| Riverkeeper Sites:
Calendar
- Tuesday, 5/26
Superfund for the Gowanus? Informational update on Gowanus Canal Superfund designation.
- 5/29 through 5/31
RvK at Mountain Jam
- Thursday, 6/11
The Hudson Since Henry: A Natural & Unnatural History
A World Science Festival conference at the NY Historical Society
- Thursday, 6/11
BLUE A Junior Council Soiree Event to Benefit Riverkeeper
- June through September
RvK’s Hudson River Exhibit & Patrol Boat at River Flotilla Events
- Sunday, 6/7
RvK at Lyndhurst's Hudson River Fest
A Quadricentennial Event
View our calendar
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 Support EPA's Proposal to Clean the Gowanus Canal
The Gowanus Canal, one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation, is a candidate for the Federal Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). If it makes the list, then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can begin studying the extent of its contamination and draft plans for a thorough and coordinated cleanup.
Although EPA is facing pressure from developers and New York City to not add the canal to the Superfund list, it is accepting public comments on the nomination. Riverkeeper urges you to ask your elected officials to support Superfund designation for the Gowanus Canal.
Located in Brooklyn, NY, the 1.8 mile canal was the site for manufactured gas plants, cement factories, oil refineries, tanneries, and chemical plants for nearly 150 years. Now it is filled with dangerous levels of PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, sewage solids from combined sewer overflows, and coal tar.
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 Riverkeeper To Watch Hudson Dredging Closely
Friday, May 15, the long delayed clean-up of the Hudson River PCBs began. Now Riverkeeper will keep a watchful eye on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make sure the entire clean up occurs and that it is thorough.
The first phase of the two-phase cleanup will last about six months and focus on the removal of approximately 265,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment--only 10% of the total amount of contaminated sediment originally slated for removal. A legal agreement between General Electric (GE) and EPA allows GE to determine if it will carry out Phase 2, currently designed to remove approximately 1,500,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment.
GE’s Hudson Falls and Fort Edwards plants dumped approximately 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River between 1947 and 1977.
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 Westchester Passes Phosphorus-Fertilizer Ban
Riverkeeper advocated strongly for this legislation, which bans the sale or use of lawn fertilizers containing phosphorus in Westchester County. Through testimony and detailed letters, Riverkeeper persuaded Westchester legislators that phosphorus-based fertilizers negatively impact water quality in the NYC Watershed. This Riverkeeper victory helps to ensure that the NYC Watershed continues to supply clean, safe drinking water to more than 9 million residents. The law prohibits the use of phosphorus-based fertilizers and all lawn fertilizers between December 1 and April 1, but allows exceptions for newly established lawns and agricultural uses. Similarly, Riverkeeper is studying a new bill in the New York State Legislature that seeks to limit phosphorus-based fertilizers statewide.
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 Riverkeeper Files Additional Comments on Houghtaling Island
On April 30, Riverkeeper filed comments with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) asking that it withhold the water quality certification required under the Clean Water Act for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging project, which would place approximately 150,000 cubic yards of toxic dredge spoil on Houghtaling Island in New Baltimore. On April 9, Riverkeeper filed comments directly with the Army Corps opposing this project. New York has identified Houghtaling Island, one of the largest undisturbed parcels of land in the Hudson River estuary, as a critical habitat. In addition, the waters around the island, including Schodack Creek, are a known spawning ground for shad and other species and a suspected habitat for endangered shortnose sturgeon.
Nevertheless, the Army Corps has used it for decades as a dump for dredged spoil containing varying levels of PCBs, heavy metals, and other contaminants. Riverkeeper’s comments on the water quality certification focused on the risk to Schodack Creek, the Hudson River, and groundwater caused by the placement of sediment with elevated levels of PCBs.
In the coming months Riverkeeper will also be submitting comments on this project to the Department of State.
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 Water Quality Season Launch
With the approach of swimming and boating season, Riverkeeper has begun the third year of its Water Quality Testing Program. In partnership with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, we have begun patrolling the entire span of the Hudson River, from south of New York Harbor to north of the dam at Troy. We’ll be sampling water not only from the mid-channel, but also from boat launches, public piers, swimming beaches, deep water sites, mouths of tributaries, and wastewater treatment plants. We will sample in wet and dry weather, because the quality of the river’s water varies widely depending on where it comes from and when. Our study is the first of its kind to analyze the Hudson by producing a real-time snapshot of the many factors, including temperature, sewage, bacteria, salinity, algae, oxygen and nitrogen, affecting its health. And it is the first to make the results available to the public.
View More on Flickr
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 RvK Working on Sea Level Rise Task Force - Legal Advisory Group
Increasingly serious projections concerning Sea Level Rise (SLR), due to climate change, indicate that SLR in New York City could be as much as 10 inches by the 2020s, and 55 inches by 2080s. Issues of particular concern to Riverkeeper due to potential impacts to the Hudson River, its shores and its communities include: increased inflow of sea water to sewers and wastewater plants that will impair functioning and interfere with the attainment of state and federally required water quality standards; inundation and loss of wetlands, public access points, and habitat; land and water contamination from hazardous waste sites located in floodplains or near coastal areas; and, potentially ecologically destructive “hard” engineered responses to the receding coastline (bulkheads, barriers, seawalls, jetties and other hard erosion control measures). Riverkeeper attorney Rebecca Troutman is a member of the Legal Advisory Group to the New York State Task Force on Seal Level Rise. The Group's task is to recommend legislative amendments to address the impacts from SLR.
More information on the Sea Level Rise Task Force
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Riverkeeper Submits Comments on Stormwater Regulations
The EPA’s Phase II stormwater regulations require operators of small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) to submit by June 1 every year annual reports to document how well the MS4s are achieving reductions in stormwater discharges to surface waters. The NYS State Thruway Authority and the NYS Department of Transportation are considered MS4s because they construct and maintain state roads that can generate stormwater runoff. This month Riverkeeper reviewed the draft annual reports of both agencies and submitted written comments. While these agencies are making strides to comply with the Phase II requirements, we noted some deficiencies that precluded an informed review of their stormwater management programs (SWMPs) and required clarification. Importantly, both agencies failed to make their SWMP Plans available for public review as required by their MS4 permits and the Clean Water Act. We are hopeful that our comments and suggestions will be reflected in the final Annual Reports to be submitted to NYSDEC June 1.
Read Comments
NYSDOT MS4 Draft Annual Report
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