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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Jul 22, 2017 9:33 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island have been between 74 and 78 degrees.
• Marie J. French reports in Politico.com that more than 100 people turned up at a hearing about General Electric cleaning up chemicals from the Hudson River at the Saratoga Hilton July 19, many urging the Environmental Protection Agency to continue the work. Earlier this year, the EPA said it was done removing PCBs from the upper Hudson River even though it will take more than 55 years before all local species of fish from the Hudson River are safe enough for some people to eat once a week. An EPA official claimed, at the second of two public hearings about the end of dredging, that the agency's work is not done. “We’re not abandoning the cleanup,” said Gary Klawinski, EPA's director of the project. “If at some point in the future we see there’s an issue, we’ll evaluate if something needs to be done.” That did not satisfy many of the environmental officials and advocates in the audience. “The EPA should abandon the current wait and see approach,” said the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Kevin Farrar. “This is unacceptable. In short, this is garbage… We have to rely on the state to use its resources to make GE shareholders foot the bill and restore our river,” Sierra Club president Aaron Mair said, to applause from the audience.Read the full story in Politico.com.
• Mid-Hudson News is reporting the U.S. Coast Guard announced last month it will conduct a ports and waterways safety assessment of the Hudson River beginning this fall. The process, intended to seek information from the public, is a "disciplined approach to identify major waterway safety hazards, estimate risk levels [and] evaluate potential mitigation measures...," according to a released statement. It will begin with workshops in two or more locations, Coast Guard spokesperson Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy said. Conway said, "We will be gathering qualitative and quantitative data to help us decide what the risks are on the river.” Conroy could not put a timetable on completion of the process. Members of the public who wish to be considered for participation in the workshops are asked to email: Hudson River PAWSA [at] uscg.mil by July 21, with name, contact information, connection to the waterway, experience and related skills. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News [dot] com.
• Christopher Cameron reports in AM New York that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are installing “eelevators” in New York to help young American eels access the waters above dams. “We designed an eel ladder that could literally be lifted and raised [out of the water],” Chris Bowser, coordinator for education at the DEC Hudson River Estuary Program, said. “We haul them up, we let them go, and then we lower the thing back down.” There have been citizen science programs working with the DEC that have caught, counted, and released more than half a million young eels in the tributaries of the Hudson River since 2008. “Imagine the Hudson River in early springtime, when the water’s just warming up,” Bowser said. “Along comes this migration of millions of Sargasso Sea-flavored snacks into the estuary at exactly the time when the river needs those nutrients the most.” Read the full story in AM New York.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that overnight rains July 17 caused large combined sewer overflows from Troy (5.4 million gallons), Albany (3.8 million gallons), and Halfmoon (648,000 gallons). About 1.3" of rain fell July 17 in Albany, causing the spills. A $45 million sewage treatment facility is still four or five years from starting up, according to Joe Coffey, Albany city commissioner for water and water supply. Until then, large amounts of sewage overflow will continue to end up in the Hudson River. Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• This week the City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility had ten-and-a-half-hour combined sewer overflow into the Hudson River July 17, and another two-and-a-half-hour release of 50,000 gallons of "combined sewer overflow." Hudson had another eight hour release July 14.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island have been between 74 and 78 degrees.
• Marie J. French reports in Politico.com that more than 100 people turned up at a hearing about General Electric cleaning up chemicals from the Hudson River at the Saratoga Hilton July 19, many urging the Environmental Protection Agency to continue the work. Earlier this year, the EPA said it was done removing PCBs from the upper Hudson River even though it will take more than 55 years before all local species of fish from the Hudson River are safe enough for some people to eat once a week. An EPA official claimed, at the second of two public hearings about the end of dredging, that the agency's work is not done. “We’re not abandoning the cleanup,” said Gary Klawinski, EPA's director of the project. “If at some point in the future we see there’s an issue, we’ll evaluate if something needs to be done.” That did not satisfy many of the environmental officials and advocates in the audience. “The EPA should abandon the current wait and see approach,” said the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Kevin Farrar. “This is unacceptable. In short, this is garbage… We have to rely on the state to use its resources to make GE shareholders foot the bill and restore our river,” Sierra Club president Aaron Mair said, to applause from the audience.Read the full story in Politico.com.
• Mid-Hudson News is reporting the U.S. Coast Guard announced last month it will conduct a ports and waterways safety assessment of the Hudson River beginning this fall. The process, intended to seek information from the public, is a "disciplined approach to identify major waterway safety hazards, estimate risk levels [and] evaluate potential mitigation measures...," according to a released statement. It will begin with workshops in two or more locations, Coast Guard spokesperson Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy said. Conway said, "We will be gathering qualitative and quantitative data to help us decide what the risks are on the river.” Conroy could not put a timetable on completion of the process. Members of the public who wish to be considered for participation in the workshops are asked to email: Hudson River PAWSA [at] uscg.mil by July 21, with name, contact information, connection to the waterway, experience and related skills. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News [dot] com.
• Christopher Cameron reports in AM New York that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are installing “eelevators” in New York to help young American eels access the waters above dams. “We designed an eel ladder that could literally be lifted and raised [out of the water],” Chris Bowser, coordinator for education at the DEC Hudson River Estuary Program, said. “We haul them up, we let them go, and then we lower the thing back down.” There have been citizen science programs working with the DEC that have caught, counted, and released more than half a million young eels in the tributaries of the Hudson River since 2008. “Imagine the Hudson River in early springtime, when the water’s just warming up,” Bowser said. “Along comes this migration of millions of Sargasso Sea-flavored snacks into the estuary at exactly the time when the river needs those nutrients the most.” Read the full story in AM New York.
• Brian Nearing reports in the Albany Times Union that overnight rains July 17 caused large combined sewer overflows from Troy (5.4 million gallons), Albany (3.8 million gallons), and Halfmoon (648,000 gallons). About 1.3" of rain fell July 17 in Albany, causing the spills. A $45 million sewage treatment facility is still four or five years from starting up, according to Joe Coffey, Albany city commissioner for water and water supply. Until then, large amounts of sewage overflow will continue to end up in the Hudson River. Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.
• This week the City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility had ten-and-a-half-hour combined sewer overflow into the Hudson River July 17, and another two-and-a-half-hour release of 50,000 gallons of "combined sewer overflow." Hudson had another eight hour release July 14.