E.P.A. and General Electric Update Hudson Dredging Arrangement

(New York, NY) The E.P.A. (EPA) today announced that the federal government has reached an arrangement with the General Electric Company (GE) to modify a November 2, 2006 consent decree requiring the company to dredge portions of the Hudson River. The modification of the 2006 consent decree requires GE to pay a portion of the costs of protecting the Waterford, Halfmoon, and Stillwater, New York water supplies during dredging, and to enhance its plan for monitoring water quality and further protect the Waterford and Halfmoon water supplies. Notice of the modification was published in the Federal Register today, beginning a 30-day review period, which concludes on February 25. Dredging is scheduled to begin in the Hudson River this spring.

E.P.A. is also updating the community health and safety plan, which protects communities along the river during the Hudson River cleanup work. The plan, which will be accessible soon for review, is being updated to include contact information to assist community members who have questions or concerns about dredging operations. In addition, it will detail the criteria that will be used to decide when Halfmoon and Waterford should use their alternative water supply. E.P.A. will take comments on the revised project for 30 days following its release to the public.

The towns of Halfmoon and Waterford currently get their drinking water from the upper Hudson River. Because there is a remote chance that dredging could impact the quality of the towns' drinking water, E.P.A. is constructing a four-and-a-half mile-long water line from Troy to Halfmoon and Waterford that will be used, if needed, as an alternate water source during dredging of the upper Hudson. The water line, which is estimated to cost $8.2 million to construct, is on schedule to be completed by April 2009, before dredging begins in May. E.P.A. will also construct and maintain a temporary granulated activated carbon treatment system to protect the village of Stillwater's drinking water supply during the Phase one dredging.

The arrangement calls for GE to pay up to $7 million toward the cost of the water line and the Stillwater treatment system. E.P.A. will also pay Waterford's and Halfmoon's increased water use fees for purchasing water from Troy during any periods in which PCB levels in the Upper Hudson River exceed protective standards, or when there is insufficient time to get water monitoring results before water travels from the dredging locations to the water supply intakes.

The modified arrangement also makes adjustments to the project to monitor water quality during dredging activities. Specifically, GE will use a quicker analytical method that will yield results sooner and allow more time for E.P.A. to notify Halfmoon and Waterford if water quality analyses show levels of PCBs above drinking water standards. In addition, the revised monitoring plan will be more efficient and will lessen impacts on navigation.

In addition, the new provisions of the arrangement require GE to pay E.P.A. for some costs that E.P.A. might incur reimbursing Halfmoon and Waterford for increased costs of purchasing water from Troy during the 2nd phase of the cleanup, should GE elect to perform that phase of cleanup. The initial phase of dredging will be taking place approximately 30 miles upstream from the water intakes of the towns.

E.P.A. invites the public to attend any of 3 informational meetings scheduled to explain the consent decree modifications and updates to the community health and safety plan:

• January 28 at the Moreau Community Center, Moreau, N.Y. from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
• January 29 at the Fort Edward fire station, Fort Edward, N.Y. from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
• The modifications will also be discussed at the next meeting of the Hudson River Community Advisory Group on Feb. five from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm at the William K. Sanford Library, Loudonville, New York

Further information about the Hudson River PCBs Superfund location can be found at http://www.epa.gov/hudson/. The consent decree modification is accessible on the Department of Justice's Web location at http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html or on the EPA's Hudson River plan Web location at http://www.epa.gov/hudson. The modified Community Health and Safety Project will be accessible soon on EPA's Hudson River PCB plan Web site. Hard copies of both documents will be accessible at information repositories in Glens Falls, Fort Edward (EPA Hudson River Field Office), Ballston Spa, Albany, Poughkeepsie, New York City (EPA Region two offices), and Edgewater, New Jersey. For more information on Superfund, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund.

For a Google Earth aerial view of the Hudson River PCBs dredging plan area go to: http://www.epa.gov/region02/kml/hudson_dredging_project_area.kml
(You must have Google Earth installed on your computer to view the map. To download Google Earth, visit http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html).

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