The HRFA was one of the first groups to rediscover this Act and successfully apply it. Once Boyle familiarized himself with the Refuse Act, he noted its value to the community at once. When the HRFA held their first public meeting, drawing a standing-room only gathering of Hudson Valley masons, commercial fishermen, carpenters and other local laborers at an American Legion Hall, Boyle found an audience to hear his new tactics for citizen empowerment. Of note was the presence of Congressman Richard Ottinger, who was so moved by the turnout of working-class environmentalists who sought redress for the social and environmental inequities in their towns that he cancelled his agenda to discuss these problems. Ottinger was key to the political support structure of HRFA's initial growth. He and others at this meeting heard from fishermen plagued by buyer disdain for Hudson River fish, as well as local factory and construction workers who reported personal observations of pollutant discharges by their employers.