EPA to Urge Dredging of PCB-Tainted Hudson

The federal Environmental Protection Agency will recommend a $460-million “targeted dredging” of PCB-contaminated pockets of the upper Hudson River, one of the largest dredging operations ever undertaken in the U.S., agency officials said Tuesday.

The EPA will recommend the removal of 2.65 million cubic yards of sediment from PCB “hot spots” along a 40-mile stretch of the river north of Albany. If approved, it would take about five years and could begin as early as 2003.

The EPA must take into account public comments before making its final decision in June. Contaminated sediments would be sent to landfills outside the Hudson Valley, according to the agency.

The proposal under federal Superfund law culminates 10 years of study during which the EPA marshaled evidence about the health and ecological threats of PCBs in the Hudson River. Much of the PCBs were released decades ago by General Electric Co.

“It’s what the science tells us is necessary to protect the health of the Hudson,” EPA Administrator Carol Browner said Tuesday. She is to make an official announcement today in New York City.

The EPA decided against a more sweeping dredging plan in favor of focusing on hundreds of PCB hot spots between Fort Edward and Troy. Almost 500 acres would be dredged under the EPA’s proposal. Browner said the targeted dredging would clean up the river without disrupting river communities.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were used as insulating material in transformers and other electrical equipment before being banned by the government in 1977.

The proposal is expected to stir up a long-running controversy over dredging the river. GE, which could be forced to pay for the cleanup, has waged an anti-dredging media blitz. Residents remain divided.

Studies show that PCBs--classified by the EPA as a probable carcinogen--pose risks to wildlife and to people eating fish from the river.