Firm Opposes Proposal by EPA to Cleanse Polluted Hudson River
General Electric Co. vowed Wednesday to fight the government’s Hudson River cleanup plan, a move that will almost surely make it an environmental test case for the next president.
“Nobody has ever tried a project of this scope or size in a river of this kind,” said Stephen Ramsey, vice president of GE’s corporate environmental programs.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday formally released its recommendation to scoop 2.65 million cubic yards of sediment from “PCB hot spots” along a 40-mile stretch of the river north of Albany. The agency will make a final decision in June.
GE, largely responsible for PCB contamination of the river, says the EPA plan would devastate the waterway. The project would cost GE an estimated $460 million.
Ramsey said the plan would take 20 to 30 years to complete and would devastate aquatic life.
EPA administrator Carol Browner acknowledged that short-term levels of PCBs in fish could increase with dredging. She said the levels would begin to drop in as little as two years.
The next president or new Congress could block the project.
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