G.E. Begins to Dredge Hudson for PCBs

After long battle, E.P.A. and G.E. begin a cleanup of PCB hot spots on the Hudson River. Hot spots of PCBS are mapped by GPS, and a dredge barge scoops up chunks of river mud putting it into a hopper barge, to be sent on to nearby processing facility and then, eventually, transported 2,000 mile on a train ride to a Texas hazardous waste dump.

MOREAU, N.Y. — Twenty-five years after the federal government declared a long stretch of the Hudson River to be a contaminated Superfund site, the cleanup of its chief remaining source of pollution began here Friday with a single scoop of mud extracted by a computer-guided dredge.  

Twelve dredges are to work round the clock, six days a week, into October, removing sediment laced with the chemicals known as PCBs. Mile-long freight trains running every several days will carry the dried mud to a hazardous-waste landfill in Texas. 

An estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, flowed into the upper Hudson from two General Electric factories for three decades before they were banned, in 1977, as a health threat to people and wildlife. In high doses, they have been shown to cause cancer in animals and are listed by federal agencies as a probable human carcinogen.

“Today, the healing of the Hudson begins,” George Pavlou, the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting regional administrator, said under bright skies in a riverbank ceremony here as federal, state and local officials, G.E. representatives and environmental campaigners looked on.

Those gathered scrambled from a white tent to get a good view as a blue clamshell bucket rose slowly from the riverbed holding the first five cubic yards of mud. A lone duck paddled downriver along the far bank.

The dredging operation is the first phase of an operation that, if it continues as projected through 2015, could largely eliminate the Hudson’s last significant toxic legacy from an era of unfettered industrial activity and dumping.

While the Superfund site itself is 197 miles long, stretching from Hudson Falls, N.Y., to the southern tip of Manhattan, the initial phase involves spots along a six-mile segment south of Fort Edward, the hamlet across the river from this industrial site.

G.E. is supervising and paying for the cleanup, which federal officials have estimated could cost more than $750 million. Industry experts say the ultimate cost could be many times than that, however. (G.E. declines to give an estimate.)

While most of the chemicals were dumped when such practices were legal, the Superfund law requires the responsible polluting party, when one can be pinpointed, to foot the cleanup bill.

Yet G.E has reserved the right, after a review of the operation in 2010, to reject the project’s much larger second phase. Federal environmental officials have said that if it did that, they would most likely order the cleanup to proceed and levy enormous penalties against the company.

The first phase is projected to remove 22 tons of PCBs from the riverbed; the second phase would remove 102 tons, the E.P.A. said.Even as it embarks on the cleanup, G.E. has a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Superfund law working its way through federal court. (The company is a responsible party in 52 active Superfund sites across the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.)

Please read the rest at the NY Times website.
Source: NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/science/earth/16dredge.html

Sewage Beach

Summer’s almost here, and things are getting excrementally worse with our water.

By Eric Wolff

• Published Apr 24, 2006

Is New York flushing away its summer fun? Our century-old sewer system is already so overburdened that it overflows 70 days a year—dumping 27 billion gallons of waste into the city’s waterways, just as high-rises are going up on their banks. (Even the ever-fetid Gowanus Canal is being lined with housing.) Last summer, two city beaches were closed because of high bacterial levels; experts say all this building is going to make the problem worse. And while it’s still pretty safe to kayak on the Hudson this summer, within ten years, “I could easily see beaches closing for much of the summer season,” says biophysicist Paul Mankiewicz of the Gaia Institute.

All it takes is a tenth of an inch of rain falling in an hour—a tenth!—for the sewer system to start emptying into the rivers. It’s partly a problem of neglect: In 1992, the city’s treatment plants were in such disrepair that the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation sued under the Clean Water Act; the city has never allayed the DEC’s concerns, and the State Supreme Court upheld a $13.9 million fine against the city last April.

Meanwhile, the city’s population has edged over 8 million, and the Department of Planning is expecting at least 37,000 new apartments citywide in the next ten years. “We’re operating under the assumption the sewers can handle it,” says a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. “If we didn’t think so, developers wouldn’t get a permit to connect to the system. And that’s all we have to say.”

But even developers seem to recognize the issue. In part to deflect the anger of neighborhood activists, the developers of the massive Atlantic Yards complex in Brooklyn promised to build underground tanks to collect up to 800,000 gallons of storm-water runoff, and to install newfangled “waterless urinals.”

Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia have a broader wastewater policy that relies more on soil and parks to manage flow, but such ideas have not made headway in New York. “Wet-weather flows are not something they’re requiring builders to deal with at all,” says Brad Sewell, attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council—instead, the city’s policy on sewage focuses entirely on projects whose cost is borne by the taxpayer: new pipes, new tanks, and improvements to treatment plans. “The city’s approach to this problem is not only irresponsible but a complete waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” says Basil Seggos of the environmental group Riverkeeper.

Preserving sandy beach ecosystems – the way forward

European Commission DG ENV, Science for Environment Policy Environment News Alert Service
Special Issue 8, Sept 2008

The combined impacts of climate change and increasing population pressures on coastal areas for living and recreation have placed beach ecosystems under severe pressure. New research suggests efforts to preserve the biodiversity of sandy beach ecosystems should be undertaken within the framework of Integrated Coastal Management(1). The aim is to integrate the physical protection of coastlines with the conservation of threatened ecosystems.

As key recreational sites, sandy beaches are of prime social, cultural and economic importance and dominate the world’s coastlines. They also provide critical and irreplaceable ecosystem services and there is a growing recognition of the ecological value of beaches. However, current beach management is largely concerned with managing sand budgets and erosion, while ecological aspects are rarely considered.

Co-operation between beach managers and ecologists is therefore important, according to the researchers. They produced 50 ‘key statements’ summarising how essential features of sandy beach ecosystems function and are structured, which include defining the physical features of beaches, the functioning of beaches as ecosystems and incorporating the protection of beach ecosystems with wider management practices.

The researchers suggest that climate change will have a significant impact on the ecology of sandy beaches. It is
anticipated that climate change will affect the following:

• Sea levels – Average sea levels have risen by 0.17 metres in the last century and there are more occurrences
  of damaging high seas during storms. Continued loss of beaches will severely impact on coastal habitats and
  communities.
• Extreme weather events – It is likely that changes in cyclone and storm behaviour will produce higher and more
  powerful waves, increasing beach erosion.
• Precipitation - the pattern of precipitation is changing with more incidences of floods and altered freshwater flow
  to the oceans and this will affect the ecology of the beaches.
• Changes in the ENSO (El-Niño-Southern Oscillation) events cause alterations to precipitation and this may
  affect beach ecosystems.
• Within decades, acidification of the oceans will negatively affect marine organisms that need calcium carbonate to form shells, such as urchins and snails.

Four principles have been proposed by the researchers to integrate the ecological and physical aspects of management strategies for sandy beaches, which will help beach ecosystems withstand the pressures of climate change. It is suggested that ecologists, managers and policy makers work together at all levels of decision making in implementing effective and enduring strategies to conserve coastal ecosystems. There is also a need for further development of modelling techniques to study the impacts of climate change on beach ecology and to combine this with the effects that various management strategies will have on beach systems.

A further issue highlighted by the study are the special difficulties caused by tidal conditions for scientists trying to study beach organisms. The researchers have consequently produced a code of ‘best practice’ which contains 11 recommendations to help ecologists develop the most appropriate methods when collecting samples.

Source: Schlacher, T.A., Schoeman, D.S., Dugan, J. et al. (2008). Sandy beach ecosystems: key features, sampling issues, management challenges and climate change impacts. Marine Ecology. 29(Suppl. 1): 70-90.
Contact: tschlach@usc.edu.au

Little Mermaid PSA Encourages Public to Help Clean Up Debris from Our Oceans

Commerce and Interior Departments Announce Launch of National System of Marine Protected Areas

The National System of Marine Protected Areas is the first formal mechanism for coordinating MPAs across all levels of government. The agencies also announced the nomination process for federal, state, territorial, tribal and local sites to join the National System of Marine Protected Areas.

MPAs are defined areas where natural or cultural resources are given greater protection than the surrounding waters. In the U.S., these areas may span a range of habitats including the open ocean, coastal areas, inter-tidal zones, estuaries, and the Great Lakes.

“Today’s announcement highlights a new focus on working together across jurisdictions to conserve our common ocean heritage,” said Timothy Keeney, deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere. “Through the national system of MPAs, we will have a more efficient, effective approach to conservation of the nation’s important natural and cultural marine resources.”

Marine Protected Area

The publication of the Framework for the National System of Marine Protected Areas of the United States of America provides a blueprint for building the national system of MPAs. The framework outlines key components of the national system, including overarching national system goals and priority conservation objectives; MPA eligibility criteria; a nomination process for existing MPAs to be included in the national system; and a science-based, public process for identifying conservation gaps in existing protection efforts where new MPAs may be needed.

“This lays the groundwork for a national system of MPAs that will ensure that our ocean’s resources are conserved for future generations,” said Kaush Arha, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. “Our nation as a whole will benefit from this comprehensive and representative system that not only enhances conservation and collaboration, but also will identify biologically or culturally important areas that are currently not adequately protected to ensure their long-term viability.”

In addition to public comments, extensive advice on the development of the national system and the Framework came from the 30-member MPA Federal Advisory Committee (MPA FAC) – a group composed of natural and social scientists, state and tribal resource managers, commercial fishermen, anglers, energy and tourism industry representatives, divers, and environmentalists. The MPA FAC was created in 2003 and has been working since then to develop recommendations for designing and implementing the national system.

Mark Hixon, MPA FAC Chair and Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, notes that “Marine Protected Areas can be a controversial topic, yet the process we announce today is evidence that people with different views and interests can collaborate on the management of our valuable ocean resources.”

MPA FAC Vice-Chair Bob Zales II, owner of Bob Zales Charters in Panama City, Fla., and President of the National Association of Charterboat Operators, added, “The national system provides a science-based and transparent process for identifying areas where new protection efforts may be needed. This is the type of open process that ocean users want to see.”

Presidential Executive Order 13158 of May 2000, calls for a scientifically based, comprehensive national system of MPAs that represents the nation’s diverse marine ecosystems and natural and cultural resources. NOAA’s National Marine Protected Areas Center led its development on behalf of the departments of Commerce and Interior, and in consultation with federal agencies, coastal states and territories, tribes, federal Fishery Management Councils, and the public. The national system does not establish any new legal authorities to designate MPAs, but provides a mechanism for MPAs across all levels of government to work together more effectively to achieve common goals.

The Department of Commerce, through NOAA, and the Department of the Interior will build the national system gradually over time. Priority conservation objectives, identified in the Framework document, will guide the development of the national system and identify existing MPAs to be included, as well as conservation gaps which might be addressed through the establishment of new MPAs.


Today also marks the start of the nomination process for sites to join the national system.  MPAs meeting the eligibility criteria defined in the Framework are invited to nominate themselves through their federal or state managing agency. All nominated sites will be available for public comment.

MPAs that are accepted into the national system will be the focus of cooperative efforts to address common resource management challenges and will be placed on the official List of National System MPAs, which will be available to the public via the Federal Register and on the Marine Protected Areas Web site.

NOAA expects the final Framework document to be published in the Federal Register on Nov. 19. The Framework document is available for download.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.