Hudson River PCBs

Between 1947 and 1977, General Electric dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River. The source of the PCB discharges was two GE capacitor manufacturing plants located in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York, about 50 miles north of Albany. GE’s PCBs are now found in sediment, water and wildlife throughout the Hudson River ecosystem as far south as the New York Harbor. They are also found in people.

Large quantities of PCBs remain concentrated in river sediment in the Upper Hudson between Fort Edward and the Federal Dam in Troy. Forty of these so-called hot spots have been identified, half of which are located in a six-mile stretch called the Thompson Island Pool, directly downstream from the two GE plants. The removal of the Fort Edward Dam in 1973 caused large amounts of contaminated sediments to wash down-river.

• PCBs in the Hudson River

  PCBs were banned from the river in 1977 and levels declined significantly once GE suspended active dumping. But 25 years later, PCBs were found in fish at levels much higher than those considered safe for human consumption.

  Despite GE’s claim that PCB-contaminated sediments are safely buried in the Hudson River, extensive scientific investigation found scant evidence of widespread burial, while polluted sediments continue to release PCBs into the Hudson River system. Bottom line: Dredging is necessary.

  GE has also insisted on limiting its cleanup efforts to preventing its two Hudson River plants from further contaminating the river. However, the EPA, with support from an independent panel of experts, found that the main source of PCB contamination to the Lower Hudson River (south of the Federal Dam in Troy) is the contaminated sediment in the Upper Hudson, not the plant sites themselves. Bottom line: Preventing additional PCB pollution does not address the pollution that already exists.

• Health Effects of PCBs

  When the public was first informed of the PCB contamination of the Hudson in the mid-1970s, GE threatened to relocate its facilities — and the jobs and tax base they provided — outside the state if it was held responsible for the contamination. GE went as far as issuing notices to its workers at Fort Edward and Hudson Falls that PCBs were a phony controversy cooked up by environmentalists to destroy their jobs.

  The harmful effects of PCBs are well documented. Among other things:
  •PCBs cancer in laboratory animals, and are classified by the EPA as probable human carcinogens.
  •PCBs cause liver, kidney and nervous system disorders, as well as developmental and reproductive abnormalities.
  •PCBs increase in concentration as much as a thousand-fold as they move up the food chain. This bioaccumulation is of special concern in areas where wildlife and humans consume PCB-contaminated fish.
  •The United States banned PCBs in 1977 due to their harmful health effects.

  In 2002, after a remedial investigation/feasibility study required by the Federal Superfund law, EPA issued a 2002 Record of Decision, specifying dredging to remove sediment with concentrated contamination levels in the Upper Hudson. In 2006, EPA and GE signed a Consent Decree, which enumerated various details of the remediation’s two Phases but unfortunately allows GE to elect not to perform Phase 2 of the dredging. Phase 1, which commenced in May 2009, will result in the removal of about 10% of the contaminated sediment slated for removal in the 2002 ROD. Meanwhile, in 2000, GE commenced a lawsuit to declare EPA’s ability to order clean-ups under the Superfund law, unconstitutional. Although GE lost in the lower court, the company filed a notice to appeal in March 2009.

• PCBs, Fish Consumption and Health Risks

  Animals who are exposed to PCBs cannot rid them them from their bodies. PCBs instead concentrate in tissues and organs and bioaccumulate. Bioaccumulation is a process by which environmental contaminants increase in concentration as they move up the food chain. As larger fish eat smaller fish, PCB levels in fish can become thousands of times higher than PCB levels in the river. People are highest on the food chain.

  In 1976, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation banned the commercial harvest of virtually all the Hudson’s commercially viable species, including striped bass, eel, carp, catfish and perch (See: Body Burdens of Persistent Pollutants in Hudson River Anglers). GE’s discharge of PCBs into the Hudson is therefore responsible for destroying what was a centuries-old fishing industry and river-based culture.

  The New York State Department of Health (DOH) advises women of childbearing age and children under 15 to not eat fish from the Hudson River south of Hudson Falls (See: PCBs and Infant Development and PCBs and the Infant Brain). The DOH also recommends that no individual eat any fish caught between Hudson Falls and the Federal Dam in Troy. Rather, any fish caught should be released back into the river. See: Health Advisory on Eating Fish Caught in the Hudson River on the EPA site.

  GE says a “thriving catch-and-release system” on the river proves that the river and its surrounding communities are prospering. The ability to catch and eat fish, as opposed to just catch and release fish, however, is the standard by which the river’s health should be determined.

  Despite these health advisories, surveys show that most people catch and eat PCB-laden Hudson River fish and share their catch with friends and family. The EPA has found that the cancer risk from eating fish from the Upper Hudson exceeds the EPA protection goal by 700 times. See: PCBs and Human Health on the EPA site.

• The Legality of GE’s Discharges of PCBs

  Although aware of the dangers of PCBs, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued permits under the Clean Water Act, allowing GE to discharge up to 30 pounds of PCBs per day into the Hudson.

  The New York Environmental Conservation Law, however, forbids the discharge of pollutants in quantities that violate applicable standards of water quality. In 1976, the DEC brought an administrative enforcement proceeding against GE. An outside judge, Abraham Sofaer, presided over several months of hearings on the issue, which included testimony from both the DEC and GE.

  Judge Sofaer issued an interim opinion and order laying the blame for PCBs on “corporate abuse and regulatory failure: corporate abuse in that GE caused PCBs to be discharged without exercising sufficient precaution and concern; regulatory failure in that GE informed the responsible federal and state agencies of its activities and they, too, exercised insufficient caution and concern.”

  In the wake of the decision faulting both parties, GE and the state agreed to create a $7 million PCB research and clean-up fund — $3 million each from the state and GE and $1 million of in-kind research from GE alone. Additionally, GE would construct pollution abatement facilities at its Fort Edward and Hudson Falls plants and phase out the use of PCBs statewide by July 1977.

• GE's Strategy

  GE spent millions of dollars fighting the Hudson River cleanup. It launched an aggressive ad campaign in print, radio and television in an effort to buy public support for its anti-dredging position. The message that reverberated said dredging is unnecessary, environmentally unsound, and damaging to local economies.

  GE hired Community Research Group (CRG), a Utica-based firm, to poll upstate residents via phone. CRG representatives told citizens that they were calling to provide information about “an important environmental issue in Upstate New York.” Their first question was whether residents belonged to an environmental group. If the answer was “Yes,” the call ended abruptly, with the caller stating “Thank you very much; we’ve already met the goals of the survey.”

  In contrast, a poll conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which collected survey data for Scenic Hudson, found that of 964 registered voters that were interviewed in counties bordering the Hudson River, 84% favored cleaning up the PCBs in the Hudson River.

  In addition to the Hudson River PCB Superfund Site, GE has 75 Superfund sites nationwide, more than any other U.S. corporation. Being forced to take full responsibility for cleanup at those 75 sites would indeed have a material impact on GE’s financial performance.

  In 2001, GE reported revenues exceeding $100 billion. The company has reassured its stockholders since the 1999 Annual Report that the cost of remediation would not substantially affect its finances.

  According to the New York Times, from 1996 to 1998, GE as the nation’s #1 corporate polluter was also the nation’s biggest beneficiary of corporate tax breaks, saving $6.9 billion in taxes for that three-year period. In 1999, the company paid a mere $2.1 billion in income taxes on $25.8 billion in profits, for a tax rate of 8.1% — a fraction of the rates other U.S. corporations pay.

  One of the ways to do this is by attacking EPA’s ability to hold companies responsible for the pollution they created. This translates into a direct attack on the Superfund Program itself. GE has a staff of 17 high-powered lobbyists in DC that work to undo the company’s Superfund liability. GE has also challenged the constitutionality of the Superfund law that authorizes EPA to order polluters to clean up their contamination.

• The EPA Plan

  •In 1983, the EPA classified the 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River, from Hudson Falls to the Battery in New York City, as a Superfund site under the Superfund law.
  •Under the Superfund law, a polluter is liable for the cleanup of its environmental contamination. See more in About Superfund on the EPA site.
  •After over a decade of study, the EPA has concluded that PCBs pose a serious health risk to human health and the environment. See PCBs: Impacts on Ecological and Human Health and Responsiveness Summary and Record of Decision on the EPA site.
  •The EPA Plan calls for the removal of 100,000 pounds of PCBs from the Upper Hudson River.
  •The plan would force GE to pay approximately $460 million to dredge contaminated hot spots from the River.
  •The EPA Plan received bi-partisan support from an impressive array of public officials who understand the need to move forward with a Hudson River cleanup (see Endorsements for the EPA Plan below).
  Status of Hudson River Dredging

• Current DredgingStatus of Hudson River Dredging

  On May 15, 2009, GE began the long-delayed clean-up of the Hudson River! Although the project is slated to operate 24 hours per day, due to changes in the river flow, the actual number of hours of dredging was far lower.

  However, as of May 28, there were no reported equipment failures or exceedences of Performance Standards (used to judge public and environmental safety issues related to noise, air pollution, water quality and resuspension of PCBs). Currently the dredging is in Phase 1, which is scheduled to run for approximately 6 months in the upper Hudson and remove only 10% of the PCBs slated to be removed. Phase 2 will remove the remaining targeted contaminants and operate for several years.

  Unresolved Issues
  GE has not committed to performing the full scope of the dredging remediation. At the conclusion of Phase 1, various reports and evaluations will occur (with opportunity for public involvement). Pursuant to an agreement between GE and EPA in a 2006 Consent Decree: GE will then announce whether it intends to perform Phase 2. Riverkeeper will continue its work to see that the full clean-up occurs.

• Public Updates from EPA

  Please visit hudsondredgingdata.com for EPA’s updates including data collected from the dredging at different points in the Hudson, as well as from the various forms of environmental and public safety monitoring which is ongoing.

  Contact information for Public concerns:

  Hudson River Field Office
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Region 2
  Kristen Skopeck, Community Involvement Coordinator
  Hudson River Field Office
  421 Lower Main St.
  Hudson Falls, NY 12839
  (518) 747-4389
  (866) 615-6490 toll-free
  hrfo@roadrunner.com