Check back here for updates on the progress of efforts to clean up the PCBs that GE dumped into the Hudson River.

February 22, 2005:
While some major mileposts are due to be reached during 2005, including the ‘Final Design Report of Phase 1 Dredging’ due in the fall, the commencement of actual dredging looms far in the future. This would not in itself be discouraging, but for the fact that a sense of complacency has developed among the agencies and interested parties which seems to be based on the GE-fed misconception that the PCBs in the River are contained in sediments that essentially ‘cap’ them and prevent their constant migration into the water column. This widely-held notion is the result of years of GE misinformation campaigns specifically aimed at putting-off dredging. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite GE’s nominal acquiescence to dredging (while they have signed consent orders that authorize the preliminary steps, they have yet to agree to the actual dredging; and they are also currently contesting the statutory basis for the clean-up in federal court), they have done absolutely nothing to dispel the myth that they created, despite the clear and overwhelming scientific evidence negating their earlier claims. PCBs do settle into the sediment, but studies confirm that they are regularly disturbed by currents, and massively remobilized during high-flow events.

Riverkeeper is acting to publicly dispel this widely-held myth, and to urge the parties to proceed prudently, but aggressively in pursuing the ultimate goal of complete remediation.