Our neighbors over on the Hudson have far more experience dealing with General Electric, the Environmental Protection Agency, and removal of PCBs from their river going back 20 years since dredging began on one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites. A long-time advocacy group with expert consultation, Scenic Hudson.org, has recently released a report estimating that the contamination has done more than 11 billion dollars in economic and environmental damage.
The EPA’s latest draft for its Third Five-Year Report on the result of GE’s Hudson dredging work shows show that PCBs in sediment and fish tissue from their samples have only somewhat declined. The fishing advisory: “Take No Fish — Eat No Fish.”
The EPA has asked for more time to study its test results showing that PCB’s remain in the dredged areas of the upper Hudson. To their credit they will hold public hearings. They will report back in 2025. Twenty years and three reviews later they apparently do not comprehend their own results. Scenic Hudson’s expert team estimates another 10 billion dollar’s worth of new dredging is needed.
In the meantime, I have talked with area residents who would rather GE not dredge the Housatonic at all. To many, it makes no sense to stir up the toxins and remove only some. We all know the river will never be perfectly free of PCBs and the Hudson shows it. But GE can do better. They have the money. Revenues of approximately $64 billion and profits that exceeded 7 billion last year prove it.
Thermal desorption is a process that heats and destroys toxic poison compounds like PCBs. It has been used to clean up Agent Orange in Southeast Asian rivers with a ninety-five per cent effective rate. Its byproduct is clean toasted sludge. It has apparently been dismissed by the EPA and GE in our situation. This almost certainly involves money. But this is an argument that is tough to buy. GE has thought nothing of spending many millions on attorneys to manage their accountability.
GE says it is here to “build, move, power, and cure the world”. The EPA says it is here to “protect human health and the environment”. Time to apply these principles to the Hudson and Housatonic Rivers. Time to cut back on the attorneys and bump up the scientists. Time to do the right thing.
