 May, 2001 issue
The group, with its partners, cited a public relations campaign by General Electric against an overdue effort to clean up contaminated river sediment and called upon the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to show resolve and proceed with the effort -- and to require the polluter to pay the estimated $460 million dollars in cleanup costs. "Without cleanup, the PCBs at the bottom of the Hudson River will pose a risk to the environment and public health for the foreseeable future," said American Rivers President Rebecca Wodder. "It's time for General Electric to step up to the plate and act like a responsible corporate citizen." The Hudson River flows through 315 miles of mountains, forests, wetlands, and towns before reaching New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. There are 44 miles of shoreline along Historic River Towns of Westchester. Once heavily polluted, the Hudson has made a remarkable recovery in recent decades. Unfortunately, the New York State Department of Health still greets visitors to the Hudson River with signs that read "Do not possess, remove or eat fish from this water," and in 1983 the federal government declared 197 miles of the river a Superfund site -warranting federal intervention to ensure cleanup. According to the EPA, GE discharged an estimated 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from electric capacitor manufacturing plants at Hudson Falls and Fort Edward in the upper Hudson from 1947 to 1977. The US EPA ranks PCBs among the most toxic 10 percent of chemicals for human exposure, causing reproductive and developmental effects, immune deficiency, nervous system alterations, gastrointestinal system bleeding, liver damage, and cancer. Approximately 200,000 pounds of PCBs still remain in the 40-mile stretch of the Upper Hudson, and for more than 60 years these chemicals have migrated downriver and are now distributed throughout the basin, down to the tidal estuary at the mouth of the river. These pollutants collect in the sediment and enter the food chain, contaminating fish and the wildlife and humans that consume these fish. Despite moratoriums and warnings, fish continue to be consumed by thousands of families. "It is particularly troubling to watch one of the world's largest and wealthiest corporations resist cleaning up after itself when the health effects are seen disproportionately in poor, minority, and immigrant communities," Wodder said. Following more than ten years of analysis, five peer reviews, and unprecedented public input, the EPA released its proposed plan in December 2000 to dredge 272 acres of contaminated sediment in the upper Hudson River. EPA predicts that their remediation efforts will result in significant improvements in PCB levels in the lower river with few short-term impacts. EPA s findings were subsequently supported by an independent report from the National Academy of Sciences. Despite this evidence, GE has called the proposal "absurd" and "outrageous" and has spent millions of dollars on advertising to turn public opinion against the overwhelming evidence supporting the cleanup. GE has also sued the federal government challenging the Superfund laws. "The science is in and the courts have spoken, it's time to clean up the river," Wodder concluded.
Other rivers included: In releasing its annual America's Most Endangered Rivers report , American Rivers said, "Tremendous damage to rivers across the country could be reduced or avoided by increasing efforts to use energy efficiently, produce conventional energy responsibly, and expand the supply of energy from clean and renewable sources." "We can't solve 21st century energy problems with 19th century solutions," Wodder said. "We need to embrace new technologies and policies that will provide for a more sustainable energy future."
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