Essay on Dredging the Hudson River

When the Canal was built towns all along the route from Buffalo to Albany prospered from the revenue and the attraction the Canal brought with it. Whether the Canal was being used for business people, immigrants, settlers of the region, or tourists, the border-towns all had some appeal to these persons. After some time the state was continually asked to expand the Canal from the original route to include connecting canal routes. However, the same towns along the route from Buffalo to Albany had already been established along the lines of the original canal. These towns would need to be relocated in order to obey these new requests. This presented a major problem because the people in these towns had formed a life around the Canal and many of them made their income based of the Canal. The inhabitants of the towns changed their mentality from not wanting the Canal to invade on their lives, to it being an essential part of their lives they depended upon.

From 1947 to 1977, these two plants legally discharged from 500,000 to 1.5 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson, and unknowingly saturated the bedrock beneath both sites with at least that much again. There are PCBs in Hudson River water, biota, and sediment from Hudson Falls to New York City - 200 miles that comprise the nations largest Superfund site. Pure PCBs are oozing out of the bedrock to this day, constantly recontaminating the river and over 300,000 pounds remain concentrated in bottom sediments of the river today. The spread of PCBs throughout the Hudson River and the food chain, which it supports, has created one of the most extensive hazardous waste problems in the nation. Polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) are a group of synthetic oil-like chemicals (therefore insoluble in water) of the organochlorine family. Until their toxic nature was recognized and their use was banned in the 1970s, they were widely used as insulation in electrical equipment, particularly transformers. Reputable chemists have since concluded, “it was probably a mistake ever to make or use PCBs.” These are serious poisons, which have been shown to cause damage to the reproductive, neurological and immune systems of wildlife and humans and are known to cause cancer. Exposure has also been linked to behavioral damage. Specifically, because PCBs in the body mimic estrogen, women of childbearing age and their infants are particularly susceptible

In The Artificial River, Carol Sheriff describes how when the digging of the Erie Canal began on July 4, 1817, no one would have been able to predict that the canal would even be considered a paradox of progress. One of the major contradictions of progress was whether or not triumphing art over nature was even considered progress. People were not sure during the nineteenth century if changing the environment for industrialization was necessarily a good thing. Another contradiction to progress that resulted from the Erie Canal was when people started holding the state government responsible for all their financial misfortunes. An additional contradiction to progress that the Erie Canal displayed was how many of its workers were either

The Erie Canal was set in the state of New York which would be built to connect Albany and Buffalo. The concept of the Erie Canal began fifty years before actually starting construction in 1817. However, completion of the Erie Canal did not end until 1825 which resulted in a water route 364-miles long that connected the Hudson River in Albany and the Great lakes in Buffalo. Industrialization was sped up by the Erie Canal decades after it was completed because it improved transportation, trade, commerce and settlement in the United States.

The goal of this program was to reduce the level of nitrogen and phosphorous flowing to the Bay by 40% by the year 2000, from their 1985 levels (Blankenship 2). The first step in this program was to reduce the amount of nutrient pollution from point sources (end-of-the-pipe) such as wastewater treatment facilities that feed into the many tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay (The Chesapeake Bay Watershed 1). However, the results of these cleanup efforts were not enough to reach the goal of the program. Therefore, the areas involved now had to target the non-point sources of nitrogen and phosphorous. The non-point sources are storm water run off from agricultural and developed sites, air pollution, and the development of sensitive forests that act as buffers for tributaries and the Bay (1). The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act of 1989 took aim at these sources in Tidewater Virginia by requiring resource management practices in the use and development of environmentally sensitive land (1). The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Ordinance of 1991 also took aim at these non-point sources by designating environmentally sensitive areas in Virginia Beach as Resource Protection Areas and Resource Management Areas which are intended to protect the integrity of the lands that effect the Chesapeake Bay (2). The States involved also

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was chartered in 1825 (Chesapeake). The canal runs from Georgetown all the way to the Ohio River in Pennsylvania. It is known as one of the best canals ever built. Eventually the canal was taken over by the government and declared as a national monument by President Eisenhower (Chesapeake). The C&O canal is in Georgetown, Virginia. It is parallel to the Chesapeake River. Georgetown is a little town in the city of Washington D.C. This part of Virginia is always very busy. This site tells me that the occupants have a very busy lifestyle and that they are of the upper class. This site could be used by many different people. For example, if someone has fur and it needed to be transported over to

There are many processes to the formation of Connecticut's surface and landscape.There were many different reasons why Connecticut got its features, for example plate tectonics formed the Appalachian Mountains. Glaciation put the rocks all along the coastline of Hammonasset Beach. Last is weathering and erosion again Hammonasset beach had all of those rocks and since they had cracks in the rocks the water got in and froze even some of the biggest rocks.

This paper will inform the reader why the Delaware River was polluted and how it is being solved. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to clean up all rivers and lakes to make sure that every waterway in America is healthy and not harmful to humans or animals. With the coordination of the EPA, and the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA) are trying to fix the problems that have occurred over years that humans have been around the Delaware River. The use of a Combined Sewer Overflow Program also known as a CSO is very important for the protection of drinking water in major cities including New York City and Philadelphia. The toxic chemical levels are at an all-time high making this one of the dirtiest rivers in North America. This paper will talk about what results were received from the multiple tests that were taken from multiple sites along the Delaware River and its tributaries. Also, what solutions are being used to solve the problem that is at hand to make sure the public has knowledge of the toxic levels in the water and to make sure that everyone including the animals nearby have clean and safe drinking water?

Between 2002 and 2005 alone, the amount of chemical substances produced or imported in the United States increased from 42 billion pounds per day to 74 billion pounds per day. The amount of chemicals in commerce in the United States has increased from 62,000 grandfathered chemicals in 1976, to almost 83,000 in 2008, a difference of more than 20,000. Of this 83,000, the EPA has only been able to ban or restrict five chemicals under TSCA: PCBs, dioxin, CFCs, hexavalent chromium, and asbestos. Additionally, the EPA has independently tested only 250 of the 83,000 registered chemicals in commerce in the United States. Richard Denison, a Senior Scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund explained these incredibly low numbers by stating, “TSCA places an impossibly high burden on EPA before it can act to control a chemical.” In fact, under TSCA, “the EPA can’t even require testing to determine whether a risk exists without first showing a risk is likely.” For that reason, a large majority of chemicals used in the United States have never been tested for health and environmental effects. Studies have shown that due to the proliferation of these chemicals into homes, workplaces, and schools, the average American has a detectable concentration of 300 environmental chemicals. Among other issues, many of these chemicals can affect brain and organ function and cause cancer. Consequently, it is clear that

The term pollutants can be defined as dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. The leaching of chemicals from the timbers can be categorized under chemical wastes (from timbers) into the pollutant category. These chemicals have also altered the integrity of the water since it has shown to decrease the fish population in Middle Fork. In addition to this, the gasoline can also be considered a conventional pollutant since it is related to oil and it alters the physical integrity of the water by creating a sheen.

In this research paper I will be talking about the Connecticut River, the common sewer overflow and sewer discharge that goes into the river, I will be focusing on the pollutants that are in the CT river, I will also focus on the high density towns and the affect it has on them, then I will talk about the ecological impacts and economical aspects. The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region, it spans through five states Maine (Small portions), Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, discharging into the Long island sound. The river serves more than two million people throughout New England. The main issue with the river is the untreated storm water and sewer waste that is being discharged into it which causes many harmful effects not only to the many different species that call the CT River its home, but to the people that live around the CT River. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the discharging of combined sewer systems directly into surface waters upon capacity overload, are a large source of pollution of U.S. waterways. A report from the Environment and Connecticut Research and policy center has said that industrial facilities have discharged 224,029 pounds of toxic waste into the Connecticut waterways in the year of 2012. There are many government agencies such as the EPA and committees like the Connecticut River Cleanup Committee that are raising funds and awareness in order to help clean up the Connecticut River

The driving force behind the Erie Canal was Governor Dewitt Clinton of New York. The purpose was to connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean through the Hudson River. Because there were not yet any railroads, shipping goods west was very costly and could take as long as two weeks. Construction began in 1817 with thousands of workers, including local farmers, New England migrants, and foreign immigrants, starting the digging. These workers were paid approximately $10 per month and had to work with very primitive, basic tools while doing most of the digging by hand. The Erie Canal was finally completed on October 26, 1825 with settlers almost immediately coming in to New York, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio. The completion allowed goods

The Illinois River is a very interesting tourist stop, with everything from being a part of the setting in the novel, Where the Red Fern Grows, to the current use of the river for entertainment. The Illinois River has many uses, some important and some for fun. The many attractions draw people in to explore the river. The location of the Illinois River is something not a lot of people know, because the name indicates it would be in Illinois. The river is actually located in Oklahoma and runs through Arkansas.

On February 3, 2017, Francine Kopun wrote an article called “Hudson’s Bay making bid to take over Macy’s”. Hudson’s bay is said to become one of the leading operator of department stores globally if it takes over Macy’s. As of now, Macy’s is a struggling department store that has started to shut down approximately 100 stores in order to cut costs and become profitable. In addition, the shopping habits of customers have been changing to virtual shopping, which reduced mall traffic in the U.S. Also, Arthur Fleishmann said he thinks its more of a real estate play and believes that Hudson’s Bay would not bring Macy’s into the Canadian market as it is one of Hudson’s Bays biggest competitors.

Polychlorinated biphenyls are mixtures of up to 209 individual chlorinated compounds (known as congeners). There are no known natural sources of PCBs. PCBs are either oily liquids or solids that are colorless to light yellow. Some PCBs can exist as a vapor in air. PCBs have no known smell or taste. Many commercial PCB mixtures are known in the U.S. by the trade name Aroclor.PCBs have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment because they don't burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the U.S. in 1977 because of evidence they build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects. Products made before 1977 that may contain PCBs include old fluorescent