Meeting Speakers: 

I. GLOBAL OVERVIEW of MEGA DAMS

~ GARY WOCKNER- Global Environmentalist;

Activist; Scientist; Writer; Environmental Whistleblower.

II. AN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE

~ WILL NICHOLLS – Cree from Mistissiwi; Co-Founder and Editor in Chief, “The Nation,” a Montreal-based Publication; The Cree Still Protect Their Land.

III. The HUDSON RIVER

~ GEORGE JACKMAN – Aquatic Ecologist; Environmental Activist; Habitat Restoration Manager, Riverkeeper.

~ MAYOR GARY BASSETT – Chairman of the Hudson 7; Mayor of the Village of Rhinebeck.

IV. SOLUTIONS

~ BOB CIESIELSKI – Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter

Chair of the Energy Committee; Tiers 1 & 2

~ SHAY O’REILLY – Sierra Club New York City and Hudson Valley Organizing Representative; Campaign to Stop Two Potential New Gas Power Plants: Danskammer & Astoria; Tier 4.

Highlighted Issues:

The Champlain Hudson Power Express has been in the planning stages for over a decade and would bring hydropower from Canadian mega dams to NYC through cables buried under the Hudson River.  A few of the many problems:

1. RACIAL INJUSTICE – Mega Dams displace Indigenous Peoples, their homes, hunting, fishing, and ways of life – without permission.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL – Huge tracks of forest are submerged, no longer able to absorb CO2, vegetation underwater produces methyl mercury – a poison – animals, fish, geese are lost.

3. HUDSON RIVER – PCBs and other toxins would be stirred up, fish species recently recovering would be damaged and people of the 7 communities along the Hudson that receive their drinking water from the Hudson would lose their water supply.

4. ECONOMIC – We need to keep good energy jobs and energy dollars here in NYS.

Please register for the virtual meeting via Zoom Webinar HERE.

PEACE,

Join-Listen-Learn! CFS