The group of more than 120 guests including Lorraine Bracco, John Lipton and Karim Abdul Jabar were treated to a brief environmentally focused program led by Joan and George Hornig, ardent Riverkeeper supporter Christie Brinkley, Hudson Riverkeeper and President Alex Matthiessen with special remarks by Van Jones, president Obama’s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the Council on Environmental Quality in the White House. Guests had the opportunity to explore environmental issues together during a Q&A session with Van before the evening wound down. A number of guests stayed on to enjoy further discussion and a sumptuous family style meal of organic, locally supplied trout, sea bass and duck.

Photo Courtesy Ann Watt

The idea behind the EcoSalon is to introduce the top environmental policy makers to thought leaders in the fields of politics, science, the arts, business and entertainment and to spend an evening sharing perspectives on many of our most challenging issues. Riverkeeper will host EcoSalons in Manhattan and Westchester during the holidays and winter months. Plan to join us at our next event.

Riverkeeper’s EcoSalon brings together top environmental policy makers with thought leaders in the fields of politics, science, the arts, business and entertainment for an evening of sharing perspectives on challenging issues.

Our special guest for this event will be Van Jones, who serves as Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Join your hosts Joan and George Hornig at their home in the Hampton’s with co-hosts Lorraine Bracco, Christie Brinkley, Hamilton Fish, Anne Hearst McInerney and Jay McInerney, Anne Jameson and Jay Eisenhofer, Mary and Sidney Lumet, Maria and Peter Matthiessen, Nicole Miller and Kim Taipale, Averell and Gigi Mortimer, Renee and Mark Rockefeller, Jeff Tannenbaum and other leading Riverkeeper supporters for this unique opportunity.

Your membership gift of $100 per reservation maintains Riverkeeper’s standing as New York’s leading clean water advocate. An intimate post-Salon dinner will take place with Van Jones and other distinguished guests for $1,000 per plate. Head table with Van Jones for $2,500 per plate.

Hamptons EcoSalon Invitation

More on Van Jones – Selling Americans on a ‘Green-Collar’ Economy

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He is one of the leading voices for combining economic development with environmental sustainability, and as Director of the Earth Institute leads large-scale efforts to promote the mitigation of human-induced climate change. In 2004 and 2005 he was named among the 100 most influential leaders in the world by Time Magazine. He is author of hundreds of scholarly articles and many books, including the New York Times bestseller Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.

Riverkeeper board chair Howard Rubin and his wife Susan of Pound Ridge will co-hosted the event with an host committee that includes prominent members of the community and board members – John and Tonina Abplanalp, Seema Boesky, Hamilton Fish, George and Joan Hornig, Lyn Leone, John and Catherine McGrath, Ilo Milstein, Glenn Pacchiana and Alina DiDonato, Jane Preiser, Jeff and Debbie Resnick, Mike and Veronica Richter, Steven and Kimberly Rockefeller and Martha Stewart.

This fall’s Westchester EcoSalon was the second of three such outreach events being held in the New York metropolitan area each year. The purpose of the EcoSalon is to bring thought leaders in the fields of environmentalism, politics, science, arts and entertainment together with our members and their guests to spend an evening discussing some of the leading issues of our time.

Riverkeeper presents Revelry – the 1st annual Masquerade Ball, a spectacular evening masquerade extravaganza of decadence and revelry which will take place on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at the historic Angel Orensanz Foundation. Celebrate Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day and life while dancing the night away and enjoying New Orleans cuisine and libations. Event will feature DJ RUCKUS. Plan to join us!

Download Invite

Ball Committee
Alex Matthiessen, Hudson Riverkeeper and President, Jed Alpert, Shannon Christmas, Susan Craig, Deborah Dawson, Andrea Garcia, Kate Hagerman, Hope Hall, Amanda Hearst, Mindy Huber, Diane Kwon, Jennifer Talbott, Adrienne S. McCord, Edward Moran, Kristie Pellecchia, Mary Righter, Theresa Salman, Jill Selby, Renee Smith, Lindsay Turner

Advance Tickets
Junior Krewe: $150 (35 and under, subject to verification)
River Krewe: $250
King/Queen Krewe: $300 (includes 1 year Riverkeeper “Friend” membership and entrance to 7pm VIP reception)
Revelry Krewe: $5,000 (10 event tickets with King/Queen Krewe benefits PLUS sponsor recognition package)

Attire: Festive Mask and Mardi Gras Chic
Who will be chosen as the Ball’s King and Queen?
Dress to win!

Sponsors Veev, Martha Clara Vineyards

For 20 years, Riverkeeper’s Shad Fest has been a celebration of the vast numbers of American shad that returned each year to the Hudson River to spawn. The shad run has been a welcome sign of spring, rebirth and renewal for thousands of years, since the Lenape Indians peopled the Hudson’s shores. Sadly, the shad population has declined in recent years to dangerously low levels and the focus of this year’s event is on saving the American shad and other signature fish which are similarly at risk.

Join Riverkeeper on Sunday, May 16, 2010, at Boscobel in Garrison, NY, in celebration of the American Shad and in the organization’s efforts to protect and restore this historic fishery.

Please check back for more information on ticket sales.

Our gala celebration on the Hudson River at Pier 60 will honor the environmental advocacy of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and HBO in classic Riverkeeper style.

Advance tickets and tables can be purchased online or by calling Event Associates at 212-245-6570 X23.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Fishermen’s Ball on April 14th!

Information and Reservations

Download Invite

There is limited booth space available, and the event will sell out again. Please contact its CEO Bradford Rand at (212) 655-4505 ext. 223 to secure your space. If you would like to purchase discounted tickets (only $10 instead of $25 at the door), use promo-code RIVERKEEPER at www.GoGreenExpo.com.

Riverkeeper looks forward to seeing you there!

Photo Courtesy Giles Ashford

As you know, Riverkeeper is currently fighting to prevent a license extension that would allow Indian Point to operate for an additional 20 years. To further support this work, last week, Riverkeeper submitted comments on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) proposal to “update” their environmental review procedures used during nuclear power plant license renewal proceedings, like that of Indian Point.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, or “NEPA,” the NRC is required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement during such proceedings, in which they assess all of the environmental impacts that would result if a plant were to be relicensed. This important tool is intended to help government regulators decide whether the environmental impacts caused by operating Indian Point for twenty more years would be so severe that relicensing could not be justified. As a result, it is critically important that this assessment be comprehensive and independent and include all impacts and the measures available to mitigate them. Since 1996, the NRC has largely relied upon a report which disposes of most relevant environmental concerns on a generic basis for all nuclear power plants. The NRC has used this Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or “GEIS,” to avoid having to analyze certain environmental impacts on a plant by plant basis during particular license renewal proceedings.

After years of unjustified delay, in Fall 2009, the NRC finally proposed changes to the report and asked for public comment. However, the so-called “updates” to the report are little more than window dressing, and do nothing to correct the fundamental flaws in the original report. Riverkeeper’s comments highlighted these failings and demanded that the NRC make significant revisions before finalizing the report. Riverkeeper’s critique included:

• Failure to fully address the environmental impacts of accidental radioactive water leaks from nuclear power plants. Despite the fact that 29 different nuclear plants have reported radioactive water leaks, the proposed GEIS update would still not require a site-specific assessment of the impacts of such leaks on the ecosystems surrounding nuclear power plants. Such an evaluation is especially necessary for Indian Point, given the plant’s impacts to the Hudson River and proximity to Haverstraw Bay, which is a critical habitat for many fish species.
• Continued refusal to consider the environmental impacts associated with the inability to carry out a successful emergency evacuation. The emergency plan for Indian Point is completely unworkable given the extremely high population density and traffic congestion of the region; and yet, the “updated” GEIS continues to ignore this issue, despite the obvious environmental consequences that would ensue in an emergency.
• Failure to assess the environmental impacts of spent fuel pool accidents or terrorist attacks. Even though recent research shows that the impacts of such scenarios would be catastrophic and far-ranging, the revised GEIS would continue to minimize such concerns, and not require any site-specific assessment during license renewal.
• Inadequate consideration of the impacts of nuclear waste storage. With no long-term disposal solution forthcoming any time soon, it is foreseeable that nuclear waste will be stored temporarily at nuclear plant sites for decades to come. And yet, the revised GEIS would continue to make one generic determination that the environmental impacts of such storage will always be small. Given the circumstances, and in light of leaking spent fuel pools at various reactor sites, such as Indian Point, a site-specific review at the time of license renewal is essential.

At Indian Point, an accurate assessment of all of the environmental impacts of continued operation would quickly demonstrate that license renewal is not appropriate. Riverkeeper’s comments, therefore, urged the NRC to revise the proposed GEIS update to better reflect site-specific realities facing nuclear power plants today.

Riverkeeper’s full comments.

We appreciate your continued support of Riverkeeper’s Indian Point campaign. I look forward to updating you on future developments, as we continue to mount our landmark legal challenge to the relicensing of Indian Point.

Sincerely,
Deborah Brancato

Learn More

This is a unique science/math/technology resource for K-12 teachers, students, the general public, and geoscientists. It is a collaboration among researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University; curriculum and technology integration specialists from Teachers College, Columbia University and Colégio Bandeirantes, São Paulo, Brasil; and classroom teachers from New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere.

E2C centers around “Saturday Workshops for Educators” held at Columbia’s Lamont Campus in Palisades N.Y. One key feature to E2C is involvement of LDEO scientists. Their availability through workshops, web site postings, and e-mail allow teachers and students access to cutting-edge research which can be used to develop learning activities directly linked to “real-world problems,” and provide scientists with an effective format to disseminate their discoveries more broadly. By the end of the current series, we will have provided 96 Workshops featuring 50 LDEO scientists.

For more information or to register visit the Earth2Class website. Pre-registration is required to gain entry on the campus.