Consolidated Edison applies to the Federal Power Commission (FPC) for a license to construct a huge hydroelectric facility on Storm King Mountain.

Eastern Airlines pilot and writer Art Glowka and biologist Dominick Pirone visit Indian Point power plant and discover 10,000 dead fish entrained on the plant’s intake pipe screens.

Boyle testifies against Storm King, citing its projected fish kills and a study that shows that the Hudson Highlands is a critical spawning ground for Atlantic Coast striped bass.

The FPC grants Con Ed a license to build Storm King. Scenic Hudson and HRFA sue to reverse the decision in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. In December, the Court of Appeals reverses the FPC’s decision.

The first HRFA public meeting is held in Crotonville, NY under President Richie Garrett.

The FPC opens new hearings on Storm King, and HRFA joins Scenic Hudson as interveners.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is created requiring federal agencies to review the full environmental impacts of every major decision. 

HRFA investigates the Anaconda Wire and Copper Company in Hastings-on-Hudson which has dumped oil and solvents into the river for years.

HRFA membership now reaches 300.

The federal government passes the Clean Water Act which requires a water quality certification from the state for any federally licensed facility that discharges into a state’s water body. Any facility that discharges pollutants into surface waters must obtain a permit from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

HRFA starts a Riverkeeper program, appointing Tom Whyatt as the first Riverkeeper.

The Coastal Zone Management Act is passed, providing for the establishment of coastal zone management programs to protect estuaries and coastal waters.

High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are found in Hudson River fish. Since 1946, General Electric (GE) has dumped two million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson from its Fort Edward and Hudson Falls plants.

New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) begins an administrative enforcement proceeding against GE for illegally releasing PCBs from 1972-1975. HRFA, Clearwater and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) join as intervening parties. GE is found guilty of two of three charges and required to create a $7 million clean up fund, build pollution abatement facilities, and discontinue its PCB use by 1977.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires Hudson River power plants at Indian Point, Roseton, Bowline to install the “best technology available” (closed cycle cooling) to reduce their impacts on Hudson River fish. Their antiquated once-through cooling systems suck in river water and kill billions of fish in the process each year.

The DEC bans all recreational and commercial fishing (except for baitfish) in the upper Hudson from the Fort Edward Dam to the Federal Dam at Troy because of PCB contaminated fish. Hudson River commercial fishing is banned from Fort Edward to the Battery, with the exceptions of baitfish, Atlantic sturgeon over four feet, goldfish, and American shad.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is passed, establishing protocols for the safe disposal of toxic waste and making illegal any violations of these protocols.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. becomes Riverkeeper’s Chief Prosecuting Attorney.

HRFA notifies its intent to sue Exxon which is discharging polluted salt water ballast from its tankers into the Hudson, refilling its tanks with fresh water, bringing it back to Aruba to sell as drinking water, and being paid by the Aruba government. A settlement negotiated with HRFA, New York State and the U.S. Attorney orders Exxon to pay $1.5 million to New York State to establish the Hudson River Improvement Fund, and $500,000 to HRFA. Half the money is used to fund the Riverkeeper program.

Kennedy and HRFA bring charges against 16 major polluters of Quassaic Creek, which empties into the Hudson River near Newburgh. All the cases settle, netting Riverkeeper $200,000 which goes towards a Quassaic Creek Fund.       

DEC modifies its commercial fishing ban below Troy, but fishing of carp, white perch, striped bass, and American eel is still prohibited.

HRFA and Riverkeeper merge under the Riverkeeper name.

The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic is created under the direction of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., allowing third year-law students to practice law under Riverkeeper’s supervising attorneys.

Riverkeeper files a Clean Water Act’s citizens’ suit against Westchester County for violating a 1972 federal court order to phase out the Croton Landfill which has been leaching toxins into the Hudson River. The county settles, agrees to shut down the landfill and remediate the leachate, and restore the Croton Marsh.

The New York State Department of Health orders NYC to construct a filtration plant for the Catskill/Delaware watershed, a project which would cost the city $8 billion.

The Hudson River Settlement expires.

The Clean Water Act permits for Indian Point, Roseton and Bowline expire, but their automatic extension allows the three power plants to continue using their antiquated cooling systems until the permits are reevaluated.         

The National Alliance of River, Sound and Baykeepers based on the Riverkeeper model, is established under the leadership of John Cronin.

Riverkeeper wins a suit against New York City, filed because the city’s Tannersville sewage plant in the Catskills is a chronic polluter; and because the city dumps excessive chemical disinfectants into the Rondout Reservoir to deal with algae.

After a massive public education campaign, Riverkeeper helps negotiate and signs the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement which incorporates the concerns of the city, upstate watershed communities and environmentalists to provide for the protection of NYC’s watershed without the need for a filtration system and adopts the Watershed Rules and Regulations.        .

 Time Magazine dubs Kennedy and Cronin “Heroes for the Planet.”

 The Riverkeepers, by Kennedy and Cronin, is published by Scribner Books.

Riverkeeper and a coalition of environmental and fishing groups sue New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection for polluting Esopus Creek, a once-pristine trout stream in the Catskills section of the NYC watershed, in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Riverkeeper settles a lawsuit on behalf of a national coalition of environmental groups against the EPA, forcing agencies to promulgate regulations under 316(b) of the Clean Water Act which require industrial facility operators to employ the “best technology available” to “minimize adverse environmental impacts on....”.

Alex Matthiessen becomes the Hudson Riverkeeper and Executive Director of Riverkeeper.

John Lipscomb becomes Riverkeeper’s Boat Captain, patrolling the Hudson River from New York Harbor to Troy in search of polluters aboard the R. Ian Fletcher, a 36-foot wooden patrol and research vessel. Lipscomb logs 1000 engine hours or 6000 miles in his first year, establishing a full-time presence on the River.

Riverkeeper persuades the EPA to establish a 153-mile “No Discharge” zone on the Hudson, preventing boats from releasing treated and untreated sewage into the river.

DEC agrees to issue updated Clean Water Act permits for the Indian Point, Bowline, Roseton and Danskammer power plants.
                       
Riverkeeper and a coalition of environmental groups resolve differences with MBIA Insurance Corporation which proposed a development in the Kensico Reservoir watershed. Their agreement on a low-impact plan for the development safeguards water quality in the Kensico Reservoir.

Riverkeeper sues DEC and Dynegy, owner of the Danskammer Generating Facility in Newburgh, challenging DEC’s renewal of Danskammer’s Clean Water Act permit despite the fact that it has not complied with federal and state mandates to use the “best technology available” to avoid fish kills.

Riverkeeper urges the New York State Department of Transportation to rehabilitate the Tappan Zee Bridge instead of construct a new replacement bridge. A rehabilitated bridge would result in less damage to fish habitats in the Hudson River, long-term pollution from increased traffic, and sprawl development, than would a new expanded bridge.

February: The U.S. Supreme Court declines NYC’s appeal in the Esopus Creek case, a victory for Riverkeeper and the NYC watershed.           

March: Riverkeeper releases Sustainable Raindrops: Cleaning New York Harbor by Greening the Urban Landscape. The report examines how 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and stormwater discharge into New York Harbor each year due to combined sewage overflows (CSOs), and offers green solutions to the problem.

April: Entergy, owner/operator of Indian Point nuclear power plants, submits its relicensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20-year extension of its two reactors.

July: New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo files suit against ExxonMobil to force a cleanup of the Greenpoint oil spill.

September: Riverkeeper and other environmental groups help negotiate a compromise on the Belleayre Resorts at Catskill Park resulting in a modified development that will ensure protection of environmentally sensitive land and water quality in the NYC watershed.

November: Riverkeeper, the New York State Attorney General, and DEC file intervention papers to formally oppose Entergy’s relicensing application for Indian Point. Riverkeeper’s petition is based on Indian Point’s vulnerability to a terrorist attack, unworkable evacuation plan, history of safety violations and unplanned shutdowns, outdated cooling system that kills billions of fish, and radioactive leaks contaminating the groundwater and Hudson River.