Riverkeeper lights the Empire State Building in celebration of Its 50th anniversary
**MEDIA ALERT** MEDIA ALERT** MEDIA ALERT**
WHO: Hall of Fame New York Rangers Goalie Mike Richter, Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chief prosecuting attorney of Riverkeeper
WHAT: Mike Richter, Riverkeeper’s president Paul Gallay, and Riverkeeper’s chief prosecuting attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to “flip the switch” and make the world-famous Empire State Building’s tower lights shine in blue, green and dark blue in honor of Riverkeeper’s 50th Anniversary
WHERE: Empire State Building lobby
350 Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets
WHEN: Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Media Check-in: 11:30 am
Lighting Ceremony: 12:00 pm
DETAILS: Riverkeeper is celebrating its 50th year of protecting the Hudson River, its tributaries, and New York City’s drinking water.
CONTACT: Julianna Bilton, [email protected] (212) 642-7762 (RSVP Required)
Cliff Weathers, [email protected] (914) 478-4501 ext. 239 (RSVP Required)
About Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper traces its origins back to March 1966, when a small group of recreational and commercial fishermen, concerned citizens and scientists gathered at a Westchester County American Legion Hall with the intent to reverse the decline of the Hudson River. They organized as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, and dedicated themselves to tracking down the river’s polluters and bringing them to justice. Right from the start, the grassroots actions taken by the HRFA went against convention. While other organizations sought environmental justice through protests and civil disobedience, the HRFA sought to protect the Hudson through advocacy, science and the law. At the group’s core was a belief that everyday people should be able to defend our public resources from maltreatment and damage. The Fishermen’s actions to protect the water demonstrated that ordinary citizens had legal standing in protecting our natural resources. A long string of legal victories — which provided the HRFA with bounties for turning in polluters — funded the creation of the Riverkeeper program in 1983. Three years later, HRFA merged with Riverkeeper to form one group to protect the river. Since then, Riverkeeper has brought hundreds of polluters to justice and forced them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars remediating the Hudson. Over its long history, Riverkeeper has worked to restore the river from harmful PCBs, sought to protect aquatic life from pollution and ill-considered development, and has worked to close the aging, troublesome Indian Point nuclear power plant on the banks of the Hudson. Today Riverkeeper fights with thousands of citizen scientists and activists to reclaim the Hudson and ensure that over 9 million New Yorkers have clean, safe drinking water. The result: Pollution levels are down, and swimming and boating are back. Riverkeeper inspired the worldwide waterkeeper movement protecting tens of thousands of miles of rivers and coastlines on six continents.
About the Empire State Building
Soaring 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan (from base to antenna), the Empire State Building, owned by Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., is the “World’s Most Famous Building.” With new investments in energy efficiency, infrastructure, public areas and amenities, the Empire State Building has attracted first-rate tenants in a diverse array of industries from around the world. The skyscraper’s robust broadcasting technology supports all major television and FM radio stations in the New York metropolitan market. The Empire State Building was named America’s favorite building in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects, and the Empire State Building Observatory is one of the world’s most beloved attractions as the region’s #1 tourist destination. For more information on the Empire State Building, please visit www.empirestatebuilding.com, www.facebook.com/empirestatebuilding, @EmpireStateBldg, www.instagram.com/empirestatebldg, www.youtube.com/esbnyc or www.pinterest.com/empirestatebldg/.
About Empire State Realty Trust
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area, including the Empire State Building, the world’s most famous building. Headquartered in New York, New York, the Company’s office and retail portfolio covers 10.1 million rentable square feet, as of September 30, 2015, consisting of 9.4 million rentable square feet in 14 office properties, including nine in Manhattan, three in Fairfield County, Connecticut and two in Westchester County, New York; and approximately 724,000 rentable square feet in the retail portfolio.
