John Cronin

The Improving Hudson?

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

I was recently contacted by a reporter writing a story about "How the Hudson has improved." 

"What is your premise?" I asked.

"That the Hudson was once called an open sewer and now it is an environmental success story."

I know well the terms "open sewer" and "environmental success story" when applied to the Hudson River.  I spent years helping to make them popular.  Many years.  So many years that by 2009 those phrases have become worn and dated.   The Hudson may no longer be an open sewer,  but neither is it the river most of us thought it would be. 

I have been involved in Hudson River issues since I was 23.  I am 59.  In good conscience I can no longer boast of the river's comeback to a 30 year-old, or a 20 year-old, or my 14 year-old son.  After all, what has happened in their lifetime?

There is no evidence of which I am aware that the Hudson has improved in the last decade.  Indeed, there is every reason to believe that the river is in decline, despite official and unofficial attempts to manage its restoration and protection.  Major fish species, such as American shad, Atlantic sturgeon, and smelt, have been in trouble for over a decade.  Twenty years ago, they were not.  The Hudson's once proud commercial fishery is just about over.  There is more human population and therefore more pollutants being discharged into the river, directly and indirectly.  Invasive species are more prevalent. 

Who Declares a Water Crisis?

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

It was said often, at a recent conference on New York State Water Resources, held at Pace University, that  comprehensive protection and management of New York's waters would finally come when a crisis forced the issue.  The daylong event was sponsored by Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, and the Center for Environmental Legal Studies at Pace Law School.

During the last afternoon panel, an audience member asked, "Who is in charge of declaring a crisis?"  No one had a satisfactory answer.  And when the question was turned on the audience -- "Who here is willing to declare a crisis?" -- there was a scant show of hands, even after a full day of talks about grim predictions and policy shortfalls in health, supply, infrastructure, ecological management and environmental protection. 

The path to a crisis is a  greater mystery than a crisis that has already been proclaimed.  Hindsight is like that.  Drought, decaying infrastructure, declining fish populations, and shortages in future water supply are slow-motion crises.  Their eventual, official recognition, usually comes in the form of a declaration of emergency or, worse, a court order.  It is spurred by some formula of public opinion, media attention, dire circumstances and government findings -- a long process that nonetheless leaves policymakers playing a panicky game of catch-up.

But the conference proceedings begged a question familiar to all those who deal in national security and preparedness -- aren't we already in a crisis if we are unprepared for an impending emergency?  The OED tells us that a crisis is "a time of intense difficulty or danger."  The word finds its origins in the Greek keinein, which means to separate or decide, and which  is also the source of the word "critic," or kritikos -- able to make judgments.  Noah's crisis, for example, came when he was charged with building an ark and gathering his passengers  . . .  before the flood arrived. 

New York Times Takes On "Clean Water"

Poor Enforcement, Declining Water Quality

Toxic Waters, an excellent piece of investigative journalism by The New York Times, presents the paper's report on the condition of the nation's waters.   The findings were disturbing but not surprising: lax enforcement,  a decline in water quality, toxic threats, and an outmoded law -- though the Times stopped short of detailing the latter.

The failed status of the Clean Water Act itself is under-reported.  The law has not achieved one of its major policy goals, and has failed to spur the era of innovation, and research and development, its authors anticipated and upon which the law's success depends.  The failure to innovate has perpetuated outmoded and primitive treatment technologies that are costly to operate and maintain -- no small enticement for some dischargers to risk violating the law. 

The map above is a link to the New York Times map of states and their un-enforced Clean Water Act violations.  That map page also links to the Times' series, including interactive media that allow you to learn more about dischargers  in your area.  

Also, see my other posts about the Clean Water Act that immediately precede this one. 

Clean Water Update

On Thursday, September 25, John told a standing room crowd at Skidmore College, “The Clean Water Act has failed us, the nation, and the world."   He called on participants at a water policy conference sponsored by Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies and held at Pace School of Law on Wednesday, September 24, "To leap ahead of the federal Clean Water Act and establish independent clean water goals for New York State that will spur innovation and create a water pollution elimination industry that will serve the planet."

See Imagine No Pollution below.  And full news release here. 

Imagine No Pollution

The Future, and the Failed Clean Water Act

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

The Clean Water Act has failed.  It is time for a new law.

There is a mistaken, popular belief that the central purpose of the 1972 Clean Water Act is to bring to justice the bad guys who are polluting the nation’s waters.

The Clean Water Act was written to create a global market place based on American innovation that would end pollution in our lifetime, and “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.” 

But a list of the Clean Water Act's failed policies reads like an indictment of the law itself.

The first policy goal on the first page of the Clean Water Act is the elimination of the discharge of pollutants by 1985.

The law also sets a goal of making the nation’s waters fit for sports and recreation, and for fish and wildlife by July 1983.

It calls for management plans to end pollution from runoff, protect watersheds, and enhance water resources, in keeping with the 1983 and 1985 goals.

It requires the cessation of toxic discharges in toxic amounts.

It establishes a sweeping domestic and foreign policy on water designed to protect life and health here and abroad.

Indeed, the enormity of the Clean Water Act’s failure can be measured in lives.  The law directs the Secretary of State to assist other nations in eradicating their water problems to “at least the same extent as the United States does under its laws.”  But since the Clean Water Act was enacted, an estimated 70 - 100 million people, mostly children in the developing world, have died from diseases related to water pollution.  The Pacific Institute estimates that between 36 million and 70 million will die by 2020.

Where Do All the Fallen Leaves Go?

Watershed Tea Anyone?

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Soon our streets will be covered with newly fallen leaves.  And, shortly afterward, they will be lined with large plastic bags of leaves.  What did all those leaves do before we became so tidy?   They fed streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, woodlands, parks and rivers. 

The Stroud Water Research Center explains that "Historically, most small streams in the eastern United States were forested. Leaf fall from the forest canopy was the dominant food resource for small streams. All ecosystems rely on a steady supply of energy. Solar energy drives photosynthesis that supplies carbon (chemical energy) for  the rest of the system. In many headwater streams, however, sunlight cannot reach the water's surface due to shading of the forest canopy. Therefore, most headwater streams rely on autumn leaf fall to supply much of the carbon needed to support the stream throughout the year."

The Stroud site offers a great primer on the role of leaves in the care and feeding of aquatic ecosystems.  It is a good reminder that a river is more than the water between the two shores.  It is the sum of its parts -- from the tree canopy overhead to the land, and street, underfoot. 

Crabbing with Bob

From INSIDEOUT, Sep-Oct '09. Copyright 2009, John Cronin

(NOTE: You can view a short video of Bob Gabrielson here.)

Bob Gabrielson handed me William Warner’s Beautiful Swimmers and told me to memorize it.  “It’s the bible,” he said. It was dog-eared and fragrantly stained with Baltimore spice; Bob had logged many hours studying it over plates of steamed and seasoned blue crab.

The book’s title is a translation of the scientific name for blue crab, callinectes sapidus.  In Greek, “calli” means beautiful and “nectes” means swimmer. “Sapidus” is Latin for savory or delicious.  The cover told me that Warner had won the Pulitzer Prize for his book about the lives of crab and watermen on Chesapeake Bay.  Bob told me, “To catch crab you have to think like a crab.” 

The Hudson Septuagennial

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Seventy years ago, The Hudson, by Carl Carmer, was published.  It is the most auspicious river anniversary now before us, the Hudson River Quadricentennial notwithstanding. 

The Hudson was the sixth title in the Rivers of America series -- which grew to 64 volumes after its founding by editor Constance Lindsay Skinner in  1937.  Carmer's book is widely recognized as the best of the lot.  He became editor of the series following Skinner's death in 1939.  It is said she died late at night while doing final edits on his book. 

Once a celebrated work for its content, The Hudson is now more celebrated for its iconic status.  Its   unfortunate antiquarian reputation makes many think of it as a relic, an old voice of old tales.  This is undeserved.

Carmer's book is a people's history, told in an engaging, personal style. Rather than rely on the hackneyed river symbols of the Revolutionary War, the Hudson River School, and estate owners, he tells of American Indians, rent strikers, shad fishermen and whalers.  His hidden Hudson reminds us that this is a river of people as much as it is a river of fish, environmental groups, tourism and grants programs. A fresh read of The Hudson is well worth your time. 

The Power of Film

A Conversation with Filmmaker Jim Brown

From INSIDEOUT, Jul-Aug '09. Copyright 2009, John Cronin

If you have seen the documentary film Pete Seeger: The Power of Song,  you have seen Jim Brown at his best – as filmmaker, storyteller, and a master weaver of music, performance and visual art.   Jim cut his teeth making films about Hudson River pollution in the early 1970s.    He is a straightforward filmmaker in the way Steinbeck and Hemingway were straightforward writers.  His art is a beautiful blend of story, design and style that mysteriously reveals more than what is apparent.  But story always come first.  I have watched the simple but probing storytelling of Power of Song move an audience to cheer.  Known best for his music documentaries, Jim also made Wasn’t That a Time, Peter Paul and Mary: Carry it On, and Three Pickers.  Watch for Pete Seeger: The Power of Song on PBS.    You can learn more about Jim  at www.jimbrownproductions.com.

JOHN CRONIN:  So, let’s start at the beginning.  You grew up in the Hudson Valley, in Croton?

JIM BROWN:  Yeah, actually when I was first born my family lived right on the Croton River. The Croton River was really untainted and remains untainted – and, actually, except for the garbage dump at Croton Point, a good part of the river that I had access to was idyllic.

What Do PCBs Look Like?

A Dredging Photo Album

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Many people have asked what General Electric's PCB dredging operation looks like.  Click the image below to link to an album of photos I took on June 15, a rainy Hudson River day punctuated by roving thunder and lightning.  The river around Fort Edward has been transformed into a mini-Mississippi of barges, workboats, tugs, laborers and engineers.  Local eateries stay open for the night crews, and there is the makings of a dredging tourism business.  It is fascinating to observe the activity and the breadth of the full operation.  And it is a beautiful part of New York State.  I recommend the trip.  While you're there, patronize local business.

For updates on the progress of the cleanup, visit EPA's Hudson River superfund website or visit GE's special dredging website.