The Eco-Assembly New York

Threats to the Hudson River

The Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) 

The Champlain Hudson Power Express (a/k/a, the CHPE, commonly pronounced “chippy”) is a greenwashed energy corridor development project, approved for Tier 4 renewable energy credits by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022. TDI, a subsidiary of Blackstone, world leader among private equity companies driving fossil fuel expansion, is the developer of the CHPE. The 339- mile, 1.25 billion watt direct current cable corridor, if finalized, will bring hydropower from dirty mega-dams on Ingenious territories of Quebec and Labrador to Astoria, NY. It will go underwater in part of Lake Champlain, the Hudson River and the Harlem and East Rivers. Portions of the Hudson River are still a Superfund site with unremediated PCB contamination. The Hudson River is also an American Heritage River and the drinking water source for more than 100,000 households. The residential and commercial ratepayers of upstate NY will pay for the CHPE through higher utility bills. The ecological devastation the corridor and its construction will bring to the affected watersheds is well-documented. We oppose the CHPE.

Indian Point Decommissioning

There is growing concern that the Hudson River is not being adequately safeguarded against radioactive effluent release  into the waters of the river from unsafe energy legacy infrastructure. Is it OK now, and has it ever been OK, to release radioactive stormwater material or radioactive wastewater of any kind into the Hudson River, the river that flows all ways?  We say no. Recently, passage of the “Save the Hudson Bill” was signed by Kathy Hochul but there is concern that it does not go far enough. https://www.dcreport.org/2023/08/21/new-yorks-governor-hochul-pulls-a-fast-one/

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says no amount of the radioactive isotope Tritium is safe in our water, and there are other radioactive elements to be concerned about as well. The company decommissioning Indian Point, Holtec, does not have a good safety record. Should we look the other way, while Holtec disregards the watershed and its’ ecosystem? We say no.