WINTER QUARTERLY MEETING - THURSDAY, February 2, 2006 - 6:00 P.M
Program Co-sponsored by Rockland Community College

Place: Rockland Community College (Academic Bldg.1 Room 1106)

Directions: NYS Thruway Leave at Exit 14B (Airmont). Turn on Airmont Road (right if coming from south and left if coming from north) which becomes Highview Road. Turn left at 4th stoplight, onto College Road. Follow College Road and turn left onto campus at main entrance.
9W or 202 Take Route 202 West past the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Turn left at 3rd stoplight onto Route 306. Turn right at 3rd stoplight onto Viola Road. Turn left at next stoplight onto College Road. The campus is the next right.
PIP Leave at exit 9W (NY State Thruway (US 87) west toward Albany). Leave thruway at Exit 14B (Airmont Road) and follow directions as described above.

6:00 P.M. Reports on Environmental Issues

Bill Baker VP for Academic Affairs SUNY Rockland Community College -highlights of the successful Recycle Reuse Program on campus

6:15PM Comments by County of Rockland Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef

6:30 P.M. Program: New York Academy of Sciences -(Harbor Project) Industrial Ecology, Pollution Prevention, and the New York/New Jersey Harbor
"Industrial pollution of the NY/NJ Harbor looms as one of this region's most pressing environmental problems. If pollution concerns are not resolved in an acceptable way for the broad base of stakeholders, they will compromise human and environmental health and impede the region's economic expansion." (Excerpted from Executive Summary)

Our very special thanks to Marta Panero, Ph.D. Director, Harbor Project, for sharing with us this very important work.

Membership dues for 2006 are payable at this time. A membership application and return envelope are enclosed. Since 1930, RCCA has worked to preserve, protect and conserve the natural resources of the county and beyond. As you know, demands and impacts on these resources have multiplied.

We need you. Dues and donations from members and friends have sustained the efforts of the Association, where all are volunteers. Please renew you membership for 2006. New members are most welcome. Each member is very important to RCCA.

 

The Whole Picture
Dorice Madronero

Understanding exposures is critical to establishing acceptable thresholds. The work of the New York Academy of Sciences Harbor Project offers compelling information on how our everyday habits relate directly to the contamination of our watershed. As outlined in A System Approach to A Messy Pollution Problem-The Academy's Harbor Project Advances an Emerging Field, by Christine Van Lenten she states "Small-quantity, toxic substance generators can have large cumulative environmental impacts." (http://www.nyas.org/snc/update.asp?UpdateID=22)

What is more basic to a healthy community than nutrients from healthy soil, oxygen from clean air and water that is not polluted? RCCA has an impressive history of expressing concerns for actions that disregard the care for the basics that sustain healthy life. Our perspective continues to pursue awareness and understanding of what is needed to ensure a healthy future. It is for this reason that it is as important now, as ever, to be aware of the interactions of our choices relative to the environment and our health.

Toxicgenomics a fairly new scientific discipline considers the interaction of cell's genome, chemicals and disease. As defined by P.Trinia Simmons and Christopher J. Portier, in commentary written in Carcinogenesis, Vol. 23, No. 6, 903-905, June 2002 © 2002 Oxford University Press; "Toxicogenomics is the newest weapon in the arsenal of risk analysis tools. It is defined as the application of knowledge of genes associated with disease states to the study of the toxicology of chemical and physical agents. Toxicogenomics involves two fields of science, molecular biology and toxicology. Recent advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease hold great promise in reducing the disease burden on human populations."

Appearing in the Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 113, Number 6, June 2005, (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/7595/abstract.html) a study by Alexander V. Sergeev and David O. Carpenter, of the Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany, New York report in their research article that "Hospitalization Rates for Coronary Heart Disease in Relation to Residence Near Areas Contaminated with Persistent Organic Pollutants and Other Pollutants" certainly gives us pause for thought. In summary they state, "we determined that residency in persistent organic pollutants (POP) -contaminated sites is associated with increased rates of hospitalization for coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Although the cross-sectional design of the study prevents us from making definitive conclusions on causal inference, the results support the hypothesis that exposure to PCB's, dioxins/furans, and persistent pesticides as a result of living near a hazardous waste site results in an elevated risk of CHD."

As a benchmark of value the real estate market echoes, location, location, location. This considers the surrounding area relative to a property. Environmental integrity is therefore, inextricably meshed with economics and quality of life. What becomes of property degraded by contaminants or overdevelopment that erodes wetlands and exacerbates flooding, causing diminished water supply has direct implications to our personal health and that of a community.

Connecting the dots a favorite, pastime puzzle of children clearly shows us the importance of linking each dot in order to see the whole picture.

FORD PAINT SLUDGE CLEANUP UPDATE
Geoff Welch

RCCA board members Chuck Stead and Geoff Welch continue to aid in the efforts to promote a cleanup of old paint sludge dump sites in Rockland. The sludge came from the Ford Motor Company plant that operated in Mahwah, NJ from 1955 to 1980 and was dumped illegally. On January 10, in Torne Valley, they met four DEC staffers from the Division of Environmental Remediation in Albany, including Remedial Bureau C, Director, Robert Schick. Joining them was, Catherine Quinn of the Rockland County Health Department. Chuck has knowledge of Torne Valley paint sludge sites he witnessed as a boy and Geoff has been working on this issue for two decades. An inspection was conducted of the area between the Ramapo Landfill and Torne Brook in order to show the DEC Ford Motor Company paint sludge deposits not yet on the list for investigation and cleanup under consent agreements between NYS and Ford. The area along Torne Brook presents a tough challenge to clean without disturbing the steep embankment that sometime in the past, was pushed over the natural stream corridor and now has trees and other plants growing on it. Director Schick thinks that possibly a plan could be made to clean the deposits away from the stream - and in the stream - but only remove the surface deposits from the steep stream embankment in place to preserve a stabilized riparian corridor.

It would be highly desirable to put a conservation easement in place for this property so it is not further disturbed and remains as a natural buffer between the landfill, which is a remediated Superfund site and Torne Brook. A spawning Brook Trout stream, Torne Brook also provides foraging habitat for the Threatened species, Timber rattlesnakes and possibly Red shouldered hawks. Torne Mountain provides the majestic backdrop for this site and preserving the natural beauty here protects the viewshed painted by leading Hudson River School artists.

Photo by Geoff Welch

The same day, at the request of the DEC, Catherine Quinn, Chuck Stead and Geoff Welch - joined by several of Chuck's environmental students - checked a reported Ford paint sludge area near Camp Hill Road in unincorporated Ramapo. One of the students found the first of several pieces of Ford paint sludge visible on the surface in a swamp just beyond a pond constructed for what was a camp about 1973. We have reported our results with photographs to the DEC. This site should be studied and then remediated with ecological restoration by Ford.

Vigilance Counts
Doris Metraux

Just like you, I always discover more of the natural magic in this lower Hudson area, and Rockland County, which is uniquely located between the mighty Hudson and great expanse of parkland. Learning about the surrounding flora and fauna and the history of a particular place is made easy, the peripherals are numerous, but for me one stands out: This areas greatest wildlife spectacle, namely the annual hawk migration.

Every day from late August to the middle of November, a small number of us bird enthusiasts count hawks, eagles and falcons atop Bear Mountain or Hook Mountain as they cross the Hudson, which is part of the Eastern Continental Flyway, on their southwesterly way from their northern breeding grounds to their wintering quarters with destinations stretching as far as the Amazon. The most numerous of 16 species of hawks are the broadwings. In the past Hook Mountain had one day with a total of 13,000 and Bear Mountain with over 8,000. There are also many quiet days when weather conditions are wrong and rising columns of hot air known as thermals, which most hawks need to migrate efficiently, are missing.

Our view is nothing short of breathtaking and even days without action are special. Unlike hawks, which cross the river and use mountain ridges on their way south, the Hudson Valley is a natural avian route for thousands of Canada and snow geese, brant, cormorants, ducks and smaller birds once their food supply in the Canadian North gets cut off and they must leave for refuges along the Atlantic coast and beyond.

As of this writing we are waiting for more wintering bald eagles on the Hudson to join the approximately 35 individuals which are here already. As soon as there are ice floes on the river our beautiful Haverstraw Bay County Park is a great vantage point to scan for them, ideally with binoculars or a telescope.

Region wide, there have been as many as 150 wintering bald eagles counted in past years. Each year makes its own rules of unpredictability and never ending fascination and each one of us needs to be vigilant to keep it that way.

Photo by Dorice Madronero

 

Newsletter - Dorice Madronero; Distribution - Faith Leigh, Betty Hedges

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