Support Policy Solutions

For forty-plus years, Riverkeeper has been the Hudson Valley’s chief law enforcer when it comes to safeguarding our water and waterways. We work to strengthen the laws and regulations that impact New York’s water resources. We collaborate with coalitions and partners statewide on critical issues involving water pollution, clean energy, watershed preservation and more.

Since the mid-1960s, Riverkeeper has spearheaded policy initiatives that protect wetlands and habitat, improve nuclear oversight, increase and secure green funding, and encourage smart energy use and production in New York State. Because solid environmental policy is one of the best tools we have, we work hard to garner support for legislation created to protect our Hudson River, its tributaries, our watershed, wetlands and surrounding communities.

• Section 316b of the Clean Water Act

  Section 316b of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires power plants to use the best technology available to protect fish and other aquatic life. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cost-benefit analysis is not categorically forbidden by the Clean Water Act (CWA) provision governing cooling water intake structures, but also that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to decide not to engage in such analysis. The court, therefore, left it to the Obama-Jackson EPA to decide whether and how to compare costs to benefits when it issues a new regulation for existing power plants. Riverkeeper will monitor EPA’s drafting of a new rule to ensure that it adheres to the goals of the Clean Water Act, that America’s waterways are once again fishable and swimmable.

• Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007

  The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) of 2007(H.R.2421/S.1870) intends to reaffirm the goals of The Clean Water Act, which the Bushadministration narrowly interpreted to mean “navigable waters” only, putting all other waters, including precious wetlands, at risk. If passed, the act would amend the CWA by replacing the term “navigable waters” with “waters of the United States,” assuring the protection that Congress intended when it passed the CWA in 1972. Congress has been holding hearings, and on April 16, 2008, Hudson Riverkeeper and President Alex Matthiessen testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in support of the act.

• Clean Water National Trust Fund

  Federal funding for clean water and wastewater infrastructure has been decreasing for years, while our nation’s needs continue to increase. Clean water and wastewater infrastructure is of vital importance to our nation’s economic prosperity, public health and environmental integrity. Riverkeeper is an active participant in a broad-based coalition of local elected officials, drinking water and wastewater service providers, state environmental and health administrators, engineers and environmentalists throughout the nation in campaigning for the establishment of a national Clean Water Trust Fund.

  Riverkeeper strongly believes that the establishment of a national Clean Water Trust Fund is the only viable, long-term solution to fix our country’s failing, antiquated, and inadequate clean water infrastructure. However, until Congress enacts Clean Water Trust Fund legislation, Riverkeeper fully supports clean water legislative initiatives that increase and secure federal monies to improve our clean water infrastructure. While they by no means solve the myriad crises facing local communities across the country, these bills provide an interim solution to an ever-growing crisis.

• Environmental Access to Justice Act

  Environmental Access to Justice Act (A.1435/S.5182) would expand private citizens’ rights to sue over violations of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Currently, those rights are limited, but the Environmental Access to Justice Act would allow individuals to be litigants in such cases. The act overwhelmingly passed the New York State Assembly, and Riverkeeper urges the New York Senate to pass the bill.

• Ban on Gas Drilling in NYC Watershed

  Ban on Gas Drilling in NYC Watershed is critical, as oil and gas companies target the Marcellus Shale mineral reserve in the New York City Watershed for industrial gas drilling. Such drilling would wreak havoc on the environment, contaminating surface and groundwater supplies, and damaging the watershed. With these hazards in mind, Governor Paterson ordered the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to review the risks that gas drilling poses. DEC could exclude the New York City watershed from industrial gas drilling, a solution that Riverkeeper is fighting for.

• Clean Water Protection and Flood Prevention Act

  The Clean Water Protection and Flood Prevention Act (A.7133/S.3835) addresses a regulatory gap in New York’s Freshwater Wetlands Law, which currently only protects freshwater wetlands 12.4 acres or larger, or that DEC has designated as being of “unusual, local importance.” New York cannot afford to lose any more wetlands, which are critical to the health of its water supply and natural environment. If passed, the act would amend current state law, assuring state protection of wetlands as small as one acre. The NYS Assembly has twice passed A.7133, most recently in April 2008. The Senate version, S.3835, remains in committee.

• The New York State Environmental Protection Fund

  The NewYork State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) provides funding
  needed for state agencies, local governments and nonprofits to carry out environmental clean-up and restoration programs. New York State needs more than $1 billion annually for such efforts, including the Hudson River Estuary Program (HREP), which is working to clean and restore the Hudson, so the public may use and enjoy it. Riverkeeper is pushing for increased EPF funding to ensure the survival of successful environmental programs, which protect the environment and health of all New Yorkers.