Leaders back more river PCB cleanup

Four Republican county executives urge EPA to continue dredging of Hudson River

County executives from four Hudson Valley counties signed a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging the agency to continue to pursue cleanup of PCB contamination of the Hudson River.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and four Democratic members of the House of Representatives pressed the EPA to reverse its findings and declare the PCB cleanup of the Hudson River an unfinished project, saying problems downstream of the primary cleanup site, consisting of a 40-mile area north of the Troy Dam, have become worse.

In their letter, the county executives — Edwin Day, of Rockland County, Robert Astorino, of Westchester County, Marcus Molinaro, of Dutchess County, and Steven Neuhaus, of Orange County, all Republicans — said economic development along the river depends on remediation of soil contaminated with PCBs caused by General Electric.

“Dredging undertaken to date has failed to factor in decisive evidence that two to three times more contaminated sediment exist in the river than assumed at the time the EPA cleanup plan was established in 2002,” the officials wrote. “Without a determination that additional remediation is necessary ... implementing job-creating riverfront revitalization projects likely will be postponed well into the 22nd century — or New York taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill to clean up a mess they didn’t create.”

Many environmental groups, including Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper, are also calling on the EPA to require continued cleanup of the Hudson.

Environmental Protection Agency officials are now conducting a fiveyear review process, which comes less than two years after the agency declared General Electric had completed dredging required under a 2002 order. The company has reported removing 310,000 pounds of PCB-laden sediment during the dredging period from 2010 to 2015.

General Electric dumped toxic polychlorinated biphenyls into the river from 1947 to 1977. The company fought cleanup efforts and the scope of the project for years and now contends the project has exceeded expectations.