A recently-formed Rye environmental entity claims that an Ossining yacht club is polluting the Hudson River.
Friends of the Hudson River accused Shattemuc Yacht Club Inc. of violating the federal Clean Water Act, in a complaint filed on July 14 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“Pollution from the facility flows downstream into the Hudson River,” the complaint states, and “has degraded the beauty of the adjacent area.”
But Shattemuc defense attorney Marissa Padovano pointed out that the yacht club is at a low point along the Hudson and is surrounded by warehouses, railroad tracks, and a rusty iron overpass at higher elevations. “Unfortunately, water does roll downhill,” she said in a brief telephone interview.
Shattemuc traces its roots to 1888 and the Sing Sing Yacht Club. It has 125 boat slips, 20-some moorings, and a clubhouse. It offers sailing, boating, and swimming activities and it sponsors a junior sailing academy. It’s a club for regular people from the community, Padovano said, not multi-millionaires, and it sponsors community activities that include environmental classes.
Friends of the Hudson monitors water quality in the Hudson, holds trash removal events, and sues facilities that violate environment laws, according to its website. Neither the website nor the lawsuit identifies its leadership.
It was incorporated on Feb. 10 as Hudson River Protection LLC, doing business as Friends of the Hudson River, by Douglas Risen. Its address in a Rye office building appears to be a co-working space run by EasyOffices.
Stormwater runoff is a leading cause of pollution in the Hudson River, the complaint states, and Shattemuc has failed to develop and implement a stormwater pollution prevention plan.
Boats, trailers, trucks, wood pallets, dumpsters, and refuse are uncovered on the property, the complaint states, and boats are sanded, scraped, painted and pressure washed there. Gasoline, diesel fuel, anti-freeze, battery fluids, hydraulic fluids, and trash are allegedly washed into the river when it rains, and high levels of aluminum, iron, lead and zinc have been detected in the river.
Shattemuc has no petroleum station and no boat maintenance is done on the property, defense attorney Padovano said. And the club has hired an engineer to determine if any corrective actions are needed.
Friends of the Hudson is asking the court to make the yacht club restore damaged waters and pay civil penalties of up to $68,445 a day per violation, since November 2015.
