Dredging project showdown looming
Cuomo, Schneiderman threaten to sue if river cleanup declared complete by EPA
ALBANY, N.Y. » Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman threatened Thursday to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency if deems as complete the near-decade-long cleanup of PCBs from the upper Hudson River.
In a joint news release, Cuomo and Schneiderman said the state is also prepared to withdraw from the decision rendered by the EPA in 2002 against General Electric that guided the cleanup and removal of millions of tons of PCB-contaminated sediment from the river.
General Electric filed a request for a Certificate of Completion of the dredging on Dec. 23, 2016, and the EPA has 365 days to respond. The EPA’s decision is expected to be announced later this month.
“The Hudson River is a critical economic engine and environmental treasure, and New York will not allow PCB contamination to continue wreaking havoc on this vital resource,” Cuomo said in the release. “The data is clear: The job is not done, and the EPA cannot declare that this remediation is complete. If they do, New York will take any action necessary to hold them accountable for ensuring our waterways are protected and properly restored.”
After decades of investigation, the EPA issued a decision in 2002 that included a planning for dredging the river to remove contaminated sediment. In that decision, officials expected PCB levels in fish would rapidly decline, but state officials now say that decision relied on flawed modeling rather than actual sampling data. Those state officials argue
the current draft five-year review of the effectiveness of the dredging, along with fish contamination data and recent sediment sampling, indicates these objectives have not been and will not be met.
“The Hudson is one of New York’s crown jewels, vital to our environment, our economy and our communities,” said Schneiderman. “The law is clear: EPA cannot possibly support a finding that GE’s actions have been sufficient to protect New Yorkers’ public health and the environment. If the EPA declares mission accomplished, we will sue to ensure New York sees the full, timely cleanup and restoration of the Hudson River that was promised.”
Cuomo said the projected rapid reduction in PCB levels in fish after dredging was the fundamental reason for the state’s concurrence with the 2002 decision. Extensive sediment sampling conducted earlier this year clearly demonstrates significant levels of contamination persist in the river, he said, confirming remediation failed to achieve the required reductions of PCBs in fish and the environment. Officials from the state Department of Environmen-
tal Protection recently sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt outlining these concerns and reiterating that a Certificate of Completion should not be issued.
From the 1940s through the 1970s, General Electric manufacturing facilities in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward dumped more than a million pounds of hazardous PCBs directly into the river. Officials have said this contamination has impacted the health and livelihood in communities along the river, including the decimation of a once-thriving, $ 40 million commercial fishery. The DEC demanded in 2016 that the EPA take additional samples of river sediments in order to determine the effectiveness of the dredging. When the EPA refused, DEC led the effort by taking over 1,200 samples this summer.
“Time and time again, we have cautioned the EPA that their cleanup was not pro-
tective of human health or the environment, and with Gov. Cuomo’s actions today, we hope they will get the message,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “The EPA’s own analysis indicates that fish species will not reach the levels envisioned in the cleanup plan
for more than 50 years absent additional action. That is simply too long and not consistent with the estimates in the [2002 decision]. The EPA must evaluate the removal of additional contamination and must not issue a Certificate of Completion at this time.”