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Case: Hudson
River, NY
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Site history: PCB discharges began at
General Electric's manufacturing plants at Fort Edward and Hudson
Falls, New York in 1947 and 1952, respectively.
Location: Hudson
River, New York.
Trustees:
Case status: Conducting injury assessment studies and soliciting potential restoration project ideas
from the public. View injury determination studies.
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Overview:
For approximately
30 years, beginning in 1947 at Fort Edward and
in 1952 at Hudson Falls, New York, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) were discharged into the upper Hudson River by
manufacturing plants operated by General Electric Company (GE). The
discharges resulted from the washing of PCB-containing capacitors and accidental
spills that occurred during manufacturing. Until 1973, the majority of PCB
contamination was trapped in sediment behind a dam at Fort Edward. When
the Fort Edward dam was removed that year, an
estimated 1.3 million cubic yards of PCB-laden sediment was released downstream.
PCB contamination now exists in all 200 miles of river,
including the Battery in New York Harbor. In
addition, previously unidentified subterranean sources of PCB contamination were discovered throughout
the early 1990s. It is likely that NOAA trust resources
have been and will continue to be injured following remedy
implementation.
The Hudson River PCB site was placed on the
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in 1981 and a natural resource damage assessment
(NRDA) was initiated for the site in 1997. Phase 1
remedy implementation is scheduled to commence in Spring 2009.
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