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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Oct 20, 2017 9:34 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report. (4:16)
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island have been between 62 and 67 degrees.
• Jorja Roman reports for Spectrum that the Rensselaer County Legislature is proposing a new law to regulate the amount of 1,4-Dioxane that can be discharged. In the town of Nassau, the Dewey Loeffel Landfill was a dump site in the 1950s and 1960s and was declared a superfund site in the 1980s. “We’re not going to sit and wait any longer for the state and federal government to take action on these carcinogens. We need to get them out and protect people’s health,” said Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino. Nassau Supervisor David Fleming explains the situation. “This treatment plant that was constructed under EPA authorization is pulling that groundwater back towards the landfill and then treating that groundwater to get the contaminants out and then discharge it into the Valatie Kill, which is a trout stream and a Hudson River watershed area,” said Fleming. “The levels that are being released from this water treatment facility are significantly higher than we’re comfortable with,” said Jimino. The proposed law would fine companies responsible for cleanup if water samples exceeded .35 parts per billion. The Rensselaer County legislature will vote on the proposal in November. Read the full story at the Spectrum website.
The Daily Freeman reports that the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Rondout is collecting oral histories of work and life on the Hudson River and the Rondout Creek. The museum has a few stories of local commercial fishermen so far but is looking for other voices. E-mail Carla Lesh, the museum’s assistant curator, at clesh@hrmm.org, or call at (845) 338-0071, ext. 21, to set up an interview.
Ray Raimundi reports for FiOS1 when the Indian Point nuclear power plant closes in four years, where the nuclear waste goes is a looming question. Congress is supposed to vote later this year on whether Yucca Mountain in southwest Nevada becomes a repository site where the spent fuel will be transported and entombed for hundreds of years. If that is approved, then the waste from the 40-year-old plant will have to get there, and the Department of Energy is considering loading the protected waste on a barge and shipping it down the Hudson River. From there, it would go to Jersey City, and take a train to Nevada. Read the full story at the FiOS1 website.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island have been between 62 and 67 degrees.
• Jorja Roman reports for Spectrum that the Rensselaer County Legislature is proposing a new law to regulate the amount of 1,4-Dioxane that can be discharged. In the town of Nassau, the Dewey Loeffel Landfill was a dump site in the 1950s and 1960s and was declared a superfund site in the 1980s. “We’re not going to sit and wait any longer for the state and federal government to take action on these carcinogens. We need to get them out and protect people’s health,” said Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino. Nassau Supervisor David Fleming explains the situation. “This treatment plant that was constructed under EPA authorization is pulling that groundwater back towards the landfill and then treating that groundwater to get the contaminants out and then discharge it into the Valatie Kill, which is a trout stream and a Hudson River watershed area,” said Fleming. “The levels that are being released from this water treatment facility are significantly higher than we’re comfortable with,” said Jimino. The proposed law would fine companies responsible for cleanup if water samples exceeded .35 parts per billion. The Rensselaer County legislature will vote on the proposal in November. Read the full story at the Spectrum website.
The Daily Freeman reports that the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Rondout is collecting oral histories of work and life on the Hudson River and the Rondout Creek. The museum has a few stories of local commercial fishermen so far but is looking for other voices. E-mail Carla Lesh, the museum’s assistant curator, at clesh@hrmm.org, or call at (845) 338-0071, ext. 21, to set up an interview.
Ray Raimundi reports for FiOS1 when the Indian Point nuclear power plant closes in four years, where the nuclear waste goes is a looming question. Congress is supposed to vote later this year on whether Yucca Mountain in southwest Nevada becomes a repository site where the spent fuel will be transported and entombed for hundreds of years. If that is approved, then the waste from the 40-year-old plant will have to get there, and the Department of Energy is considering loading the protected waste on a barge and shipping it down the Hudson River. From there, it would go to Jersey City, and take a train to Nevada. Read the full story at the FiOS1 website.