Friends of Hudson Air Monitor Project

I was recently contacted by a customer from Friends of Hudson, a non-profit grassroots organization maintained by civilians to help create awareness of environmental issues and take action against major pollutors and skewed data results that prevent the Hudson area from achieving an acceptable level of environmental quality. They worked to ensure that St. Lawrence Cement, a company that produces air toxins arsenic, lead, and mercury, would be denied permission to build a new factory powered by coal in the Hudson area and achieved success in April of 2005. The photo above shows the scale model of the proposed factory location.

Friends of Hudson is now working on a project to achieve New York State air monitoring standards in the region by purchasing and setting up NYS-endorsed air monitoring equipment in order to show accurate pollutant levels. Currently, the Department of Environmental Conservation uses data from Albany, which has different environmental conditions than Hudson, an area already full of "noise, dust, fumes and tremors from milling, quarrying, and other operations" (http://www.friendsofhudson.org/menu/faqs.html). Friends of Hudson hopes to set a precedent of citizens working for the environment by setting up private monitoring sites.

So how can I help? If you are a vendor or a distributor, you can help by donating equipment detailed in the NYS DEC's website to the Friends of Hudson; or, you can follow their donation link to become a member or make a first-time donation. If you are an air monitoring specialist, you can also donate your time and expertise in equipment knowledge.

Friends of Hudson Awards & Accolades:

-Environmentalist of the Year Award given by Environmental Advocates of New York
-Pillar of New York Award given by The Preservation League of New York

You can also help by letting us know of any similar non-profit groups establishing air monitoring by citizens. Please contact me at lauren@envirotechonline.com with any information or ideas for this project, or just to let me know what you think.