Riverkeeper Submits Letter in Support of EPA’s Determination that the Lower Esopus Is Impaired

Riverkeeper Thanks Members for Their Broad Support

White Plains, NY – October 11, 2012 – In its ongoing efforts with fellow stakeholders to protect and promote the restoration of the Lower Esopus Creek, Riverkeeper and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic have submitted a letter in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) determination that the Lower Esopus Creek must be included on New York State’s impaired waters list. Such a listing would impose a legal obligation on New York State to take action to address turbidity levels in the Creek. Riverkeeper thanks its members who also submitted a total of 408 individual letters in support of EPA’s determination, as well as Lower Esopus communities, Ulster County, and the Lower Esopus Watershed Partnership, who submitted their own letters commenting on the importance of addressing the Creek’s impairment. Our combined efforts to support the listing of the Lower Esopus will hopefully lead the EPA to finalize its determination.

Riverkeeper will continue to advocate for the health of the Lower Esopus and support its partners in exhorting New York State and New York City to take a problem-solving approach to restore the Creek to the invaluable natural and community resource that it has been in the past.