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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Sep 08, 2017 11:45 pm
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 68 and 72 degrees.
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The Albany Times Union reports that state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said Aug. 29 that despite the Environmental Protection Agency no longer cleaning PCBs out of the Hudson River, his office will continue testing. The DEC has spent $2 million gathering about 1,600 water samples this summer from Troy to Fort Edward. Done cleaning, the EPA is currently deciding whether to issue a "certificate of completion" for the Hudson River cleanup, likely lifting any future liability from the source of the PCBs, General Electric. "EPA has failed New York state," said Seggos, "But they still have a chance to get it right." GE's seven-year dredging of a 40-mile section of the Hudson River ended in 2015. Seggos said the DEC does not have results yet from this summer's testing. The EPA predicted earlier in the year that fish from the Hudson would not be safe for regular consumption for 55 years. "EPA has decided, for some reason, to protect GE and not the Hudson River," said Richard Webster, legal director of Riverkeeper. "We don't want to have to fight for a clean Hudson for another 40 years." Read the full story in The Albany Times Union.
• Leonard Sparks in the Record Online reports that U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney included in an amendment in a spending bill that passed the House Sept. 6 that will block the U.S. Coast Guard from setting up anchorage sites for large barges on the Hudson River any time soon. In June, after much public and government opposition, the Coast Guard announced that it was “suspending” action on a proposal to set up ten Hudson River anchorage sites. “Just in case anyone gets any bright ideas, this is one more way to make sure that stupid proposal stays dead and buried,” Maloney said. The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2018 heads to the Senate with Maloney's amendment, and, if passed into law, would make it impossible to establish anchorage sites on the Hudson River prior to Oct. 1, 2018. Read the full story in the Record Online.
• Lorraine Chow at Eco Watch reports that new research published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin claims the Hudson River could be dumping about 300 million clothing fibers into the Atlantic Ocean per day. Researchers collected 142 water samples from the Hudson River and found close to one microfiber per liter. Half were plastic microfibers and half were non-plastic microfibers, such as cotton or wool. Laundering clothes leads to microfibers in the water supply. "There was no pattern across the whole Hudson River—from Lake Tear of the Clouds, an alpine remote beauty, down to the heaving, thriving Manhattan," Rachael Miller, a co-author on the study, told PBS. "It was a real surprise." Read the full story at Eco Watch.
• The City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility released a "combined sewer overflow" of 200 gallons per minute for 12 hours Sept. 6. On Sept. 3, there was a six-hour release at 200 gallons per minute.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island have been between 68 and 72 degrees.
•
DEC Commissioner Seggos Q&A on Hudson River cleanup https://t.co/1np9LXn0y8
— New York NOW (@NYNOW_PBS) August 30, 2017
The Albany Times Union reports that state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said Aug. 29 that despite the Environmental Protection Agency no longer cleaning PCBs out of the Hudson River, his office will continue testing. The DEC has spent $2 million gathering about 1,600 water samples this summer from Troy to Fort Edward. Done cleaning, the EPA is currently deciding whether to issue a "certificate of completion" for the Hudson River cleanup, likely lifting any future liability from the source of the PCBs, General Electric. "EPA has failed New York state," said Seggos, "But they still have a chance to get it right." GE's seven-year dredging of a 40-mile section of the Hudson River ended in 2015. Seggos said the DEC does not have results yet from this summer's testing. The EPA predicted earlier in the year that fish from the Hudson would not be safe for regular consumption for 55 years. "EPA has decided, for some reason, to protect GE and not the Hudson River," said Richard Webster, legal director of Riverkeeper. "We don't want to have to fight for a clean Hudson for another 40 years." Read the full story in The Albany Times Union.
• Leonard Sparks in the Record Online reports that U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney included in an amendment in a spending bill that passed the House Sept. 6 that will block the U.S. Coast Guard from setting up anchorage sites for large barges on the Hudson River any time soon. In June, after much public and government opposition, the Coast Guard announced that it was “suspending” action on a proposal to set up ten Hudson River anchorage sites. “Just in case anyone gets any bright ideas, this is one more way to make sure that stupid proposal stays dead and buried,” Maloney said. The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2018 heads to the Senate with Maloney's amendment, and, if passed into law, would make it impossible to establish anchorage sites on the Hudson River prior to Oct. 1, 2018. Read the full story in the Record Online.
• Lorraine Chow at Eco Watch reports that new research published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin claims the Hudson River could be dumping about 300 million clothing fibers into the Atlantic Ocean per day. Researchers collected 142 water samples from the Hudson River and found close to one microfiber per liter. Half were plastic microfibers and half were non-plastic microfibers, such as cotton or wool. Laundering clothes leads to microfibers in the water supply. "There was no pattern across the whole Hudson River—from Lake Tear of the Clouds, an alpine remote beauty, down to the heaving, thriving Manhattan," Rachael Miller, a co-author on the study, told PBS. "It was a real surprise." Read the full story at Eco Watch.
• The City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility released a "combined sewer overflow" of 200 gallons per minute for 12 hours Sept. 6. On Sept. 3, there was a six-hour release at 200 gallons per minute.