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Environment DEC


From the August 2004 issue

Governor Pataki Announces Funds for Hudson Cleanup, Preservation Projects in Capital District

image of Governor
With the Hudson River as a
backdrop, Governor Pataki
announced his latest cleanup
plans for the river

Governor George E. Pataki has announced that $2 million from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) will be used to address pollution from combined municipal and storm sewers and to improve water quality in the Hudson River. The money will fund a collaborative effort among six riverfront communities and the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) that will help achieve the Governor's goal of making the entire length of the Hudson River swimmable by 2009.

The grant will enable the riverfront communities of Albany, Cohoes, Green Island, Rensselaer, Troy and Watervliet, working with the CDRPC, to develop the first phase of a long-term plan to control Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Typically occuring in sewer systems that are quite old, CSOs contribute pollutants and impair water quality in the river, particularly during heavy rain storms, as they combine rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and industrial wastewater.

During Phase I, the CDRPC and the six communities will conduct a comprehensive inventory of discharge points, examine correlations between rainfall records and water quality and develop and implement a monitoring program that measures frequency, duration, flow rate, volume, and pollutant concentration of CSOs and their impacts on receiving waters.

Preservation Projects

image of USS Slater
The USS Slater in Albany
image of cathedral
Albany's Cathedral of
the Immaculate
Conception

The Governor also announced $1,347,000 in EPF grants for six open space, recreation and historic preservation projects in Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Columbia counties.

Albany County

  • Destroyer Escort Historic Museum: $27,000 for restoration painting and restoring the engines of the USS Slater, a destroyer escort ship currently serving as a World War II museum and tourist attraction at Albany's Snow Dock.
  • Cathedral Restoration Corporation: $350,000 to restore the exterior sandstone surface of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the third oldest continuing cathedral and oldest Neo-Gothic cathedral in the United States.
  • Cathedral of All Saints: $75,000 to continue masonry restoration of this historically important church; the first built in the US as an Episcopal cathedral and the fifth largest church in the United States.

Rensselaer County

  • City of Troy: $195,000 to buy an existing junkyard in the North Central neighborhood and improve waterfront property. Plans include a planned waterfront bicycle and pedestrian trail and enhancement of the adjacent site where construction of a city-owned boat launch and fishing pier at Ingall's Avenue are underway.

Schenectady County

  • Arts Center and Theatre of Schenectady, Inc.: $350,000 for enhancements, including a new roof over the auditorium and improving acoustics of Proctor's Theatre, a 2,700-seat National Register Historic Theatre in Schenectady's downtown arts and entertainment district.

Columbia County

  • Shaker Museum and Library: $350,000 to fund the second phase of a structural stabilization of the North Family Shaker Great Stone Barn.