1000 River Road – T090C
Teaneck, NJ 07666
201-692-8440
201-692-8449 (fax)
Captain@Keeper.org
www.hackensackriverkeeper.org
Contact: Captain Bill Sheehan, Riverkeeper and Executive
Director
Hackensack River Listed as One of “America’s Most
Endangered Rivers”
Report cites development
pressures, pollution as major threats
Secaucus, NJ – Today, at simultaneous news
conferences in Washington DC and here in Secaucus, it was announced that the
Hackensack River has been listed as one of our nation’s Most Endangered Rivers
according to American Rivers, the nationwide clean water
advocacy organization. Before an
assembled group which included Congressman Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey
legislators and local officials, Captain Bill Sheehan of Hackensack
Riverkeeper made the formal announcement on the banks of the river at
Laurel Hill County Park.
“Today’s news must be a
catalyst for change,” said Capt. Sheehan, whose organization is the
citizen-steward of the watershed, “to that end, Hackensack Riverkeeper stands
ready and willing to work to ensure that the damaging policies of the past are
finally put to rest.” Among the
policies in question are the continuing plans for wetlands destruction in the
Hackensack Meadowlands
as well as the loss of forested buffer lands to subdivision construction
throughout the River’s upper watershed.
Standing with Captain Sheehan at
the historic event were NY/NJ Baykeeper Andrew
Willner, representatives of the principal partners of the Hackensack
Meadowlands Partnership (National Resources Defense
Council, Environmental Defense, Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic); Richard
P. Kane, Vice President of the NJ Audubon Society; Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Chapter of
the Sierra Club; Mark
Becker, Co-Director of Bergen Save the Watershed Action Network; and other environmental, and civic leaders.
In addition to development
pressures, pollution from combined sewer outfalls, leachate from landfills, and
stormwater runoff continually degrade the Hackensack River’s water quality,
prevent its recovery and contribute to its endangered status. In order for the river to be removed from
the list, substantive measures to protect and restore the river must be taken
by federal and state authorities – ironically the same authorities
responsible for creating the policies that caused the Hackensack to be declared
“Threatened” in 1996 and “Endangered” five years later.
“The listing of the Hackensack as
one of our Most Endangered Rivers must not be looked upon as a negative
thing,” Sheehan noted, “It is proof that people across America care enough
about our river to fix it. And that’s a
very positive thing!”