Judge dismisses suit over Hudson cleanup

The state took the EPA to court over the decision that General Electric had finished dredging for PCBs.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) » A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from New York state against the federal Environmental Protection Agency over its 2019 decision that General Electric had completed a Hudson River dredging remediation project.

The Times Union of Albany reported U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd said the state’s suit came too late in the process and was “based on improper theories.”

The EPA in April 2019 had issued a certificate of completion to Boston-based GE in connection to a project to remove polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from the river sediment.

PCBs, used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment, were banned in 1977, but prior to that GE factories had discharged more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of them into the river.

New York officials and environmentalists condemned the EPA’s decision, saying contaminant levels were still too high and that the agency should have withheld the certificate and asked for more dredging.

The state filed its lawsuit in August of that year. In a statement, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said it was considering a possible appeal of the decision.

GE issued a statement saying the decision was being reviewed and that it would “continue to meet its commitments to EPA and New York State on Hudson River-related projects.”