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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Jan 06, 2018 10:55 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report. (4:37)
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island was at or below 32 degrees, about a degree colder than last week, with ice on top of much of the river.
• The Associated Press is reporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said January 3 it must finish its review of General Electric Co.'s cleanup of the upper Hudson River before declaring if the job was completed properly. The EPA told GE it expects to wrap up its analysis early this year. The company requested a certificate of completion one year ago and the EPA was required to respond by January 3. GE finished removing 2.75 million cubic yards of PCB sediment from the river in 2015. The EPA has said it does not appear as though more dredging is needed. However, state officials and others say too much PCB-contaminated sediment remains in the river and are arguing for a larger cleanup. GE dumped the suspected carcinogen into the Hudson from two plants north of Albany from the 1940s until 1977. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• The Associated Press reports in The Record Online that there is ice on the Hudson River now that Coast Guard crews are breaking up. Jan. 2 a Coast Guard ice-breaking vessel freed a tug stuck overnight in the ice near Kingston. Another vessel was freed by the Coast Guard New Year's Eve near Saugerties. Temperatures are expected to plunge to record lows in the next several days, so the Coast Guard ice-cutters may have lots more work to do. Read the full story at The Record Online.
• William J. Kemble reports in the Daily Freeman that the Saugerties Town Board has set up a committee to make Bristol Beach a recreation attraction. The group will mostly work to secure funding to develop the site along the Hudson River in Malden into an actual beach. Saugerties officials hope Bristol Beach will include river access for the public, with a picnic area, parking for 12 vehicles, restrooms, trails, a bath house, and a fishing area. So far, Lanny Walter and Mike Harkavy, both already on the town board, are on the committee. Other appointments will be made at future town board meetings. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Jan. 3 "State of the State" speech. “Governor Cuomo has courageously made cleanup of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River a major provision of his policy agenda for the year ahead. I thank the governor, as well as members of Congress, for their vigilance on this important issue, and commitment to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to get the best decision in the EPA’s Five-Year Review of the cleanup that calls for additional dredging, and also a decision to deny GE’s request for a Certificate of Completion for its cleanup efforts to date.”
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island was at or below 32 degrees, about a degree colder than last week, with ice on top of much of the river.
• The Associated Press is reporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said January 3 it must finish its review of General Electric Co.'s cleanup of the upper Hudson River before declaring if the job was completed properly. The EPA told GE it expects to wrap up its analysis early this year. The company requested a certificate of completion one year ago and the EPA was required to respond by January 3. GE finished removing 2.75 million cubic yards of PCB sediment from the river in 2015. The EPA has said it does not appear as though more dredging is needed. However, state officials and others say too much PCB-contaminated sediment remains in the river and are arguing for a larger cleanup. GE dumped the suspected carcinogen into the Hudson from two plants north of Albany from the 1940s until 1977. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• The Associated Press reports in The Record Online that there is ice on the Hudson River now that Coast Guard crews are breaking up. Jan. 2 a Coast Guard ice-breaking vessel freed a tug stuck overnight in the ice near Kingston. Another vessel was freed by the Coast Guard New Year's Eve near Saugerties. Temperatures are expected to plunge to record lows in the next several days, so the Coast Guard ice-cutters may have lots more work to do. Read the full story at The Record Online.
• William J. Kemble reports in the Daily Freeman that the Saugerties Town Board has set up a committee to make Bristol Beach a recreation attraction. The group will mostly work to secure funding to develop the site along the Hudson River in Malden into an actual beach. Saugerties officials hope Bristol Beach will include river access for the public, with a picnic area, parking for 12 vehicles, restrooms, trails, a bath house, and a fishing area. So far, Lanny Walter and Mike Harkavy, both already on the town board, are on the committee. Other appointments will be made at future town board meetings. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Jan. 3 "State of the State" speech. “Governor Cuomo has courageously made cleanup of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River a major provision of his policy agenda for the year ahead. I thank the governor, as well as members of Congress, for their vigilance on this important issue, and commitment to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to get the best decision in the EPA’s Five-Year Review of the cleanup that calls for additional dredging, and also a decision to deny GE’s request for a Certificate of Completion for its cleanup efforts to date.”