A man who was a friend of the Hudson River, environmental advocate Jim Simpson has died.
H. James Simpson, a geochemist who pioneered important studies of water pollutants in the Hudson, died May 10. He had been affiliated with Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for 50 years.
Simpson was on the cutting edge of research into PCBs - he helped design a program to test water and sediment for their presence - his work factored in the EPS'a 2002 decision to order the Hudson River dredging. He also worked on projects to accurately detect radaiation releases at Indian Point and studied the movement of other contaminants in the Hudson.
His family says Simpson died of Parkinson's disease - he was 72.