Pollution Enforcement

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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For Immediate Release: September 24, 2009 Contact: Ramona Cearley 914-478-4501 x 235 [email protected] RIVERKEEPER SUPPORTS EPA’S PROPOSAL TO CONSIDER NEWTOWN CREEK FOR SUPERFUND STATUS Tarrytown, NY – Riverkeeper commends the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its announcement yesterday to propose listing Newtown Creek on the National Priorities List (NPL) as a potential Superfund site. Newtown Creek is a tributary of the Hudson and East Rivers, located between Brooklyn and Queens. Decades of industrial pollution and raw sewage overflows have rendered the Creek one of the most highly polluted waterways in […]

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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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