clearwater will track conditions from Albany to the New York harbor. Instruments purchased by the Hudson River Foundation and installed by the Stevens Institute will continuously transmit the location of the Clearwater, as well as measurements of water quality that include: dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, and water temperature. The eighth station will be installed at Marist College in Poughkeepsie later this year.

Clay Hiles, Executive Director of the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research, said: “The Hudson River Foundation has been very pleased to support the overall development of HRECOS and this significant expansion.  This comprehensive effort to increase our understanding of the Hudson River on a real-time and long-term basis has brought together the talents of several outstanding research and education institutions in an extraordinary example of collaboration that now includes the Hudson’s environmental flagship.”

Clearwater’s participation in River Day on June 5 will also include a performance by Pete Seeger, Roland Moussa, David Amram, Linda Richards, and the Power of Song following the 12:30 press event at Waryas Park. The sloop Clearwater and the schooner Mystic Whaler will then join the Riverkeeper to lead a sail flotilla from Poughkeepsie to the Rondout dock in Kingston at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. Congressman Maurice Hinchey will be among those welcoming the flotilla to Kingston. Congressman Hinchey is also expected to make a special announcement at the Maritime Museum about the partnership consortium and Clearwater’s continued presence as part of the Kingston waterfront.

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Famed singer-songwriters Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin, contemporary music star Joan Osborne, sizzling accordion player Buckwheat Zydeco, “newgrass” sensations Railroad Earth, plus the David Bromberg Quartet, Keller Williams, the subdudes, Donna the Buffalo and Pete [...]]]> Steve Earle, Shawn Colvin, Pete Seeger, David Bromberg Quartet, Keller Williams, Joan Osborne and Buckwheat Zydeco to Headline at Historic Gathering

Famed singer-songwriters Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin, contemporary music star Joan Osborne, sizzling accordion player Buckwheat Zydeco, “newgrass” sensations Railroad Earth, plus the David Bromberg Quartet, Keller Williams, the subdudes, Donna the Buffalo and Pete Seeger are among the headliners announced as part of the initial lineup for Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 19 and 20 at Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

     Tickets for the Revival, which is a fundraiser for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and also the country’s oldest music and environmental festival, are now on sale at http://www.clearwaterfestival.org/.

     Earlier this year, Clearwater welcomed new festival director Steve Lurie on board, and he has programmed a remarkable lineup of acts, while longtime festival coordinator and musician Will Solomon has signed on as assistant festival director.

     “I’m very honored to be working with Clearwater and all the volunteer coordinators on this year’s Revival,” said Lurie, a successful concert producer who founded a consulting business, Music Without Borders, in 1998. “To be part of Pete Seeger’s important legacy and help raise environmental awareness with inspiring music means a great deal to me.”

     Among first-time festival performers this year are acclaimed singer-songwriters Steve Forbert and Dan Bern, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller, Celtic fiddle virtuoso Eileen Ivers, indie music stalwarts Ryan Montbleau Band, Felice Brothers and Jonatha Brooke, Angel Band, Milton, Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing and more.

     Clearwater founder  and folk music icon Pete Seeger will be performing at various times during the two-day festival, as usual, and also appearing will be Revival favorites like Toshi Reagon, the Walkabout Clearwater Chorus, Kim & Reggie Harris, Rick Nestler, Dog on Fleas, Jay Mankita and Paul Richmond. This year, the festival is featuring a World Dance Tent, where you’ll find C. J. Chenier, contra dance group Nightingale, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra, Folklore Urbano, Hazmat Modine and Slavic Soul Party. More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

     The Clearwater Festival will also feature storytellers and family-oriented entertainers, as well as juried crafts, a Green Living Expo, a small boats exhibit, rides on the sloop Clearwater and schooner Mystic Whaler, hands-on environmental education and the Circle of Song, where audience participation is the focus. The entire festival is wheelchair accessible and most stage programming is staffed with American Sign Language interpreters.

     Inspired by Pete Seeger’s desire to clean up the river over forty years ago, the Great Hudson River Revival initially helped raise the funds to build the sloop Clearwater, which has since become a world-renowned floating classroom and a symbol of effective grassroots action. Today, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is a non-profit organization that sails at the forefront of the nation’s environmental challenges. The revenue raised by the Revival goes to support Clearwater’s numerous educational programs and its work toward environmental and social justice—as well as keeping the sloop Clearwater afloat.