Oceans 8 Films: For many years, the river, like so many waterways, was treated like an infinite waste barrel, a receptacle for poisonous chemicals, hazardous waste, trash of all descriptions. But in the past forty years, thanks to a committed group of environmentalists and their agencies (Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Clearwater and more) the river has become markedly cleaner. While the river is still an under-utilized natural resource, increasingly it is used by boaters, kayakers, even swimmers as a recreational playground.

But the river, in the words of Riverkeeper’s John Lipscomb, has “had a foot on its neck” for more than one hundred years and still today, despite the efforts to clean it up, there are environmental risks and concerns.

Since it is our hometown river here at Oceans 8 Films (our headquarters are in the Hudson Valley), we decided to take a look at several of the more prominent risks:

• The boom in transportation of crude oil down the river by barge and rail car
• The always-problematic aging nuclear power plant at Indian Point
• The impacts of the largest construction project in North America (the building of a replacement to the Tappan Zee Bridge and its ultimate teardown)

On April 21st, the New York Times published an op-doc resulting from a collaboration with our production company, and using lots of footage from our upcoming documentary: