Source: http://www.timesunion.com, April 24, 2015
By: Brian Nearing

Company balks at federal effort to expand original PCB removal deal

An operation to clean up PCBs from the Hudson River that could leave behind tainted fish — or an impaired Champlain Canal — meets all obligations of an agreement reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a statement from General Electric Co.
The company was responding to a report this week from two federal agencies and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which reaffirmed earlier findings that “the public’s use of the Hudson River fishery, whether for a livelihood, a source of recreational enjoyment, or for nutrition, continues to be severely curtailed.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and DEC, “updates and expands” a 2001 report on fishery closures and state-imposed fish consumption restrictions. The report is part of a federal Natural Resource Damage study.
As the three federal trustees responsible for ensuring all PCB damage to the river and its resources is addressed, the group said it would “use this injury determination report to inform their restoration work through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process, which will compensate the public for this loss.
For example, the trustees may seek to increase access to fishing opportunities by improving fish habitat or may provide restoration that increases fish populations.”
GE is in its final dredging season and plans to dismantle its PCB processing plant in Fort Edward.
But the issue of PCBs not covered by the EPA 2005 cleanup agreement has drawn increasing local attention.
A coalition of riverfront towns and counties, along with environmental groups, is urging GE to take on the additional dredging of up to 136 acres of river that contain PCBs. That area includes the Champlain Canal, which has become too shallow to support much commercial traffic because the Canal Corp. has been unable to tackle the PCB-tainted sediments.
GE has been insisting for months that it is meeting all its obligations and is liable for no further work.
The company reacted to the latest fish damage report with that same stance on Thursday.
“It’s not news that there are fish advisories on the Hudson River. GE is fully engaged in one of the largest and most comprehensive environmental dredging and restoration projects in U.S. history, the explicit goal of which is to reduce the PCB levels in fish. GE is meeting all of its responsibilities on the Hudson, and when dredging is completed this year, 100 percent of the PCBs targeted by EPA will have been addressed,” company spokesman Mark Behan said in a statement.