Riverkeeper Inc.

“Members participate in organization's governance at the annual membership meeting in june. They elect members to the board of directors.”

“At each membership annual meeting thereafter, a number of directors equal to that of those who terms have expired will be elected by a plurality of the members for a term of three years and the earliest of the election or appointment and qualification of such director's successor or until such director's death, resignation, or removal. At the expiration of any term of three years, any director may be elected. Candidates for election as directors will be nominated by the nominating committee. Members of the corporation who desire to nominate a member to the board of directors, in addition to those candidates proposed by the nominating committee, may do so on a petition signed by not less than one hundred members and delivered to the secretary of the corporation not less than six months prior to the annual meeting of the members. No more than one petition for election shall be accepted and therefore, if more than one petition is submitted, the submission with the greatest number of signatures will apply; in the case of a more than one petition with equal number of signatures, the petition first submitted will be accepted.”

“The president and treasurer will review and approve the form 990 prior to filing.”

“On a yearly basis, the board of directors meet to complete a "conflict of interest" acknowledgement which documents and signifies that no current conflict of interest exists between the board members and outside organizations. At each subsequent meeting, before any decisions are made, it is clarified that there is no conflict of interest for anyone in the room. If there is a conflict, that person will be excluded from the decision.”

“Riverkeeper makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“Riverkeeper, inc ("riverkeeper") is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to protect and restore the hudson river from source to sea and safeguards drinking water supplies, through advocacy rooted in community partnerships, science and law. Riverkeeper is currently focused on the following goals: improve the water quality of the hudson river and its tributaries and protect drinking water supplies; restore wildlife and habitats in the hudson river and its tributaries; support communities seeking to envision and enact positive change in their relationships with the hudson river, its tributaries, and drinking water supplies; and address climate change's impacts on the hudson river, its tributaries, shoreline communities and drinking water supplies.”

“Riverkeeper legal program summary: the legal program achieves our mission though litigation, comments on agency actions, and advocacy. Legal program staff current includes the director, three attorneys, and a para-legal. These staff co-operate with other riverkeeper programs as needed to best achieve our shared goals. Current litigation and advocacy campaigns concern the need to: i) further clean up the hudson as a result of pcb pollution from general electric; ii) safely decommission all three indian point reactors; iii) provide safe renewable power to replace that currently generated by indian point and fossil fuel power plants; iv) reduce combined sewage overflow and stormwater pollution throughout the watershed; v) improve the protection for new york city's drinking water and that of other communities in the hudson river watershed; vi) prevent and remove toxics from drinking water; vii) prevent the siting of new polluting facilities that would discharge to the hudson or its tributaries or add to climate change; viii) provide a positive community vision for superfund clean ups. The legal program provides wide ranging support to other riverkeeper programs to advance the objectives of these campaigns. Our work continues to develop as new issues emerge, bur broadly we are dedicated to cleaning up past pollution and ensuring that new sources of pollution are prevented from further contaminating the hudson. In 2021 major victories included: i) agreement on indian point decommissioning and establishment of a public oversight body; ii) halting the air train to la guardia while other alternatives are examined; iii) enforcing the requirement for polluting facilities to have stormwater permits and pollution prevention plans at multiple locations, and compliance with such permits; and iv) inducing the dec to reject permits for the danskammer power plant, which would have added to greenhouse gas emissions; v) inducing the dec to reject permits for a waste facility in troy ny and intervening to ensure that rejection was upheld on appeal.”

“Riverkeeper's water quality program focuses on coordinating community science to gather water quality data from the hudson river and its tributaries, engaging grassroots and community-level partners in the protection of water resources, advocating for pollution reduction projects and programs locally and statewide, and advocating for protecting water - particularly drinking water - at its source through effective watershed management. While not exhaustive, these accomplishments demonstrate some of the impact of our work in this fiscal year: new york state established the drinking water source protection program, which will serve roughly 40 communities by providing technical assistance to develop plan to identify, reduce and eliminate sources of contamination in their drinking water supplies. Riverkeeper advocated for the program, served as an advisor in its creation, and, using the drinking water source protection scorecard we developed, helped several communities successfully apply to receive assistance in the program's first round. These include peekskill, ossining and the "hudson 7" communities that draw drinking water from the hudson river: city and town of poughkeepsie, village and town of rhinebeck, and the towns of esopus, hyde park and lloyd. In all, the water supplies for these communities serve over 230,000 people as primary or backup sources in our region. We developed, implemented and shared via regional (ny nj harbor estuary program) and national (waterkeeper alliance) networks safety protocols to facilitate the resumption of community science water quality sampling in the hudson river watershed. Riverkeeper and our partners gathered and publicly reported data from approximately 3,800 samples in the hudson river, its tributaries, and waters around new york city. We substantially completed sampling projects in the saw mill river and sparkill creek, designed to update new york state water quality assessments for these impaired hudson river tributaries. In addition: - we partnered with the media sanctuary in troy, ny, to launch its water justice lab, a project that includes mentoring youth in the designated environmental justice area of north troy in lab processing techniques, media training and production, and the monthly processing of water samples from the upper hudson river. - new york state finalized regulations to implement the drug take back program, based on the law we have advocated for. The program will require pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide convenient consumer-friendly ways to dispose of unused medications, to address both pharmaceutical pollution in waterways and the use and abuse of opioids and other pharmaceuticals. - the us department of defense announced that the remedial investigation at stewart air national guard base would proceed, following riverkeeper's advocacy with newburgh residents, city officials and federal elected officials. Riverkeeper's technical analysis of cleanup plans informed decision making and advocacy at various stages. This phase of cleanup will comprehensively define pfas contamination sources affecting newburgh's primary reservoir, washington lake, as well as tributaries of the hudson river. New york state also issued a new permit for a failing wastewater treatment plant that influences water quality at brown's pond, newburgh's backup water supply, following advocacy by riverkeeper in partnership with newburgh city officials. - westchester county completed the site characterization phase of pfas cleanup at westchester county airport. Riverkeeper provided comments and technical analysis informing the cleanup process. - the department of environmental conservation finalized its latest list of impaired waters, including the wallkill river, washington lake and browns pond as impaired, based on riverkeeper's comments.”

“Riverkeeper's patrol boat "r. Ian fletcher" maintains a near constant presence on the hudson river and its major tributaries between march and november each year, patrolling ny harbor, the hudson estuary, the mohawk and upper hudson and historically logging between 5,000 and 6,000 patrol miles per season. The vessel has been modified to enable it to best serve its mission as a pollution watchdog monitor, a platform for scientific research and an ambassador for the river. During patrols we also provide support for scientific studies that advance understanding of the hudson's ecosystem, bring local, federal and regional decision-makers, environmental enforcement agencies, academics, the media, and community stakeholders out to gain a critical perspective from the water. On these trips, captain lipscomb shares his deep knowledge of the river -- its wildlife, critical habitat zones, pollution sources and water quality management issues. The boat program is critical to riverkeeper's work and its role is unique on the hudson river estuary. In 2016, we commissioned and launched a second vessel, a 20' outboard. This vessel not only allows us to respond swiftly to emergencies but also enables us to work in hard to access areas and locations which the larger fletcher can not reach due to height or draft restrictions. Boat program also includes riverkeeper's habitat restoration coordinator, a staff position dedicated to work on barrier removal and numerous other fish, wildlife and habitat restoration opportunities that are central to riverkeeper's mission. Some of patrol boat program's work in fiscal year 2021 includes: - our patrols are a platform to identify and enforce environmental law violations and as a deterrent to would-be polluters. This fiscal year, for the first time since our water quality sampling program was established in 2007, the patrol boat stepped back from conducting monthly sampling on the hudson's main stem, transferring those duties to a different vessel, and in doing so, gained the freedom to engage more community and government partners in different parts of the estuary and driving a slate of community advocacy and habitat restoration goals. - patrol completed its second-ever regular patrol of jamaica bay in july, further documenting abandoned and sunken barges littering varnam basin, and building relationships with the community, including longtime jamaica bay advocate dan mundy. - riverkeeper, together in partnership with the city of hoboken, n.j., jointly applied and were awarded a noaa grant for $235,000 for our most significant progress to date in removing sunken or derelict vessels in the hudson (many of them abandoned in weehawken cove and dating back to sandy or irene or before). The project calls for removal of 18 vessels representing all known derelict vessels in the estuary. - patrol was featured widely in the press throughout the 2021 season, including a sunday feature in the new york times on july 17 featuring capt. Lipscomb and batu on patrol in jamaica bay. Gannett and governing magazine also produced multi-page spreads covering our work with the hudson 7 and patrol. We hosted vox media aboard near indian point in september with legal director richard webster to discuss post-closure environmental monitoring. - capt. John lipscomb is a founding member of the hudson river safety committee, an advisory body including representatives from industry, recreation, conservation and other stakeholders formed after our participation in the coast guard's ports and waterways safety assessment, which was triggered by riverkeeper's leadership and advocacy on a proposal by industry to designate 43 new anchorage grounds on the hudson (a request suspended indefinitely as a result of our advocacy). - our watchdog function has communicated with hundreds of members of the public, helping to report and resolve numerous observed conditions affecting water quality in the hudson and its tributaries. Restoring biological in”