Bard College Hosts Symposium on PCB Contamination and “Bomb Trains” Threatening the Hudson/Mahicantuck River on April 11

Bard College will host “The Fate of the River,” a symposium centered on two major environmental threats facing the Hudson/Mahicantuck River. The symposium will take place on Friday, April 11 from 10 am to 4 pm in Olin Hall at Bard College. “The Fate of the River” will call attention to high levels of PCB contamination in the river and “bomb trains”—overloaded freight trains carrying Bakken shale oil and unidentified chemicals along the eroding west bank of the river. General Electric’s dumping of toxic material in the river over 30 years and its subsequent clean-up between 2009 and 2015 that did not meet agreed upon environmental benchmarks has resulted in the river’s high levels of PCB contamination. Continuing PCB contamination causes human health risks, ongoing extinction and disease to fish and wildlife, and damages river ecosystems, wetlands, ground water, and soil. The other symposium topic is the environmental threat of “Bomb Trains” carrying highly explosive fossil fuels, which if derailed, spell catastrophe in impacted communities.

The purpose of this symposium is to facilitate public discussion informed by science, environmental law, and best citizen advocacy practices and to explore how members of the community can effectively address and work together to curtail these threats. Morning presentations will be followed by an afternoon panel and public discussion. Members of the Hudson Valley community are welcome to attend for all or part of the symposium.

Key speakers include writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster; Associate Director of Government Affairs at Riverkeeper Jeremy Cherson MS ’15, who is working to advance Riverkeeper’s priorities in Albany and Washington; Senior Staff Attorney at Food & Water Watch and Bard faculty member Erin Doran; public health physician and Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at SUNY Albany David O. Carpenter; and lawyer Florence Murray, whose practice specializes in traumatic brain injuries and wrongful death actions, civil rights violations with severe injuries, trucking collisions, and railroad derailments—such as the one in East Palestine, Ohio.

“The Fate of the River” symposium is the first in a series of public discussions entitled Environmental Injustice Across the Americas that focuses on state-sanctioned pollution, the poisoning of water, destruction of the commons, and the fight for justice. “The Fate of the River” is cosponsored by Bard College’s Human Rights Program, Center for Civic Engagement, Center for Environmental Policy, Environmental Studies, and the Office of Sustainability.

“The Fate of the River” Symposium Schedule
Friday, April 11, 2025
Olin Hall, Bard College
Free and open to public

10:00–10:10 am Introduction to “The Fate of the River” symposium
10:10–10: 35 am Introduction and screening of Jon Bowermaster’s film A Toxic Legacy about General Electric’s contamination of the Hudson/Mahicantuck River
10:40–11:00 am Jeremy Cherson, Associate Director of Government Affairs, Riverkeeper
11:05–11:25 am Erin Doran, Faculty in Environmental Law, Bard Center for Environmental Policy, and Senior Staff Attorney, Food & Water Watch
11:35–11:55 am David Carpenter, Director of Institute for Health and the Environment, SUNY Albany
Noon–1:00 pm LUNCH BREAK
1:05–1:25 pm Eli Dueker, Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies, and Director of Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities
1:25–1:40 pm Introduction to and screening of Jon Bowermaster’s film Bomb Trains
1:45–2:05 pm Florence Murray, Partner of Murray & Murray Law Firm, represents stakeholders affected by the toxic aftermath of the 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio
2:15–2:35 pm COFFEE BREAK
2:40–4:00 pm Panel and Public Discussion: “Next Steps Toward a Healthier
River”

Refreshments graciously provided by Taste Budds and Yum Yum of Red Hook.
About the Speakers
Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741-mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. For the past several years, Jon and his Oceans 8 Films team have focused on a series of short films (Hudson River Stories) about the environmental risks to, and hopes for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American environmental movement.

Jeremy Cherson earned his MS in Environmental Policy at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy in Annandale-on-Hudson in New York’s Hudson Valley. Jeremy started his career as an undergraduate at American University in Washington, D.C., organizing support for the McCain-Lieberman climate bill for Environment America in 2007. He has since been an AmeriCorps member in central California, monitored conservation easements in Alabama and Georgia, and served as the camp supervisor at an environmental summer camp in Atlanta. Jeremy now serves as the Associate Director of Government Affairs working to advance Riverkeeper’s priorities in Albany and Washington, DC.

Erin Doran is a Senior Staff Attorney at Food & Water Watch focusing on climate and energy matters. She was previously a Senior Attorney at Riverkeeper, where she advocated for clean water, healthy ecosystems, and resilient climate solutions in the Hudson Valley. Erin also previously served as Regulatory Counsel for the ASPCA, where she sought improved legal protections for farmed and companion animals. Erin began her career as a supervising attorney with the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, representing non-profit organizations and community associations seeking to protect the environment and public health in the Chesapeake Bay region. During law school, Erin clerked for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Maryland Office of the Attorney General. Erin is admitted to practice in Maryland, New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Erin holds a B.A. (Political Science) from SUNY Geneseo, and a J.D. (Certificate of Concentration in Environmental Law), University ofMaryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She is on the Bard College faculty, and teaches courses in environmental law.

David O. Carpenter is a public health physician whose current position is Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, as well as Professor of Environmental Health Sciences within the School of Public Health at the University at Albany. After receiving his MD degree from Harvard Medical School he chose a career of research and public health. After research positions at the National Institute of Mental Health and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, he came to Albany in 1980 as the Director of the Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health, the third largest public health laboratory in the US after NIH and CDC. In an effort to build ties to an academic program, he initiated efforts to create a partnership between the New York State Department of Health and the University at Albany, resulting in the creation of the School of Public Health in 1985. He was then appointed as the founding Dean of the School of Public Health, a position he held until 1998 when he became the Director of the Institute of Health and the Environment. The Institute has been named as a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization. Dr. Carpenter’ research was initially basic neuroscience, and since has become the more general question of environmental causes of human disease, both those directly caused by chemical exposure and those mediated via endocrine disruption. He has directed large, interdisciplinary research studies on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides at several sites, including in Native American and Alaskan Native communities. These studies have shown that exposure to these chemicals increases risk of several chronic human diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome. He has contributed to the study of health effects of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and also has a number of international projects looking at health effects of air and water pollution. He has more than 450 peer-reviewed scientific publications, many on health effects of PCBs, and has edited six books.

Eli Dueker is Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies and Director of Center for Environmental Studies and Humanities at Bard. Before entering academia, he worked for 14 years in the nonprofit world, including 10 years as an organizational development consultant addressing issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality in institutional structures, serving as the former director of Project Underground, an international environmental and human rights organization, and as a board member of Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a transgender law collective in NYC. He is the founder and Interim Leadership Team member of the Saw Kill Watershed Community, which protects the Saw Kill watershed and its ecological, recreational, and historic resources through hands-on science, education, and advocacy. His teaching interests include water quality, air quality, oceanography, urban ecology, environmental microbiology, and the role of science in addressing environmental justice issues.

Florence Murray is a partner at Murray & Murray, Co. L.P.A., where her areas of practice include primarily traumatic brain injuries and wrongful death actions, civil rights violations with severe injuries, and trucking collisions. Florence received her law degree from The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 2006. She also holds an M.B.A. from the Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management as well as M.Ed. from Ashland University. She is active with the Ohio Association for Justice, National Lawyers Guild; the Brain Injury Associations, both state and national; the Association of Truck Accident Attorneys; and is very active in AAJ where she is currently on the Board of Governors and an officer in the Litigation Group Leaders Council, in the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, in the Insurance Section and in the Bad Faith Insurance Litigation Group. She is also a National Board of Trial Advocacy Board Certified Trial Practice and Truck Accident Attorney. Florence has also received the following recent honors: AAJ Board of Governors Outstanding Achievement, 2023; AAJ Distinguished Service Award, 2021; Fortune Women Leaders in the Law, 2015; Ohio Super Lawyers®, 2019-2024; Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminant Attorney 2014-2025; and National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Top 25 Brain Injury Lawyers, Top 25 Trucking Lawyers and Top 10 Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers. Through volunteering with local organizations such as the Erie County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Firelands Habitat for Humanity, and the OSU Alumni Club of Erie County, Florence has also established an ongoing commitment to supporting the local community.
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 165-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 03-31-2025

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