Jon Bowermaster’s latest film to be debuted as a fundraising event to benefit Clearwater’s June 2017 sail to Washington DC

BEACON, NY – On May 11, 2017 at 6:00 PM, Jon Bowermaster’s ‘The Hudson: A River at Risk’ series will continue with the premiere of ‘Clearwater: Hope on the Hudson’, the most recent addition to the film series, at the Towne Crier Cafe in Beacon, NY. Proceeds from the event will support Clearwater’s upcoming environmental action sail to Washington DC. Tickets to the benefit are $75 and are available at www.townecrier.com. The evening’s program will include a dinner buffet, film screening, musicians and speakers including John Cronin, the Hudson River’s first river keeper, now Senior Fellow for Environmental Affairs at Pace Law.  Emcee for the evening will be Jimmy Buff of Radio Woodstock 100.1.

Departing from Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival in Croton, New York on June 18th, the iconic sloop Clearwater will sail to the nation’s capital to convey a “cargo of concern” on the part of citizens and groups across New York and the country over rollbacks in federal clean water protections and draconian cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will affect water resources in New York, including the Hudson River, and nationwide. While in DC, Clearwater will organize a forum on Capitol Hill on clean water issues, and draw attention to the need for strong federal clean water protections to protect public health and safety, and ensure a sustainable future.

It’s a timely reenactment of Clearwater’s role in helping establish strong federal clean water protections nearly 50 years ago.   In 1970, during the first Earth Day observance, Pete Seeger sailed the boat to Washington, DC and held a forum on Capitol Hill on clean water issues.  It was a turning point in the fight for the Clean Water Act, which became law in 1973. Today, the progress that has been made since then in protecting America’s water resources is threatened, and Clearwater is reprising its historic role to defend it.

“The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is the people’s boat and the voice of the people shall be heard.  Water knows no state boundaries and must continue to be carefully managed by the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure a healthy future for generations to come” said Clearwater’s Education Director, Maija Niemisto.

Pete Seeger stated Clearwater’s mission for the 1970 sail to Washington, “We’ve sailed for a year now up and down the river showing people what the river used to be; how it’s polluted now and what it can be.” Mr. Seeger said, “but now we’re going to Washington because the problems of the American rivers can’t be solved by people like me who live on them. Only the Federal Government has the power to enact and enforce the laws that are needed.”