Riverkeeper Inc

Riverkeeper’s patrol boat “R. Ian Fletcher” maintains a near constant presence on the Hudson River and its major tributaries between March and November each year, patrolling NY Harbor, the Hudson estuary, the Mohawk and Upper Hudson each month and logging between 5 and 6,000 miles. The vessel has been modified to enable it to best serve its mission as a pollution watchdog vessel, a platform for scientific research and an ambassador for the river.

While conducting regular pollution and water sampling patrols we provide support for scientific studies that advance understanding of the Hudson ecosystem, support Riverkeeper's water quality monitoring program and bring local, federal and regional decision-makers, environmental enforcement agencies, academics, the media, and community stakeholders out to gain new perspectives from the water. On these trips, Captain Lipscomb shares his deep knowledge of the river -- its wildlife, critical habitat zones, pollution sources and water quality management issues. The boat program is critical to Riverkeeper’s work and it’s role is unique on the Hudson River. In 2016, we commissioned and launched a second vessel, a 20’ outboard. This vessel not only allows us to respond swiftly to emergencies but also allows us to work in hard to access areas and locations which the larger Fletcher cannot reach due to height or draft restrictions.

Some of our work in fiscal year 2016 includes:

- Following our successful campaign to remove a barrier to spawning fish on the Wynantskill in Troy we funded a new position at Riverkeeper for a “Restoration Coordinator” and have worked to secure funding for further barrier removal and a film highlighting the ecological benefits to barrier removal in the Hudson Valley.

- Identified three more foam-leaking abandoned barges in the East River for removal.

- Documented thousands of dead bunker in Flushing Bay and used our water quality data to pressure DEP to acknowledge CSO releases in the area were a major contributor.

- Hosted a tech startup for three days in NYC and upriver to produce the first high resolution “Street View” style imaging of the shoreline. This is a pilot project for what we hope will result in full river imaging.

- Documented and reported dozens of pollution cases and CWA violations with legal partners. Initiated cases resulting in corrective action and environmental benefit funding.

- Following an industry request to designate 43 new anchorages for commercial vessels on the Hudson, boat program helped raise critical awareness about the proposal resulting in an unprecedented 10,000 public comments and has since used its contacts on the river to engage specially qualified stakeholders to participate alongside Capt. Lipscomb at USCG’s upcoming Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment, which will address the anchorage question through a broad analysis of navigation safety.

- Continued to attend USCG Area Committee and RRT meetings as a stakeholder, successfully influencing updates to response planning documents used by USCG, DEC, EPA, FWS, NOAA and others.

- Partnered with citizens and municipalities in ongoing opposition to expansion plans at the Port of Coeymans and the Colonie Landfill on the Mohawk.

- Monitored and reported pollution and endangered sturgeon deaths at or near the site of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project.

- Responded and documented conditions following Con Ed’s 34,000 gallon transformer oil spill in the East River in 2017.

- Along with researchers from Columbia University, conducted a survey employing cutting-edge equipment to identify specific hazardous compounds associated with microplastic pollution, which we hope will spur regulations protective of health and the environment.

- Sampled for EPA for fecal indicator/DNA/Sucralose in order to track the specific sources of fecal contamination in the Hudson.

Riverkeeper’s Water Quality Program focuses on coordinating community science to gather water quality data from the Hudson River and its tributaries, engaging grassroots and community-level partners in the protection of water resources, advocating for pollution reduction projects and programs locally and statewide, and advocating for protecting water - particularly drinking water - at its source through effective watershed management.

While not exhaustive, these accomplishments demonstrate some of the impact of our work in fiscal year 2016:

- Gathered over 4,750 samples from more than 440 locations, working with more than 170 individuals and more than 75 partner organizations. Most data is reported publicly at riverkeeper.org - via an interactive map that was expanded in this fiscal year - and/or compiled in reports, including a series of 10 new reports on water quality in tributaries of the Hudson River.

- Advocated for the $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which was approved in 2017, and reflects Riverkeeper priorities, including wastewater infrastructure grants and drinking source water protection programs.

- Advocated on behalf of the City of Newburgh, which faces a drinking water crisis after the discovery of toxic water contamination in its primary reservoir. Our work has resulted in or helped to result in government commitments to investigate and remediate the source of contamination, to test blood to determine exposure levels, and to advance long-term protections for the city’s water supply through a watershed-based approach.

- Developed a Drinking Source Water Protection Scorecard, as a tool communities can use to audit their drinking water protection programs.

- Fostered the success of the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance to focus on a large tributary of the Hudson River, including expanded monitoring for Harmful Algal Blooms and their precursors, engagement of state-level investment of resources in monitoring and restoration, and public enjoyment of the river via public paddles.