Scott Fallon, North Jersey Record
General Electric Co. will not be forced to continue dredging toxic PCBs from the upper Hudson River unless additional studies show that the company’s $1.7 billion cleanup failed to make the river significantly cleaner, federal officials announced Thursday.
The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to say hours later that he will sue the agency for failing to hold GE accountable.
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Even after GE’s cleanup in recent years, more than two-thirds of the 1.3 million pounds of PCBs dumped by the company remain in the Hudson — pollution that stretches 200 miles south to NewYork
The EPA will begin studying PCB pollution in the lower 160 miles of the Hudson in places like Poughkeepsie, Westchester and Rockland counties and the shores of New Jersey, although no timeline was given Thursday, agency officials said.
Officials say they need more time to determine whether GE’s dredging of PCBs from the Hudson River was thorough enough to protect human health. The agency also issued GE a certification that the PCB cleanup was conducted properly, which environmentalists say lets the company off the hook.
In a teleconference with reporters, EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez said the agency “is deferring a determination about the protectiveness of the remedy” until more years of data on Hudson River fish tissue are gathered.
Lopez downplayed the certification given to GE, saying it only “confirms that the dredging, capping, habitat restoration … were properly performed.”
Mark Behan, a GE spokesman, said the EPA’s decision confirms that the company’s cleanup was a success. “EPA concluded that the dredging project was effective in reducing PCB levels and said these declines are expected to continue,” he said in a statement.
Cuomo, however, said New York State will sue the EPA, arguing that the certificate of completion could make it harder for the agency to require GE to implement more dredging or other remedial measures along the upper Hudson River.
