What We’ve Done Together

During the holiday season, Riverkeeper is especially grateful for our members continued support and generosity.

It is a time when we can reflect on the great strides we have made in partnership with our members and community stakeholders who depend on us to protect the Hudson River and ensure a safe supply of drinking water for 9 million New Yorkers. While the economy has begun to show promising signs of recovery, Riverkeeper continues to approach our important work with prudent decision-making. You can be as confident as ever that an investment in Riverkeeper is an investment in a lean, efficient and highly effective advocate for the water resources we value and depend on.

Here are highlights of what we’ve been able to achieve this year, thanks to your support:

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  Photo Courtesy WVSORO.org

  Industrial Gas Drilling – In July 2008, Riverkeeper was the first to declare the NYC Watershed off limits to the oil and gas companies that are snatching up leases across New York State in order to exploit the rich natural gas deposits of the Marcellus Shale. While we recognize that natural gas is a necessary “bridge fuel” to help the U.S. make the transition from the dirty fossil fuel age to a renewable energy future, Riverkeeper is calling on New York State to issue strict regulations wherever gas drilling is allowed and to ban drilling outright in sensitive water supply areas, starting with the NYC Watershed. The gas industries hydraulic fracturing is the biggest threat to the drinking water for half of New York State’s residents. With your support, we will soon win a permanent ban on Watershed drilling. Learn More
• PCB Dredging – After years of delay, Phase I of the GE PCB Hudson clean-up – which Riverkeeper was instrumental in bringing about – has been completed. As of the end of October, dredging crews had removed 264,100 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the river. Overall, Phase I of the cleanup went well. After the EPA, GE, and groups like Riverkeeper evaluate the first year of dredging, Phase II – which will remove the remaining 90% of targeted PCBs – will begin in the spring of 2011. Riverkeeper is closely monitoring the process and is also participating in a lawsuit to defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s legal authority to order General Electric to complete clean-up. Learn More
• Indian Point Campaign –
  

  Photo Courtesy Giles Ashford

  Once again, Riverkeeper is at a defining moment in our battle to retire the Indian Point nuclear power plant. We have used our legal and technical expertise to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a public, formal hearing in 2010 on Indian Point’s relicensing. Riverkeeper will use the upcoming hearing to present our case on the safety and environmental risks of Indian Point’s operation, including leaking nuclear waste pools and deteriorating reactor components and cooling pipes. In partnership with the New York Attorney General’s office, we have put together the strongest and most complex legal challenge to a nuclear power plant relicensing yet. In addition, we are teaming up with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation in state court to require Indian Point’s owner, Entergy, to end its use of billions of gallons of Hudson River water to cool the reactors, a process that is contributing to the decline of key Hudson River fish populations. In both these cases, we will pursue every legal and political means available to retire this dangerous plant once and for all. Learn More
• Gowanus Canal –
  

  Photo Credit: John Lipscomb

  On September 16, 2009 Riverkeeper announced the beginning of an enforcement campaign targeted at environmental law breakers on the highly polluted Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The Gowanus Canal has suffered from over 150 years of virtually unregulated industrial use, and as a result is one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation. Riverkeeper has also been a vocal supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to propose the Canal as a federal Superfund site and filed legal comments in support of this nomination. Riverkeeper’s work on the Gowanus Canal includes regular boat patrols, scientific testing of water quality, working with community leaders and elected officials to support efforts to clean the Canal, and partnerships aimed at coordinating surveillance and enforcement efforts on the Canal, Newtown Creek, and other New York City waterways. In the first wave of enforcement actions targeted at Canal polluters, Riverkeeper filed Notices of Intent to Sue against three businesses, and issued a warning to a City owned property, for violating the Clean Water Act and other federal environmental laws. Learn More
• Membership Makes the Movement! – Riverkeeper has taken a hard look at the many lessons provided by the economic crisis of the past year and is making adjustments to our fundraising program to make sure we are financially secure for the future. To that end, we are embarking on a major campaign to build our membership base by using smart messaging and good old fashioned grassroots organizing to make sure that everyone who cares about clean water is a Riverkeeper member. But to achieve those goals, we need our existing members who already know how important Riverkeeper is, to help us go out and recruit new supporters. The best kind of member is the one who makes a sustaining gift, in which an amount is charged to their credit card each month. It’s a sustainable way to give and gives us a reliable stream of funding to underwrite our work. To help you help us recruit new foot soldiers to the movement, Riverkeeper’s board of directors has pledged $50,000 to match new membership gifts. We’ve also expanded our Riverkeeper Rewards to include family tickets for Shadfest and offer opportunities to further engage with the movement. So, please consider adding to your annual financial gift the gift of helping us recruit more members like you. With a membership of 20,000 behind us, we will have the financial security and political might to focus on the fights ahead of us and our campaign to make the Hudson River Valley a model for clean water protection.

When deciding your year-end gift for Riverkeeper, we encourage you to consider the full impact you can have on the environment and your fellow New Yorkers.

• your gift of $5 per month – $60 for the year – will help protect 4,350,000 gallons of drinking water for New York City
• $25 a month – $300 for the year – will fund 6 watchdog boat patrols along the shamefully polluted Gowanus Canal.

Whatever your means, your monthly installments or one-time gift make you an important partner to us in fulfilling our clean water mission.

We are proud of our accomplishments in 2009. Despite the economic challenges, Riverkeeper was able to maintain our capacity to combat threats to your right to a clean Hudson and to safe, high quality, affordable drinking water for NYC. But our work is far from done. We need your support in order to maintain our vigilance and confront polluters wherever they appear. Join our Movement today by donating online, or calling (914) 478-4501, ext. 232 to speak with our membership manager personally.

Thank you for being a committed partner in our work. We wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and New Year filled with happiness and good health.

Warm regards,

Alex Matthiessen


Hudson Riverkeeper and President

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.


Chief Prosecuting Attorney and Co-chair