It said it would be decades before a final certification of completion could be issued, and environmental groups have pressured the agency to force GE to resume dredging. Though, it noted more time and investigation was needed to determine whether it was enough to protect human health or if additional remediation is needed. Four years later, the EPA announced it had issued GE a certification that the PCB cleanup was conducted properly following its second five-year review of the work.
In this file photo, crews dredge the Hudson River in Fort Edward. GE spent $1.7 billion dredging roughly 310,000 pounds of PCBs from the bottom of 40 miles of the Hudson River north of Albany, considered the most polluted, under a 2002 agreement with the EPA. Upon further review, the PCBs were also found to have spread to other wildlife, including birds.
The chemical settled into river-bottom muck and collected in fish tissue, prompting health advisories and devastating a commercial fishing industry that had existed for more than a century. PCBs are likely human carcinogens, and have been linked to other adverse health effects, such as low birth weight, thyroid disease and immune system disorders. “EPA is continuing to evaluate whether other parties may also be liable for PCBs, as well as other contamination in the lower Hudson,” the agency said in a release.įrom 1947 to 1977, GE dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs - an oily fire retardant and insulator - into the river from two manufacturing plants it operated in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls. Timeline: How GE's Hudson River PCB cleanup began Report: Why Scenic Hudson claims GE could owe Hudson Valley billions Hudson River recovery: EPA begins next PCB contaminant review here's what it means Waryas Park in the City of Poughkeepsie on August 15 2018. The Mid-Hudson Bridge and Hudson River from Victor C.
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