Nursing the River Back to Health

I received an email from the EPA last week outlining the plan for PCB dredging in the Hudson. According to the letter, dredging is set to begin in 2009 and will be entirely paid by General Electric. The dredging start date has been delayed because of the legal boundaries that needed to be crossed to force GE to pay for the project (the Action Agenda, written in 2005, says that dredging was to begin this year). To learn more about the details of the project, visit www.epa.gov/hudson. I agree with Joe that the current plan might not be the most cost-effective or best dredging program, but I would rather see dredging begin in two years rather than wait another five years for new technology to be approved. If in the next two years alternative technologies are approved, I think the EPA should remain open to these new ideas. I believe that after dredging, the Hudson will be one step closer to the clean Hudson envisioned in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Estuary Action Agenda.

The Action Agenda has a number of important components and ambitious goals, all intended to improve the health of the Hudson River and its watershed. The restoration of the river and shoreline habitats is one of the most important parts of the Agenda, especially the restoration of wetlands. For too long, many developers and officials alike have seen wetlands as wastelands to be filled in, but wetlands have incredible filtering powers that can clean rivers. In the town of Arcata, California, artificial wetlands were planted near the coast and are used to filter all of the town’s wastewater before it empties into the bay (visit http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/indepth/usaarcata.html for more information). From this example and the scientific knowledge that is available, it is clear that rebuilding tidal wetlands would be incredibly beneficial and relatively inexpensive for New York State.

Because nothing in nature is isolated, all of the pieces of the Action Agenda are interconnected. To a pessimist, the extensive plans to improve the environmental state of the Hudson outlined in the Agenda may seem unattainable, and it may very well be too ambitious, but I am very optimistic that the Agenda will achieve many successes. The recreation, tourism, and educational aspects of the Agenda will help to increase the public’s appreciation for and understanding of the river, which in turn will likely help to improve the health of the river.