December 29 marks the 50th anniversary of the Scenic Hudson Decision, the cornerstone of environmental law granting citizens legal standing to protect the environment. This court victory is considered the birth of the modern, grassroots environmental movement. It gave the founders of Scenic Hudson, the organization I lead, the right to argue in court to halt a massive power plant from defacing Storm King Mountain over the course of their ultimately successful 17-year campaign. Scenic Hudson has gone on to conserve dozens of additional awe-inspiring landmarks along New York's Hudson River, while the court decision led to passage of our country's seminal environmental law--the National Environmental Policy Act--and similar state laws requiring public input in permit and siting decisions. (Click here for a short video by photographer Robert Rodriguez Jr. on the 50th anniversary of Scenic Hudson that puts all this in perspective.)
In 2015 Hudson Valley citizens continued taking bold stands to protect resources they hold dear. As the following cases illustrate, the spirit of Storm King is alive and well.
Protecting the Palisades: Scenic Hudson and our allies forged a legal settlement with LG Electronics to protect the Palisades from a proposed 143-foot office building that would have spoiled views of this National Natural Landmark just north of the George Washington Bridge. This win-win accord allowed LG to proceed with its new North American headquarters at a height of 69 feet--below the treeline--preserving iconic vistas and much-needed local jobs. Our partners, including Larry Rockefeller, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York-New Jersey Trail Conference and New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs, utilized many of the same tactics as the defenders of Storm King--litigation, public relations and ultimately negotiations--to protect the Palisades.
Desalination plant defeated: Scenic Hudson and our partners in the Rockland Water Coalition achieved a historic victory on December 17 when the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) definitively ended plans to build an energy-intensive desalination plant on the Hudson River's Haverstraw Bay in Rockland County--culminating a six-year campaign to halt this costly, environmentally harmful project and instead pursue a sustainable water supply through conservation, leak prevention and other measures.
Hudson River PCB cleanup gets second look: Marking a breakthrough in a 30-year citizen-led campaign, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to accelerate its review of General Electric's Hudson River PCB cleanup in response to a meeting Scenic Hudson and our allies held with top EPA officials in Washington in early December. At that meeting we challenged decisions made by EPA's regional office that favored GE interests at the expense of a healthy river. With little or no review of important project data, EPA hastily declared the cleanup a success. Further, the agency allowed GE to decommission the cleanup operation at the same time two other federal agencies tasked with post-remediation restoration efforts have called for more dredging, citing remaining acreage of contaminated river sediments and the failure of work completed to date to achieve the cleanup's original goal--making fish safe to eat. (Despite health warnings, many who live near the river continue relying on tainted fish for subsistence.) EPA's agreement to expedite the review will hopefully lead to additional cleanup by GE, laying the groundwork for the restoration of natural resources damaged by decades of contamination. Key partners in this campaign for a cleaner Hudson River include Riverkeeper, Clearwater, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as citizen and business organizations. Congressmen Sean Patrick Maloney and Chris Gibson played pivotal roles over the past year in moving federal agencies in the right direction.
Transmission lines proceed along improved route: This year Scenic Hudson and our partners in the Hudson Valley Smart Energy Coalition ensured that the route of any new transmission lines through the Hudson Valley under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Energy Highway will not include a Hudson River crossing or damage world-class views from historic sites such as Olana (home of renowned Hudson River School painter Frederic Church) and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Presidential Library, as originally proposed. To its credit, the PSC heeded our coalition's input in adhering to the governor's directive to keep new lines within existing utility rights of way. But the agency disregarded scientifically grounded public comments and its own consultants in allowing the project to proceed, despite its failure to show a need for the new lines, to minimize air pollution and adhere to due process. State legislator Didi Barrett and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro were key allies in this campaign, along with thousands of citizens who weighed in with the PSC and Gov. Cuomo. Filmmaker and international adventurer Jon Bowermaster helped this campaign and other Hudson River causes with hard-hitting videos that spurred grassroots support.
Paris accord lays the groundwork for citizen and government action: World leaders who reached a historic accord in Paris to stem climate change deserve credit, but so, too, do citizen activists--such as Bill McKibben and the organization he founded, 350.org--who have campaigned for decades for this cause. Now begins the hard work of implementing the agreement. It will require concerted efforts at all levels of government and among grassroots activists, businesses and people across the planet.
Citizen activism and leadership keep the spirit of Storm King and the Scenic Hudson Decision alive. Continued action in the year ahead will maintain this momentum.