SPRING 2006 Looking Back, Forging Ahead Riverkeeper Celebrates 40 Years Board of Directors DEAR FRIENDS OF RIVERKEEPER, George Hornig, Chair 2006 marks 40 years since a group of blue-collar men and women Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Vice Chair Dr. Howard A. Rubin, Treasurer gathered in Crotonville and launched what was to become one of the Peggy Cullen, Secretary Richard R. Knabel, Executive Committee most effective models of environmental advocacy in the history of the John McEnroe, Executive Committee John Abplanalp movement. In leading the fight to reclaim the storied Hudson, Riverkeeper Doni Belau Lorraine Bracco has inspired the addition of 154 other “waterkeepers” patrolling their Ann Colley Hamilton Fish local rivers, lakes and coasts across the globe. Robert Gabrielson Anne Hearst Here at home, Riverkeeper is going strong, waging epic battles against Karen Kelly Klopp Alex Matthiessen giants like Entergy, GE and ExxonMobil who share a common strategy Dennis Rivera of spending more money trying to deceive the public than on redressing Seymour Schwartz Ronald A. DeSilva, Emeritus their assaults on the environment. We’re tackling dozens of other cases where more modest polluters Arthur Glowka, Emeritus Henry Lewis Kingsley, Emeritus are taking a serious collective toll on our environment and health. Recently, we learned that as much Staff as 36% of private drinking water wells in Putnam, Dutchess, and Columbia counties are contaminated ALEX MATTHIESSEN Hudson Riverkeeper with pollutants that exceed EPA federal standards! & President In this issue, we highlight some of the work we’re doing to protect our drinking water supply – ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR. Chief Prosecuting Attorney in this case not by confronting polluters, but by working with legislators, municipalities, community DARCY CASTELEIRO Indian Point Associate groups, and even developers to try to promote positive approaches to protecting water quality. This is ALLISON CHAMBERLAIN a natural consequence of our partnerships with citizen activists who in many instances have been Development Assistant GWENDOLYN CHAMBERS blazing the trail in addressing local threats to the watershed. Membership Communications Officer Riverkeeper is gearing up for the brewing regional debate over the future of the Tappan Zee Bridge. TARA D’ANDREA Grants Officer We recently announced our support for rehabilitating the existing bridge as opposed to replacing the MARIANNE GARDINER Director of Development current 7-lane structure with a 12-lane behemoth that would destroy striped bass and short-nosed LEILA GOLDMARK sturgeon habitat, exacerbate air quality problems, induce rampant sprawl in the Valley, and create Staff Attorney ROBERT GOLDSTEIN traffic jams from Suffern to New York City. To shuttle commuters to New York City from points west Senior Attorney/ Hudson River Program Director of the River, we support the Hudson River tunnel project which would allow a one-seat ride for ROSE MARIE GRANDE Orange and Rockland county residents. We are identifying proponents of the “bridge rehab” Administrative Assistant JOHN LIPSCOMB alternative and organizing a coalition to push aggressively for it. Boat Captain On the Indian Point front, there is a great deal of positive news. Entergy, the plant’s owner and STELLA LIROSI Operations Manager operator, has joined the foul ranks of a number of U.S. nuclear companies who have known about – PHILLIP MUSEGAAS Indian Point Policy Analyst and tried to hide – the discovery of tritiated (radioactive) water leaking from their aging spent fuel MARY BETH POSTMAN storage systems. In this case, tritium and the more dangerous Strontium 90 are leaking into the site’s Executive Assistant to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. groundwater and into the Hudson, sparking ever more outrage from local elected officials. LISA RAINWATER VAN SUNTUM Indian Point Campaign Director We are pleased to report that, as of this writing, Senator Clinton and U.S. Representatives Maurice LAURA SEDLAK Hinchey and Sue Kelly are leading a bi-partisan effort to secure a commitment from the Nuclear Assistant to the President BASIL SEGGOS Regulatory Commission to conduct an independent comprehensive review of Indian Point’s safety Chief Investigator systems and emergency plans. A similar review, known as an Independent Safety Assessment (ISA), led VICTOR TAFUR Staff Attorney to the shutdown of the Maine Yankee plant in 1996. Whatever one’s views about Indian Point’s ulti- TERESA WALSH Events Coordinator mate fate, there is universal agreement that we should have a clear idea of the plant’s actual condition BILL WEGNER before the NRC considers whether it makes sense to grant the facility a license to operate for another Watershed Analyst SABRINA WELLS 20 years. A truly honest look can only lead to Indian Point’s early retirement. Watchdog Program Coordinator We close this issue with a week-in-the-life of Riverkeeper’s intrepid boat captain, John Lipscomb CHRISTOPHER M. WILDE Staff Attorney/Watershed Program Director and a profile of Riverkeeper’s Unsung Hero, an anonymous EPA staffer who blew the whistle on the EPA’s collusion with General Electric to try to avoid a comprehensive PCB cleanup. We are especially ® proud to tell her/his story for we all know that without the courage of whistleblowers the republic KIM BARRON Graphic Designer may have gone down in flames long ago. © RIVERKEEPER 2006. READERS’ LETTERS & COMMENTS WELCOME. As always, I am grateful and indebted to you, our members, who sustain us . RIVERKEEPER IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK AND SERVICE MARK OF RIVERKEEPER, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. — Alex Matthiessen, Hudson Riverkeeper & President PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER, NATURALLY Riverkeeper is the official publication of Riverkeeper, Inc., an independent, member-supported environmental organization. Founded in 1966 by fishermen and community members to confront polluters for control of the Hudson River, Riverkeeper has investigated and successfully prosecuted more than 300 environmental lawbreakers and has guided the establishment of 153 Waterkeeper programs across the nation and beyond. Riverkeeper is a registered trademark and service mark of Riverkeeper, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 Letter from The Hudson Riverkeeper. 4 > Watershed News. Proactive Policy Leads Source Water Protection. Watershed Development Projects Update. Expanding the New York City Watershed Leaf Pack Network. < 9 Looking Back, Forging Ahead. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recounts our beginnings and interviews Hudson Riverkeeper Alex Matthiessen about our future. 15 < Watchdog Program. Get on Board. E 17 Indian Point Features. E Radioactive Leak Mystery Continues. New Emergency Sirens by January 2007. Wind Energy. Remembering Chornobyl. Grassroots Activism. Federal Indian Point Legislation. F 25 Currents. Patrol Boat Log: December Patrol. > Hotline Calls. 28 The Docket. 29 A Bridge to Nowhere. > 30 Member News. F 31 Unsung Hero. < Proactive Policies Protect Water At It’s Source BY LEILA GOLDMARK Efforts to expand wetland life in the East-of-Hudson Riverkeeper has built its buffer widths in local ordi- watershed and throughout the reputation on being a strong nances have met with success Hudson Valley. Here, our over- s enforcer of environmental laws in several East-of-Hudson arching solution to sprawl is to and winning precedent-setting municipalities, and similar achieve a large-scale shift in w litigation to protect the Hudson expansions currently are being the development paradigm in River and the New York City considered in several more. the watershed. We want to e watershed. While the Watershed For the third year, New York’s promote and invite the type Team will always bring hard- Clean Water Protection/Flood of planning and growth that n hitting lawsuits when necessary, Prevention Act has passed in enhances communities and we are focusing increasing ener- the State Assembly but awaits local economies while protect- d gy on proactive programs that action in the Senate. The federal ing critical natural resources. will achieve systemic, long-term Clean Water Authority Restor- Our first step involved an e protection of NYC watershed ation Act gains support in education campaign highlight- h drinking water supplies at their Congress (with strong support ing the variety of impacts of source. We are working cre- from New York representatives), sprawl. Last year, we published s atively, crafting new partner- but lacks the numbers needed Pave It?... Or Save It? r ships, and increasing outreach for passage. Volume 1: The Environmental, e and education to local and A complex legislative cam- Economic and Social Impacts t regional officials, town planners, paign involves drafting strong of Sprawl. Designed in a fact- business owners, environmental legislation, enlisting bill spon- sheet style, our aim was to a organizations, and citizens. By sors, and persistent lobbying. educate the public and local working together to implement To move legislators, strategic decisionmakers and arm them w proactive policies we can prevent grassroots campaigns – includ- with the data and references pollution before it becomes a ing letter writing, petitions, they need to better understand problem we can’t ignore. demonstrations, and media the growing threats that nega- A variety of tools can be coverage – must demonstrate tively impact our lives. We Watershed news used to achieve different policy the overwhelming and wide- gave numerous presentations is an update of Riverkeeper’s objectives, from passing legisla- spread support of the public. to town boards,