Pollution Enforcement

With a new governor coming to Albany and the Obama administration expected to announce plans shortly for its America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative—leaders of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson today unveiled an action agenda for how a federal-state-local partnership with business and nongovernmental organizations could help restore the region’s economy and enhance its quality of life to attract green businesses and jobs.

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Riverkeeper has filed a legal petition forcing the EPA to take action on a rule that sets the standards for how toxic cement kiln dust (CKD) is managed by cement producers around the country. This byproduct of cement manufacturing is often dumped into unlined landfills, and old quarries, causing toxic leachate to foul ground and surface water. The proposed rule was published in 1999, but due to unyielding pressure from the cement industry, has languished for nearly 11 years. As a result, no federal standards for CKD disposal exist today.

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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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Conservation and environmental groups today called on Governor David Paterson to stop anticipated staff cuts at the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). According to sources at the DEC and the Division of Budget, 209 staff layoffs have been ordered by the end of the year.

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