Reaches agreement with EPA
Although General Electric has stopped its dredging operations to remove pollution it put into the Hudson River, it has agreed to do more research in the lower portion of the river to determine how to address pollutants it dumped into the water for 30 years, the federal government announced on Tuesday (Sept. 13).
Under the terms of a legal agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, GE will develop a plan to sample the water, sediment and fish between the Troy Dam and the mouth of New York Harbor for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other contaminants, with oversight by the EPA at GE’s expense. The work will start early next year.
Environmental groups were not happy when, in 2019, the federal government said GE had done enough to clean up the PCBs it dumped into the river. Under a 2006 order, the company spent $1.7 billion dredging north of Albany in what the EPA said was the most polluted 40-mile stretch.
