Newburgh Clean Water Project

URGENT DEADLINE: JUNE 4th. Make your voice heard to protect our water! We're dependent on the Air National Guard and the Department of Defense to clean up our watershed, because they caused the pollution. But the military's Relative Risk Site Evaluation - a method of prioritizing cleanup activities - is deeply flawed. Riverkeeper, Earthjustice and Newburgh Clean Water Project have drafted this letter for individuals to send by June 4 so we get this cleanup done right! What ar...e the flaws? Here are some biggies: -- Polluted surface water, the most important impact from pollution, is not evaluated. -- Stormwater, the most important vector for contamination from the base to reach surface water, is not evaluated. -- Pollution in New Windsor's public wells are not evaluated. -- Polluted fish, and risk to anglers, are not evaluated. -- Only three types of PFAS are evaluated. -- PFAS concentrations are evaluated relative to weak federal guidelines, rather than more-protective NYS standards. Let's make sure the clean up is done right, for us and for generations to come. Clean water is a human right, and it's our responsibility to fight for it. https://secure.riverkeeper.org/site/Advocacy #CleanWater4NBNY #CleanWaterHumanRight #PFASdOff

Stewart Air National Guard Base has been accepted into the well-funded Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP, it's fun to say). Stewart is the first Air National Guard base remedial program to be funded under DERP. The money is scheduled to be available in September 2021. Now let's see what they do with it - our watershed urgently needs remediation! https://www.recordonline.com//air-national-gu/5155699001/

Thanks to the #WashingtonPost for shining a light on #NBNY's ongoing lead line problem, and our fight to get the #EPA to mandate remediation immediately. I don’t think anyone really has trusted our water in quite a few decades, said (Gabrielle) Burton Hill, a former fast-food manager turned activist. She was among more than a dozen residents who helped form the Newburgh Clean Water Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that joined the Sierra Club, NAACP and other major envir...onmental and civil rights organizations in suing the EPA. Their target is lead regulations put in place in the waning days of the Trump administration. The old rule, written in 1991 under President George H.W. Bush, required 90 percent of homes tested to have lead levels below 15 parts per billion. The Trump administration’s rule set a tighter trigger level of 10 parts per billion, but the change still left millions of Americans at risk of tainted tap water even when a water utility is in compliance. Young children are most vulnerable to lead poisoning and can suffer irreversible brain damage. We had hoped for a real overhaul, said Suzanne Novak, a staff attorney at Earthjustice who is leading the litigation while the EPA reviews the rule for a potential revision. It’s been 30 years. It's time this historic issue is addressed, to protect our most vulnerable. Everyone deserves access to clean water. #CleanWater4NBNY #SafeWater #waterislife https://www.washingtonpost.com//biden-hopes-dig-up-nation/

Want to be part of the transition away from fossil fuels? @SunCommon is looking for electricians and installers who are ready to help wire our communities with renewable energy. Heath insurance, good pay, time off, retirement plan, student loan contributions, company vehicles, and growth opportunities! Looking for fulfilling work with an amazing team? Click below to learn more. #JustTransition #GreenEnergyJobs https://suncommon.com/electricians-and-solar.../...

Today, New York State announced that more than 40 communities will benefit from the new Drinking Water Source Protection Program including Town of Newburgh. The program will assist communities in developing multi-faceted programs to address specific threats to their drinking water supplies, including how their water supply interacts with others. Congratulations to all the winnng communities!

Join us for the 9th Annual Riverkeeper Sweep, a day of service for the Hudson River and its tributaries! This year, we'll be cleaning up the eastern perimeter of Muchattoes Lake, create an opening to the Lake at South William Street, and start to re-connect the area to other natural anchors, Crystal Lake, Quassaick Creek, Delano-Hitch Park, thus creating our own emerald necklace. Wear long sleeves and pants, tools provided! This event is family- friendly. #WatershedMomentNBNY #GreenNBNY #riverkeeper

Sign to get the lead out of our drinking water! Our lead line replacement program ran out of funds quickly. Join #EnvironmentalAdvocates of NY in urging Governor Cuomo and state representatives to invest in communities like ours and protect public health, create thousands of good-paying jobs, and jump-start our economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis by providing more funds for lead line replacement! #CleanWater4NBNY #environmentaljustice4nbny #gettheleadout https://p2a.co/dCFsDxE

Today! Join #HudsonRiverWatershedAlliance and members of the Newburgh #RestorationAdvisoryCommittee to learn about how to find PFAS chemicals, and what to do about it! #NoPFASPlease #CleanWater4NBNY

Thanks to #HudsonRiverSloopClearwater who created this film featuring NBNY's own #JenniferRawlison and her family as leading voices on the Hudson. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=468795560743263

The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) is doing an Exposure Assessment in the City of Newburgh. This is to help understand how much we've been affected. It'll help establish a baseline for the clean-up needed in NBNY. Households have been selected at random to participate. If your household has been selected, any information will not be identifiable as personal to you in the study. This is a way to help your community eventually get funding for the clean-up we so desperately need. Feel free to share any of this information, and message us with any questions. We'll happily pass them on to the ATSDR team!

Is your phone ringing? It may be the PFAS Assessment Team from ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry). The Exposure Assessment benefits us by tracking our exposure to the PFAS "forever chemicals" in the City of Newburgh. This important work will help us get more funds to clean up our community in the future! A random selection of households received invitation letters explaining the assessment and registration process. ATSDR representatives will be calling those households to invite them to participate or to reschedule appointments. Reminder postcards will also be sent. ATSDR representatives may also visit selected households if the letter and phone call attempts are unsuccessful. The household visits are tentatively scheduled to start on October 13, 2020. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov//ass/sites/orange-county-ny.html

What the heck is PFAS, anyway? Join #HudsonRiverWatershedAlliance October 8th to find out more about the chemical that poisoned our local water source! #NoPFASPlease #CleanWater4NBNY #WatershedMomentNBNY

Live now! Building Collective Power: Protecting Our Community in the Face of PFAS and Lead. #WatershedmomentNBNY #nopfasplease #environmentaljustice4nbny

Tonight! We want to hear from you - your concerns, questions and health stories. We're bringing together Dr. Erin Bell of SUNY Albany School of Public Health, health advocates, nurses, mothers, and students to learn more about how PFAS can affect usparticularly our children, how to prevent further exposure, and to share local health resources while we fight for comprehensive care and cleanup. Free and open to all. See you there! #NoPFASPlease #PFASdOff #EnvironmentalJustice4NBNY

Reminder - Today! Building Our Collective Power Protecting the Health of our Children & Community in the Face of PFAS & Lead - https://mailchi.mp//sept23-2020-ncwp-monthly-water-session

Listen up, NY: NJ Gov. Phil Murphy signed one of the country's most stringent environmental justice bills into law yesterday. The legislation would affect communities in more than half of the state's municipalities, where officials say neighbors have borne a greater level of pollution, and the public health risks and lowered life expectancy that go along with it. "This law will bring with it a sea change in how government looks at its ultimate responsibility to ensure the ri...ghts of its people to clean air and clean water," Murphy said at a signing ceremony in Newark. #EnvironmentalJustice4NBNY https://www.northjersey.com//murphy-oks-tough-/3491216001/

Calling all Moms, Nurses, Health Advocates & Students Interested in Public Health & Environmental Justice! Join Us Wednesday Sept. 23rd, 6-7:30 PM for This Month's Water Session: Building Our Collective Power Protecting the Health of our Children & Community in the Face of PFAS & Lead - https://mailchi.mp//sept23-2020-ncwp-monthly-water-session