Last upriver patrol of 2012 - Monday 11/19

Catskill at dawn. Sea smoke on the River because air is so cold. Deck covered with frost.

Mike Aguiar, owner of Riverview marine. Left hand is where water reached during Sandy, considerably higher than during Irene, right hand. All his shops and offices were flooded again.

US Army Corps dredge headed south to dredge West Germantown Reach. The River doesn’t really want to be 30 + feet deep - which is what is needed to accommodate the Port of Albany. The natural depth was much shallower before Europeans arrived.

Southbound light fuel barge

The dredge will come back to this temp dock at Houghtaling Island (not really an island anymore because of the Army Corps) and discharge its load of water and sediment onto the peninsula. Remember that the whole river is a Superfund site thanks to General Electric so this dredge spoil isn’t clean.

A photo of the dump on Houghtaling “Island” taken from a book I have aboard – ”Up River.” The land to the north of the dump is a state park. This once beautiful habitat shouldn’t be a dump for contaminated sediment. Notice the tree buffer around the shoreline. It reminds me of the clear-cuts in the Pacific Northwest.

We checked out the active dredging discharge at this dump a few years ago. The interior of Houghtaling “island” is a wasteland.

Duck hunting season. Some blinds are fixed structures and others are built on boats.

Saw this dead Wood Duck near Coxsackie. Could be that it got wounded and was able to fly some distance from the hunter before it fell. There are duck blinds in many of the marshes and on the shallow “flats” – where migrating waterfowl stop to feed and rest. In the pre-dawn twilight I often hear the gunshots - like today. Wood Ducks are beautifully colored, ornamental. Personally, I don’t get the appeal of killing for fun. I’d rather have more live ducks – it’s not like there are so many left in the first place.

A deer skin with head still attached. The fall is beautiful in the Hudson Valley, just not for everyone.

Approach to Port of Albany

Beautiful “strip marshes” below the Port, behind the “degraded” dikes that the Army Corps built years ago to channelize the River.

Port of Albany. A light double hull fuel barge.

Southbound again. The old ice house at Nutten Hook

Goodbye till spring.

Approaching Catskill, only southbound tonight.

Last patrol of 2012 - Sunday 11/18

Jack up boat off Palisades across from Croton Point. Presumably drilling for core samples related to either Champlain Express or West Point power cable projects. Both are using the Hudson as a conduit for electrical power cables for NYC. How much must the River give so New York City can have what it wants?

There was a lot of dock foam between Hook Mountain and Haverstraw today. We will be picking up man-made debris set adrift by Sandy for a very long time.

The Bald Eagle nest at Stony Point did not blow away during Sandy. Natural design.

Checking out rail work on east side just south of Bear Mtn. Bridge. We’re meeting with Metro North next week.

This little “marina” at Ft. Montgomery has been sliding downhill for years. Then last year Irene came along and nuked it. Now Sandy appears to have just about finished it off.

At Poughkeepsie there were a couple jet skis out. Water temp is 47 degrees. No wet or dry suits. Asking for it.

“Catch of the day” on deck. Several large foam blocks and a 50 gal trash bag full of bits. All dock foam from Sandy’s destruction.

Running fast for Catskill before light fails. Flat calm as only a winter river can be.

The Catskills

Democracy Now! joins us on the Gowanus Canal to talk about post-Sandy Water Quality

Gowanus Patrol 7/2/12

We patrolled the Gowanus Canal using an aluminum skiff which we carry aboard our “Mother Ship” patrol boat, the R. Ian Fletcher.

The Feds, the EPA, are mandating a massive Superfund cleanup on the Gowanus. NYC and NYC Department of Environmental Protection continue to resist, “don’t worry, trust us, we’ve got a plan, we’ll take care of it.”

This is what we saw on the July 2nd. Just my opinion, but I don’t think we can leave it to NYC anymore. We spent the day taking educators, local bloggers and activists on patrols in the skiff so they would have these sites, and smells, firmly in mind when they went to a public meeting on the proposed EPA cleanup that evening in Brooklyn.

Message to the EPA…please BRING IT, and thanks.

Gull has faith

A Combined Sewer Overflow. One of many. The water is black near the outfall.

Egret

When we stir up bottom sediment it’s putrid

Public access

Gowanus snot hanging off a power cable

I'm not really sure this is water anymore. 

Massive, garage door size Combined Sewer Overflows at the inner/north end of the Canal. This wouldn’t be such a fun place in rain. A water slide from Hell.

A dead rat

A beautiful Black Crested Night Heron on the ladder at the public launch. The Gowanus used to be a beautiful and wonderfully productive salt marsh.  Life waits for us to make it so again.

Patrolling Pays Off

Today was our first patrol of Newtown Creek for our 2012 season.  Over the years, we've dealt with a number of businesses which have seen fit to dump waste material into the creek.  This afternoon we came across a bunch of Styrofoam sheets discarded on the bank in front of a glass company.  

Phillip Musegaas, head of the Hudson River Program at Riverkeeper who was aboard today called the business and before we left, management was outside. 

"This stuff doesn't belong to us but we're going to take care of it right away."

Patrolling pays off.

Patrol Report: Troy Fuel Dock and Hoses

Last week, we were southbound from Waterford during our November patrol.   After transiting the Federal lock, we photographed the Troy Dock fuel hoses and overturned floating dock sections, which were flipped during Irene. Note that, in addition to the two large blue fuel lines coming over the wall between fuel storage tanks and pumps, the two smaller diameter hoses from pumps to fuel nozzles are also in the water.  We notified DEC enforcement, who then contacted the DEC Region 4 Spill Response team  and they currently looking into the situation to ensure that the fuel hoses are removed from the river.  

Then, a few minutes later, we came upon a section of floating dock caught under the bow of the Capt JP II moored to the Troy bulkhead just north of the Congress Street Bridge. No one was aboard so we called the Army Corps maintenance facility located just above the Federal Lock and reported the situation. They thanked me for the report.  The City was also notified about the section of dock caught under the Capt JP II. As of today, we received a call from a member of the public who has been monitoring the situation for us. The float under the bow of the Capt JP II has been removed.

Collaborating on Hudson River Pollution Enforcement

Much of our work on the Riverkeeper boat involves enforcement on behalf of the Hudson River and its tributaries.  While we do not have legal jurisdiction over polluters (i.e. legal investigations & arrests) we are lucky enough to work with agencies that do.  Because we're constantly out on the water, in and out of the back canals of Brooklyn, and covering all 164 miles of the Hudson River, we are often some of the first eyes to witness water pollution.

We recently brought several members of the Department of Justice's US Attorneys office for the Southern District of New York as well as members of the EPA's Region 2 Criminal Enforcement Unit for a tour of Newtown Creek and the East River.  Our focus was discussing cases throughout the Hudson Valley that we can collaborate on in the future.  You can bet that we're looking forward to working together in the future!

Riverkeeper attorney and chief investigator, Josh Verleun (far right), discussing Riverkeeper's involvement in enforcement on Newtown Creek