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GE Finishes Dredging The Upper Hudson For PCBs

Composite Image by Dave Lucas (WAMC)

General Electric says it has completed its sixth and final year of dredging sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls from the upper Hudson River.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt said in a release Monday that the company met every obligation so far under the massive federal Superfund project. The company discharged PCBs into the river decades ago when they were used as coolants in electrical equipment.

About 2.75 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment has been removed from a 40-mile stretch of river north of Albany.

The estimated $2 billion cleanup project is not over. Flood plain work, habitat reconstruction and long-term monitoring will continue.

Also, government trustees will make an assessment of the harm done to the river's resources, either through a settlement with Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE over its liability or through litigation.

© 2015 AP

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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