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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Aug 04, 2018 9:55 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report. (5:38)
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island were between 78 and 81 degrees, slightly cooler than last week.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that the Port of Coeymans wants to make their temporary expansion into Hudson permanent. Four years ago the Port was allowed to temporarily expand to work on the Tappan Zee bridge project. Last week, a "subsidiary of port owner Carver Laraway" asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation for permanent status for a riverfront complex of trestles and cranes. Some of those cranes extend more than 270 feet into the Hudson River from the port. Nearing predicts that approval for the expansion "could make the privately owned port a more direct competitor of the publicly owned Port of Albany, which has been controlled by a state-appointed commission representing Albany and Rensselaer since the 1930s." The large cranes and trestles added four years ago were supposed to be removed, but now, General Counsel George McHugh said Aug. 1, they hope to keep them and lure other business there. Rich Hendrick, general manager of the Port of Albany, said if Laraway's request is approved "it will certainly benefit him ... up here, when I say something is going to be temporary, it stays temporary." Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that The Nature Conservancy released a report Aug. 1 imagining 1,800 projects from drainage culverts to rebuilt sewer plants to keep the Hudson River healthy. The report proposes 81 projects in Greene County, 37 in Schoharie County, and 391 in Columbia County. In Albany County, there are proposals for 141 projects, and another 137 in Rensselaer County. Cleaning up all the sewage overflows into the Hudson River from towns and cities along the waterway are some of the largest projects in the report, which included input from local government officials and the Hudson River Foundation, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Lower Hudson Valley Coalition of Conservation Districts, and the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. "This report calls for a lot of infrastructure," said Andy Peck, freshwater projects manager for The Nature Conservancy. "Roads, culverts, wastewater treatment are all big concerns from the communities. Also, it calls for enhanced access to the river for recreation, reflecting the economic importance of tourism to the region." Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• Spectrum News reports that the body of 49-year-old Paul Moschitta was found in the Hudson River this week. Moschitta was the swimmer who went missing last month after trying to help another swimmer in distress. Moschitta went missing in the Hudson near Waryas Park, and while the swimmer he was trying to help was rescued, Maschitta did not resurface. Read the full story at the Spectrum website.
• Lia Eustachewich reported in The New York Post Aug. 1 that an 8.5-inch oyster weighing 1.3 pounds was pulled from below a pier in Manhattan. The Post makes the fuzzy claim that "it could be the biggest bivalve ever found in the Hudson River." Hudson River observers think it is a good sign. “For a long time we’ve been talking about how the Hudson River Park’s sanctuary waters really support this ecological abundance of 70 species of fish,” Nicolette Witcher, the Hudson River Park Trust’s vice president of environment and education, told the Tribe Tribune. “These oysters are a nice manifestation of that.” Read the fullstory in The New York Post.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island were between 78 and 81 degrees, slightly cooler than last week.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that the Port of Coeymans wants to make their temporary expansion into Hudson permanent. Four years ago the Port was allowed to temporarily expand to work on the Tappan Zee bridge project. Last week, a "subsidiary of port owner Carver Laraway" asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation for permanent status for a riverfront complex of trestles and cranes. Some of those cranes extend more than 270 feet into the Hudson River from the port. Nearing predicts that approval for the expansion "could make the privately owned port a more direct competitor of the publicly owned Port of Albany, which has been controlled by a state-appointed commission representing Albany and Rensselaer since the 1930s." The large cranes and trestles added four years ago were supposed to be removed, but now, General Counsel George McHugh said Aug. 1, they hope to keep them and lure other business there. Rich Hendrick, general manager of the Port of Albany, said if Laraway's request is approved "it will certainly benefit him ... up here, when I say something is going to be temporary, it stays temporary." Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that The Nature Conservancy released a report Aug. 1 imagining 1,800 projects from drainage culverts to rebuilt sewer plants to keep the Hudson River healthy. The report proposes 81 projects in Greene County, 37 in Schoharie County, and 391 in Columbia County. In Albany County, there are proposals for 141 projects, and another 137 in Rensselaer County. Cleaning up all the sewage overflows into the Hudson River from towns and cities along the waterway are some of the largest projects in the report, which included input from local government officials and the Hudson River Foundation, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Lower Hudson Valley Coalition of Conservation Districts, and the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. "This report calls for a lot of infrastructure," said Andy Peck, freshwater projects manager for The Nature Conservancy. "Roads, culverts, wastewater treatment are all big concerns from the communities. Also, it calls for enhanced access to the river for recreation, reflecting the economic importance of tourism to the region." Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• Spectrum News reports that the body of 49-year-old Paul Moschitta was found in the Hudson River this week. Moschitta was the swimmer who went missing last month after trying to help another swimmer in distress. Moschitta went missing in the Hudson near Waryas Park, and while the swimmer he was trying to help was rescued, Maschitta did not resurface. Read the full story at the Spectrum website.
• Lia Eustachewich reported in The New York Post Aug. 1 that an 8.5-inch oyster weighing 1.3 pounds was pulled from below a pier in Manhattan. The Post makes the fuzzy claim that "it could be the biggest bivalve ever found in the Hudson River." Hudson River observers think it is a good sign. “For a long time we’ve been talking about how the Hudson River Park’s sanctuary waters really support this ecological abundance of 70 species of fish,” Nicolette Witcher, the Hudson River Park Trust’s vice president of environment and education, told the Tribe Tribune. “These oysters are a nice manifestation of that.” Read the fullstory in The New York Post.