The Hudson River Ecosystem

A major objective of this book is the documentation and retrospective examination of the most recent, major, human-induced impacts on the Hudson River, with special attention given to the procedure known as environmental impact assessment (EIA). Specifically, we shall focus on the role that science and scientists have played in the EIA process.

The Hudson River springs from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. From its source, the river flows in a southerly direction for about 315 river miles (RM) (507 km) to the Battery, New York City, where it discharges into upper New York Bay (Figure 2.1). The Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson River, flows in a generally east-southeast direction to its junction with the Hudson River just north of Albany.

The construction and operation of high-capacity power stations on waterways ranks among the most significant environmental alterations by technological society. In the U.S., the problems associated with power plant operation were recognized and addressed specifically by Section 316 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which dealt with the issues of thermal discharges and intake structures for cooling water. To a large degree, the questions of environmental impact from power plants originated in the controversies surrounding the facilities built, or planned, on the Hudson to service the greater New York metropolitan area. The history of the 17-year controversy about six power stations provides us with several useful observations of various aspects of environmental management: 1) the evolution of awareness, on the part of both the general public and resource management agencies, of the large-scale effects that can be associated with power plants; 2) the development of research programs to accurately assess potential impacts; 3) the frustrating use of models to predict impacts long into the future; 4) the difficulties associated with bringing scientific assessment into the courtroom; and 5) the remarkable success of a mediation effort that led to a 10-year “ceasefire” between utility companies and regulatory agencies.

When former New York State Commissioner of Environmental Conservation Ogden Reid warned consumers on August 8, 1975 against eating fish from the Hudson River and Lake Ontario because of contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), relatively few people were even aware of the existence of these compounds. Less than one decade later, PCB has become a household term with notoriety at par with DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane); moreover, a burst of scientific research has revealed PCB dispersal around the globe and throughout the biosphere. The discovery and scientific concern about such wide distribution of PCBs lent needed impetus for Congress to pass the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976 (Letz, 1983). In the Hudson, the problem of PCBs went unrecognized for decades, since PCBs were considered non-reactive. That problem became compounded year after year until, finally, regulatory agencies were forced to recognize the severity of this toxic hazard.

Manhattan Island has been increasing in area since the late 1700s. Shoreline expansion into the Hudson and East Rivers and into New York Bay has been used for creating more coveted real estate and for convenient waste and construction debris disposal. In past years, expansion of the southern end of Manhattan through encroachment into the Hudson and East Rivers has occurred with regularity. Most recently, Battery Park City, a commercial and residential development currently under construction, involved filling in almost 100 acres of the Hudson River at the southwestern tip of the island.

What has been depicted in the preceding chapters is a portrait of the Hudson River under somewhat haphazard management. Three distinct types of threats to the Hudson ecosystem were at issue, representing direct reductions of animal populations (power plant operation), removal of toxic substances (PCB pollution), and habitat destruction (Westway construction). Each situation that we have chosen to study has had the same characteristics: 1) scientific investigations have been used to help gather information, to clarify phenomena, or to explain effects; 2) none of the findings have gone unchallenged; so that 3) aspects of all of these impacts have gone to trial; and 4) action, if any, has proceeded by court edict more often than not.

This chapter summarizes the data base literature for research conducted on the Hudson River, and describes the comprehensive bibliography that follows as Bibliographies A and B. The following discussion includes, for the most part, research carried out for the estuarine power plant impact assessments. The literature that was sponsored directly by the utility companies is described first, followed by a summary of the open literature. Research concerning PCBs is summarized in Chapter 4; however, highlights of that extensive literature are included in Table 7.27.