News - Press Releases

Re-posted from Rensselaer Environmental Coalition. For immediate release: August 12, 2020 Contact: David Ellis, Chairman, Rensselaer Environmental Coalition [email protected] On November 26, 2019, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent a letter to outgoing Rensselaer Mayor, Rich Mooney stating that the DEC “has grave concerns regarding what appears from a review of the SEQRA record for this Project to be a wrongfully abbreviated environmental impact assessment that the City of Rensselaer undertook.” In March 2018, Rensselaer Resource Recovery LLC, applied to the Rensselaer City Planning Commission for approval […]

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Riverkeeper issues the following statement from its President, Paul Gallay:  “We are deeply disappointed with the Cuomo Administration’s decision to pull the Restore Mother Nature Bond Act from the November ballot. This Bond Act would have addressed time-sensitive challenges all New Yorkers face in connection with climate change, the need for safe drinking water and growing threats to biodiversity. The sooner the state starts the projects that would have been funded by the Restore Mother Nature Bond Act, the better prepared New York will be to meet difficult times ahead. […]

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Coalition Urges Continued Action to Address Emerging Contaminants Albany – Today, the NY Department of Health (DOH) took the final step to establish Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and 1,4-dioxane, three toxic emerging contaminants found in drinking water across the state. DOH’s Public Health and Health Planning Council voted to set MCLs at 10 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA, 10 ppt for PFOS, and 1 part per billion (ppb) for 1,4-dioxane. The regulations will appear in the next State Register, at which time […]

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Albany, N.Y. — The New York State Legislature voted to close the oil & gas waste loophole after nearly a decade of advocacy from Riverkeeper and our partners. The oil and gas industry enjoys a special exemption from New York State requirements governing the treatment of hazardous waste. Although waste from oil and gas operations – including extraction using hydrofracking – can contain hazardous contaminants, it’s categorically excluded from hazardous waste treatment, storage, transportation and disposal requirements due to a legal loophole. Since 2010, more than 608,000 tons of solid […]

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Albany NY – Today, the New York Senate took a historic vote to protect clean water across New York.It voted to add 41,000 miles of at risk streams to the protected class of waters within the DEC’s Protection of Waters Program. The legislation protects streams within the Class C designation and will require a permit for disturbing a stream already required for Class AA, A, B and trout waters. This legislation passed the New York Assembly in February. Now, New York has taken the significant step of ensuring clean water […]

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Alarming pattern of delay in drinking water protection puts New Yorkers at risk Albany – Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried and Assembly Children and Families Chair Ellen Jaffee joined residents from impacted communities and leading environmental advocates today to call on Governor Cuomo and the NYS Department of Health to stop delaying protections for New York’s drinking water and set the most health-protective standards possible for three toxic chemicals that have polluted drinking water across the state: PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-dioxane. The New York Department of Health (DOH) is […]

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Riverkeeper and Newburgh Clean Water Project today called on the Air National Guard to commit to an aggressive schedule to clean up PFAS pollution at the Stewart Air National Guard Base, as a new agreement is negotiated with New York State that will influence the next two years of remediation.

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WASHINGTON— Conservation groups today filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration over the Environmental Protection Agency’s suspension of monitoring and reporting requirements for major pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows confirmation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service that the EPA failed to contact the wildlife agencies to discuss how the policy will comply with the Endangered Species Act. The EPA’s policy, set forth in a March 26 memorandum, suspends monitoring, reporting and enforcement under several key environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean […]

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Environmental groups with Beyond Indian Point campaign mark the shutdown and highlight how renewable energy and efficiency are replacing Indian Point One of Indian Point’s reactors is permanently shutting down today, with the second to follow next year. Today’s Indian Point reactor shutdown is an historic moment. Environmental and citizen groups have long fought to shut down Indian Point given the dangers it poses to the public and the lack of solutions for highly radioactive nuclear waste. As Indian Point shuts down, environmental groups – together as part of the […]

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