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Power Plant Cases

Danskammer Power Plant

There are four existing power plants on the Hudson River that continue to rely on 1950s era cooling technology, once-through cooling. In these antiquated cooling systems, water is drawn from the Hudson River, absorbs heat, and is then discharged back into the river at an elevated temperature. This technology requires billions of gallons of river water each day, and needlessly kills billions of fish that are impinged on the plants’ intake screens or entrained when drawn through the cooling systems.

After a decade of bureaucratic delay, Riverkeeper won the opportunity to compel four once-through cooled Hudson River power plants – Indian Point, Roseton, Bowline, and Danskammer – to modernize their antiquated intakes, which collectively withdraw one trillion gallons per year.

Our ongoing battle with these four power plants traces back to the historic Storm King Mountain controversy and the global settlement that became known as the Hudson River Settlement Agreement (HRSA). Under the 1980 Settlement, Con Ed agreed to abandon its Storm King project in exchange for the environmentalists’ agreement to not immediately force the utilities to use closed-cycle cooling which would eliminate 95% of the fish kills.

That agreement expired in 1991, allowing interested groups such as Riverkeeper to take up this important cause once more.

  • History of the battle to stop fish killsHudson River Settlement Agreement

  • The Urgent Need to Update Cooling SystemsPower Plant Fish Kills

  • Permitted to PolluteHudson River Power Plants

  • Towards a Smarter Energy FutureReenergize New York

  • Enforcing the Clean Water ActRiverkeeper’s Federal Action

  • History of the battle to stop fish killsHudson River Settlement Agreement

  • The Urgent Need to Update Cooling SystemsPower Plant Fish Kills

  • Permitted to PolluteHudson River Power Plants

  • Towards a Smarter Energy FutureReenergize New York

  • Enforcing the Clean Water ActRiverkeeper's Federal Action

Tell Gov. Hochul to block invasive species at the Erie and Champlain canals
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