Pollution Enforcement - Latest Developments

On Wednesday, October 13th, Andy Hudak, a Yonkers resident and kayaker, was walking along the Saw Mill River when he noticed a heavy flow of foul smelling water rushing into the river from an overflow pipe in the river embankment. The pipe, situated about a quarter mile from where the Saw Mill flows into the Hudson River, is normally dry.

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Riverkeeper lent its support to the new green infrastructure plan unveiled at a press conference held by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway. The new plan, called NYC Green Infrastructure, will replace the existing approach for sewer overflow control, which relies solely on traditional investments like holding tanks and tunnels, with a mix of green infrastructure and cost-effective traditional infrastructure that will reduce sewer overflows into waterways by 40 percent by 2030 by capturing more stormwater.

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Tarrytown, NY – April 21, 2010 – Riverkeeper has filed two Notices of Intent to Sue for Clean Water Act (CWA) violations against the City of Beacon, New York and Village of Goshen, New York. These actions are part of Riverkeeper’s broader campaign to protect water quality in the Hudson River and its tributaries.

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Regular waterborne patrols of the Hudson River and its tributaries are at the core of Riverkeeper’s mission as New York’s leading clean water advocate. With vigilance and a watchful eye, Riverkeeper has been tracking down environmental law breakers and bringing polluters to justice for over 40 years. Several times each year, Riverkeeper’s boat presence is enhanced by aerial patrols, enabling our investigative team to gather evidence for important cases and campaigns; seeing behind walls and fences to view new evidence of illegal activity or subtle changes that are often undetectable […]

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Letter to the Editor: (As it appeared in the NY Times on September 19) Re “Clean Water Laws Neglected, at a Cost,” “Toxic Waters” series, NY Times, front page, Sept. 13): Kudos to The Times for publishing a thorough — and thoroughly troubling — article on government’s longstanding failure to adequately enforce our nation’s clean water laws. Though New York ranks a dismal 30th in Clean Water Act enforcement, Gov. David A. Paterson apparently thinks that New York’s enforcement program is too tough. His recently issued Executive Order 25 invites […]

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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, New York. In the first wave of enforcement actions targeted at Canal polluters, Riverkeeper filed Notices of Intent to Sue against: 6th Street Iron and Metal, a scrap yard, for dumping metal, and debris into the Canal. Ferrara Brothers Building Materials Corp, a cement plant discharging liquid cement and stone into the Canal. 107 Sixth Street LLC and 36-2nd-J Corp., for operating an open dump […]

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August 25, 2009, while conducting a routine patrol of the Hudson River and conducting water quality sampling near Troy, NY, Riverkeeper observed a gray discharge with a strong sewage odor coming from a combined sewer overflow (CSO) pipe located between the Green Island and Congress Street Bridges in Troy. Water quality tests conducted by Riverkeeper revealed extremely high levels of Enterococcus, an indicator of raw sewage. On this date there had been no rain locally in more than 24 hours. A legacy of 19th century municipal engineering, CSOs occur mostly […]

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August 20, 2009, while conducting a routine patrol of Newtown Creek and conducting water quality sampling, Riverkeeper observed shredded glass, plastic, and other debris falling into the creek from a barge located in front of Sims Metal Management in Long Island City. Riverkeeper alerted the New York State DEC and issued a warning letter to Sims pointing out that such discharges are illegal under the federal Clean Water Act. While not a formal “notice of intent to sue” this letter informed Sims that this type of activity is unacceptable and […]

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On May 19, Riverkeeper served the Accord Speedway with a notice of its intent to sue for violating the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by polluting a nearby stream and connected wetlands with turbid water. Riverkeeper believes the water contains pesticides, anti-freeze, oil, grease and other petroleum products.

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