Thursday, June 30, 2016

Walkway Across the Hudson: Flow River, Flow

Good Morning Gina,

Yesterday Beth and I drove to the Mid-Hudson region to visit the FDR Library and the Walkway Over the Hudson.  A great trip: a fun day together, good exploring, and very educational!

After spending the afternoon at the FDR Museum we both agreed on the importance of knowing history and understanding context as we shape our judgments and opinions.

The Walkway experience was a wonderful combination of "adaptive reuse" (of an old railroad bridge, now used for education and recreation), industrial archaeology, and environmental insights.

We are game!
Walking way above water!
The Walkway is 1.2 miles across the Hudson just north of Poughkeepsie.  There are "info-tainment" placards placed at regular intervals along the railing, including celebratory "River Reborn" images:

Do not eat any of this!
No one is a bigger booster of River Power than me but, jeeze, come on, we are far from being able to declare the "river reborn," as these posters state.

In fact, I found these facts on the EPA website.


We all agree this is an important clean-up project.  The very fact so much has been done is a testimony to that.

The goal cannot be 100% PCB-free.  

That is unrealistic.  

But -- if we know that hundreds of thousands of pounds of PCBs remain in the Hudson we must know where they are -- we can and must do better.

Please.

Flow River, Flow: our "front yard" in Northumberland last night

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Drivers 1, Drinkers 0: Ask a Millennial

A big news morning, Gina:

Why is Sally smiling?
Wow.  I guess those clever "riggers" over in Wolfsburg are smarting these days.  Doing the right thing sometimes has win-win positives. 

What a smart, good move on the part of Perdue chickens.  Betting Millennials will pay a little more for pampered chicken meat, the company is making life (and death) a lot nicer for chicks.

Chicken playground?

Now, flipping mental channels, we can return to Upstate New York:

"I'll 'buy' GE any day over VW," duh!

tick, tock; tick, tock....
Again and again we are reminded of the PR-politics of restitution and remediation.

VW owners get $5,100 to $10,000 and Hoosick Falls gets...?

Drivers 1, Drinkers 0
...and the Mighty Hudson flows on.  Let's "do a Perdue": get the job done right.  That's mission-fulfillment, promotes health, and feels good.

Just ask a Millennial.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Super Ironies in Superfund Land: “What do you want, good water or good taste?”

Good Morning Gina,

As you know the Hudson River has the tag "America's Most Beautiful Superfund Site."

The Hudson River: Iconic and Ironic
Right nearby, to our east, is the village of Hoosick Falls, The PR sibling of Flint, MI.  After a protracted period of discovery -- lead by citizens and, apparently, hampered by various governmental entities -- it has been revealed that residents of Hoosick Falls have PFOA levels that are "ballpark" two hundred times higher than EPA safe-recommendations.

Free Hudson Falls' Water!
I’m reminded of the old Lucky Strike cigarette ad: “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?”  Well, we’ve learned a lot about the safety of tobacco products since 1963 but do the residents of Hudson Falls have to answer the question “What do you want, good water or good taste?”

The drumbeat of news just doesn't stop.  Today's Times Union reports that our local Congressional team is unanimously calling for a governmental team approach to solutions.

Living Up to Our Responsibility... Soon?
Sometimes it seems "perfect IS the enemy of progress."  Certainly care and good science need to guide such an important process but please use your office to take a leadership role in corralling all the dot.govs and get a results-oriented coalition of experts going!

Hudson's Rip Van Winkle, Patron Saint of the Great Slowdown?

Monday, June 27, 2016

The Joy of the River: Dog Days Along the Upper Hudson

Good Morning Gina,

Yesterday was a broiler.  Beth and I escaped by biking the "Feeder Canal" of the Champlain Canal.  Despite its beauty, I never ever can stop marveling at the amateur engineering brilliance -- and incredible sheer physical effort -- the project required.

Miles of the canal are tree-lined, cool, and empty.  As the waterway winds through woods and old industrial spots, there are no people. Pretty but kind of spooky. 


Anyway by the time we finished our personal Heat Index was high so we decided to get home and hit the river.

Our dogs love the water, for different reasons.  Sammy likes to swim, and Bosco likes to ride.

Captured: Pure Joy!

Beth'n'Bosco
Here's a cool image of the "capped fill" left after our personal dredging was completed:

The "Loch 5 Monster's" reflection in GE backfill
Heeeeere's Sammy!
It was a beautiful day framed by the Hudson River. The PCB-free North-of-Hudson-Falls river and then the tainted River Section Two. Ugh.  Always tugs at my heartstrings to get caught by the invisible toxicity of America's Most Beautiful Superfund Site.

Sammy is almost seven so we figure something else besides PCBs will kill her... and we will do our best to enjoy the river, while trying hard to get a better clean up done.

Please help Gina.

Friday, June 24, 2016

River, Take Me Away

Dear Gina,

Today the headlines do not connect with the environment we are in, as Beth and I survey the lovely surroundings.
Upriver Pastoral
I found some solace and, admittedly, escapism, in this sketch in the Times:

"Tonight is Midsummer, a celebration in Sweden and Finland and other Northern European countries that falls during the week of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice.

"In ancient times, the festival welcomed the season of human fertility and included rituals to assure a good harvest in the autumn.

Today we can fall back on ancient agrarian ritual as an escape.
"Houses get decorated — inside and outside — with garlands and greenery. Many people dance and sing around a newly raised maypole and bonfires are lit to keep evil spirits away.

"It’s a very popular day for weddings, and it’s known as a night for romance. Girls and young women are told to pick seven different flowers and put them under their pillows. Then their future husbands are supposed to appear in a dream.

"Shakespeare’s popular play 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream,' written toward the end of the 16th century, alludes to the festive time around the summer solstice with a story of two young couples who wander into a magical forest. It concludes with multiple weddings.

"More than 200 years later, Felix Mendelssohn composed music to accompany performances of Shakespeare’s play at the Prussian court. 'Wedding March,' the best-known movement in Mendelssohn’s 'Midsummer Night’s Eve,' is one of the most popular wedding songs today."  listen here

What is the world coming to...?

River, Take Me Away

Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Day in Pictures: A Comedy That Isn't Very Funny

Hi Gina,

Dashing to niece's high school graduation in Saratoga Springs. Skimming the paper just now yielded the following.

Page One of the Albany Times Union had this story:


What a "Catch 22."  The Canal Corp is constitutionally bound to keep the canals dredged to navigable depths (12 feet, though the Champlain is as shallow as 4 feet in spots due to silting-in).  Yet they cannot dredge because there are PCBs in the canal.  GE wont remove them -- without an entire new round of legal wrangling -- because their agreement with the EPA only covered the Hudson River,  The State, the Feds, a canal-bargeload of agencies are all pointing fingers as the silt gets deeper. 


Soooo... is it "Fiddling As Rome Burns" or -- back to the Times Union for the "Super Quiz": "A Comedy of Errors."

This comedy isn't funny
Do we wait for "silt" or assume a leadership stance and act?

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Good Morning Gina,

After sending off yesterday's missive, I hopped on my bike for a morning ride along the Upper Hudson.

I have a glorious route that covers much of what is known as "River Section One" and "River Section Two."

You will probably remember the photo from yesterday's post that showed the brilliant sparkle of sun glancing off the river's ripples.  Really beautiful and exhilarating!


As I peddled north toward Fort Edward, along the relatively flat but gently-curving West River Road, I pass farms, an ancient cemetery, the historic home where Revolutionary War heroine Jane McCrae lived with her brother, and there's Madcaps Farm where the effervescent Alfred Z. Solomon spent his summers handicapping "the ponies."




I pass a covered bridge to an island (they also fly in there!) and a few well-worn paths used by locals to get to their favorite fishing holes.


"One if by land, two if by sea... what if they come by air?"
Speed of travel really affects what you see, and how you absorb all that's around you.

Be it ever so humble....
The beaver-chewed stumps, fish jumping in the water, and even this:

River travel: Timeless and Enchanting
It was almost spooky.  Not a sound except birds chirping as this crew rowed silently downriver.  Felt as if I had fallen into a time warp!

And the little human touches:

Welcome... to our Riverhood
So this morning I wanted to check and see how Our Project is coming.  When I went to the EPA site to get the most recent update/information, here is what popped up when I clicked "view most recent data":

Page in need of updating or Get Back to Work?
I have seen what look like monitoring efforts.   Maybe I'm mistaken?  

I hope that monitoring has been "occurring as necessary," though you know my petulant-sounding "why monitor a failure, work on it instead" reprieve.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The First Day of Summer at America's Most Beautiful Superfund Site

Good Bright Sunny Morning Gina,

Last night a "barn-burner" of a thunderstorm blew through the Upper Hudson (especially here in River Section Two).

I learned the term "barn-burner" when I lived in Iowa about 40 years ago: of course it is a five-ring-circus of thunder, rain, lightening that doesn't quit!  We had that here last night.
Iowa: a Swing State that rocks
So, anyway, in the middle of the night all hell breaks loose -- barn-burner -- and Beth is closing the upstairs windows and I run down to batten down the hatches.  When I return a 117 pound black rescue dog is blocking the way to my side of the bed:
What a BABY!
Who knows what Bosco experienced in his life before we adopted him two years ago but he has a big fear of wind and loud noises.  So he weathered the storm at the foot of our bed, letting Sammy snag his miracle foam bed.

So when Beth and I were enjoying the sparkling, beautiful, and awesome morning on the River Porch just now I was thinking about wind.  

This led me to The Journal of Physical Oceanography and a fascinating monograph by Choi and Wilkin: "The Effect of Wind on the Dispersal of the Hudson River Plume."  You will want to click here to read it!
Thar She Blows!
Yes, wind does effect water flow!

So I thought, "wow, if the wind can 'mix it up' like that, imagine what a strong, protracted storm -- like Irene, which broke all modern records for volume and flow on the Upper Hudson -- could do."

Well of course it could scour the riverbed and shoreline.  This could render readings of PCB "hot spots" somewhere between inaccurate and useless.

Two summers ago I watched a clamshell dredge "working" the river.  In and out, in and out.  The puzzling thing was it kept dredging up... water. Clear, sediment-free water.

Our part of the river is pretty narrow.  Sometimes I could actually talk with the guys on the rigs.  So I had to ask "hey how come you aren't digging up any stuff?"  And the crew member said "oh, we don't decided where to dredge, we just use the GPS coordinates they give us."

Well, right, you guessed it.  The extremely precise GPS readings had been measured before Tropical Storm Irene.

So. How can a 60% removal goal result in a 30% actual removal?  If you are dredging where the PCBs used to be.

The REAL QUESTION, though, is, knowing that WHY DID THE PROJECT STOP?
The first morning of summer, 2016, at the Most Beautiful Superfund Site

Monday, June 20, 2016

Fathers' Day: Promises Kept

Yesterday was Fathers' Day Gina, perhaps you and Ken got together with some of your kids.  Beth's family all live close by so we had a brunch with them and Molly drove up from Troy.  It was a great morning, and fun to see all the generations together.

It doesn't take a special day, but I am reminded of how time flies when I saw Molly walk into the room.   Yes, there were long nights of feeding and it was nerve-wracking teaching her to ride a bike (and drive a car) "but/and" there is a lot ahead to look forward to as well.

Speaking of, here is a photo of a dad with his family:
A lot to "like"
I wonder, does the 265 million acres include the Hudson?
Huh, who is Zora Hurston?
As summer approaches later today, a huge Up River focus will turn to the Hudson, more than any other time of the year.

The Obama administrations steps ahead are good, but all will agree real protection involves getting the job done.

"Monitoring failure" dishonors promises made.

On a lighter, ironic, H2O note:
"Water, water, everywhere...."

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Disagreement on "Getting to Healthy"

Good Morning Gina,

Yesterday I wrote about paddling on the river, and peddling along it.  But it is so much more than just a recreational liquid.

We are reminded -- right here in the area -- of how vital water is to life, something we take for granted until our families get sick from drinking their water.
"We would like to live."
In nearby Hoosick Falls, legacy industrial groundwater pollution is the source of serious health concerns.  There has been a lot of "friendly fire" between State, Federal, and local agencies.  Really reminds me of the GE PCB debacle.  Like "I didn't inhale" or "we cut the sample fish lengthwise and you cut it in half...."

No one disagrees on health issues.  And it seems no one agrees on how to get to healthy. What a conundrum!
"Do we have to beg for help?"
We have written about how it is so much easier to engage and inflame public opinion (and subsequent remediation) with dramatic, graphic images.

Our hopes and prayers are with Hoosick Falls residents.  But we all depend on our government to watch out for us.  If NYS doesn't act quickly with a PEOPLE FIRST approach, health is hurt.  If the EPA, NYSDEC, and NOAA can't agree on next steps with PCB cleanup -- especially against the placid backdrop of America's Most Beautiful Superfund site -- then what are we to think... what are we to do?  

Rivers: Much More Than JUST WATER
Gina, please help.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Up Close & Personal: A Place of Peace & Beauty

Hi Gina,

Some days you just need to get away from it all.  

These days are like that, a respite to reflect before rejoining the mainstream.  Hard not to have a heavy heart when you feel the sadness and fear abroad, and when you observe very public figures emerge as symptoms of real, serious problems not as problem-solvers.

It has been dry here, and we worry about our farming neighbors.
The Upper Hudson is trending DRY!
Yesterday I got out on the river.  Here is a view of the house (and deck) from the water:

Along the Upper Hudson
As you know, we live on River Section Two -- the portion where the "dredge success rate" was less than 50% -- but, with clam shell diggers and tugs gone, the river has resumed its peaceful late-Spring quality.

(I did see a team of three EPA monitors in their orange vests zipping along in their aluminum craft yesterday, so I know all is not forgotten...?)

River Section Two is the only portion of the Hudson that boats cannot "through-navigate": they must take the Champlain Canal on the Eastern, Washington County side.  This makes our portion of the river more like a lake -- especially in calm, low-water season -- than a river.

How many rivers feature water lilys?

Life atop America's Most Beautiful Superfund Site
The river is a place of peace and beauty.  

We are hoping that you will help us take better care of it.  

The awareness has been raised, the job started.  

Let's move forward, sooner?

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

"Life is like a River"

Gina, today, a poem on the misty morning river:

Life seems like a river you know
It is continually running on.
Where it goes no one ever knows.

Northumberland, NY 6:40am June 14













Will it take me to the right or left?
I must follow the river bank
Entrenched deep in the ruts I must go.

At times the sweet calmness of the flow
Is enough to make you forget
If we could only see what the future held

When life hits those turbulent times
It seems as if could loose yourself.
Sometimes the tumultuous current
Will rip you under and not let go.
The beauty that we pass on our way
A sweet smile from a fiend or lover
A kiss and tender moment shared
Time spent with family
They are rivaled by none, it is our own.
The moments shared and
The memories that we create
Will last a life time and then some.

To what ultimate goal does it hurry?
To the grandeur of the blue ocean?
Or something smaller like a lake?

To each goal is a certain path,
That path has only one traveler.
That traveler could be you.
So make the best of the path given you
So be aware of the good and bad,
But most of all enjoy the ride.
Because Life is like a River.

By Jared Mangum

Monday, June 13, 2016

Let's Do It For the Kids!

Good Morning Gina,

Yesterday my step-daughter and her boyfriend came over to tie-dye some t-shirts.  With lots of space to spread out they went to work.
 
Fit to be Tie-Dyed!
It is very impressive to see the level of concern – serious concern – teens and “twenties” have for environmental issues.  It seems they have too much too worry about.

So when I joked about selling PCB-free shirts they kind of looked at me and asked “how harmful are PCBs?” and “we don’t have to worry about them anyway right?”

Well, we know PCBs are harmful and we know that there are direct and indirect ways of being contaminated by PCBs.

1)      Obvious Ways: exposure to PCBs, ingesting PCBs
2)      Less Obvious Ways: exposure to “invisible” PCBs, ingesting non-legacy PCBs, breathing volatized PCBs

Why Worry?

The answer to that one can fill – and has filled – a lot of column-inches!  A summary courtesy of Elizabeth Grossman (emphasis mine):

“Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were commercially manufactured in the United States from about 1930 until 1979, when their production was banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) because of concerns about their extreme environmental persistence, ability to bioaccumulate, and adverse human health effects. PCBs were used in numerous industrial and consumer applications, most notably as insulation fluids in electrical transformers and generators but also in products including fluorescent lamp ballasts, caulk, and carbonless copy paper. These now-discontinued manufactured chemicals have received a great deal of attention in terms of research and environmental remediation. But other, lesser-known PCBs continue to be generated and released into the environment, not from intentionally created commercial products but as unintentional by-products of manufacturing processes including, according to recent studies, those used to make certain pigments used in dyes, inks, and paints.

“PCBs do not occur naturally, and once in the environment they can last for decades. Until recently, PCBs that were being detected in the environment were thought to come entirely from “legacy” sources. Yet developments in analytical technology have given researchers a better understanding of PCB sources, of the patterns of individual PCBs (or congeners) that are being detected environmentally, and the fate of PCBs in the environment—how they move between soil, sediment, water, and air. These advances have also enabled the detection of individual congeners at very low levels and the identification of many new and ongoing sources of PCBs beyond those resulting from historical commercial mixtures.

“Recently, manufacturing by-product PCBs have been identified in wastewater, sediments, and air in numerous locations. They have also been positively identified in testing of new products colored with such pigments, so it is clear these PCBs are not occurring as a result of legacy commercial mixtures. “What is emerging is an increasingly complex picture of the prevalence of nonlegacy PCBs alongside the persisting environmental presence of legacy PCBs, and a concurrent and likewise complex picture of how PCBs can affect human health at very low levels of exposure.”

Elizabeth Grossman, a Portland, OR–based environmental and science writer, has written for Environmental Health News, Yale Environment 360, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and other publications. Her books include Chasing Molecules and High Tech Trash.

UH OH.  They really are out there.  So then we ask, does exposure to these PCBs matter?  Again, Grossman:

“PCBs have also been identified as endocrine disruptors and shown to have adverse effects on the endocrine system, particularly on thyroid hormone function. They are also associated with skin and eye problems, liver toxicity, and adverse effects on the immune, nervous, and reproductive systems as well as on blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. Prenatal and childhood PCB exposure has been associated with behavioral and cognitive problems. Among the PCB health effects now under investigation are their impacts on brain functions that control behavior, language, learning, and memory. Certain PCBs have been identified as carcinogens.”
"please, sir, may I have another?"

   KNOW ANY POLITICAL FIGURES WHO MAY SUFFER FROM PCB EXPOSURE?!?!?!?

Quick summary of known effects on humans:

·         Endocrine disruptors
·         Skin and eye problems
·         Liver toxicity
·         Blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels
·         Adverse effects on the immune, nervous, and reproductive systems
·         Cancer…of course

I Googled some of these ailments and clicked on “images.”  Pretty disturbing stuff.  Here is all I could bear to share:

 















Okay, it is bad.  We know.  That’s why, when identified, we remediate.  Besides reading my letters, PCBs can give you many of the same symptoms of a thyroid disease.  I know, I KNOW! 

Some days I feel like Jimmy Carter – likable-but-annoying – in his cardigan telling the American people that we faced the “moral equivalent of war” vis-à-vis energy in the mid-70s.  But COME ON GINA, this IS IMPORTANT.
Let's do it for the kids!

SO LET’S MOVE TOWARD MORE SUCCESS RATHER THAN "MONITORING FAILURE" IN THE UPPER HUDSON RIVER!