Hudson River PCBs

Hudson River PCBs

Without effective action, the health risks and impacts to those living, working, and playing within the 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site will persist for generations to come

The challenge

Between 1947 and 1977, General Electric (GE) dumped millions of pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River from plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, NY.

Not long after, in 1984, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated a 200-mile stretch of the Hudson, from Hudson Falls to the Battery in New York City, as a federal Superfund site. To this day, the Hudson River remains one of the largest Superfund sites in the country.

Despite GE dredging the river for more than five years, a significant amount of PCBs remain in the Hudson.

Photo: Joseph Squillante

Health impacts of PCBs

Also called “forever chemicals” due to the fact that they do not break down over time, PCBs are known to have severe negative health impacts in humans. In 1979, the U.S. banned the production, distribution, and use of PCBs due to their potential to cause cancer and harm the environment. The EPA also set strict regulations for their handling, storage, and disposal. Human consumption of PCBs can cause liver, kidney, and nervous system disorders, as well as developmental and reproductive abnormalities. PCBs have been proven to cause cancer in laboratory animals, and are classified by the EPA as probable human carcinogens.

PCBs enter the bodies of fish and small organisms from water, sediment, and from eating prey that have PCBs in their bodies. PCBs build up in fish and can reach levels hundreds of thousands of times higher than the levels in water. Larger, older fish will have had more time to accumulate more PCBs in their fat tissue. As a result, PCB concentrations increase along the food chain, together with their toxicity for both animals and humans, and people who eat fish may be exposed to PCBs that have bio-accumulated in the fish they are ingesting.

Fish advisories and environmental justice concerns

GE’s PCBs are still found at dangerous levels in sediment, water, and wildlife throughout the Hudson River ecosystem and remain a health hazard. All members of the public are advised not to eat any fish or crab from anywhere in the river from south of the Corinth Dam to the Federal Dam at Troy. South of the Federal Dam at Troy, the general population is advised to limit their consumption of fish and crabs, and it is strongly recommended that women under 50 and children under 15 (referred to as the sensitive population) do not eat any fish or crab from the Hudson.

Riverkeeper works with state and local health departments to issue advisories and engage in public outreach on fish consumption advisories, however EPA’s reliance on consumption restrictions to mitigate PCB impacts places a disproportionate burden on individuals in disadvantaged communities who rely on the fish as a food source. If effective action is not taken in the Hudson River to address PCB contamination, these injustices will persist for generations.

PCBs and the Hudson River fishery

In 1976, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) banned all fishing between Hudson Falls, NY and the Federal Dam at Troy, and banned the commercial fishing of virtually all the Hudson’s commercially viable species, including striped bass, eel, carp, catfish and perch south of the Federal Dam at Troy. Through its discharge of PCBs into the Hudson, GE effectively destroyed a fishing industry and river culture that has been a key economic support system for communities for centuries.

200

The Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site spans 200 miles

General Electric actively dumped PCBs into the Hudson River for 30 years

Superfund sites GE is responsible for nationwide, more than any other U.S. corporation

2.75

million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment in the Upper Hudson that GE has removed so far — and there is so much more to go

Through the wanton dumping of PCBs in the Hudson River, General Electric destroyed a centuries-old commercial fishing economy and way of life on the Hudson River. With the insufficient removal of those PCBs, they continue to threaten the health of residents who eat fish caught in the Hudson. It is high time to right this historic wrong.

Tracy Brown

President and Hudson Riverkeeper

Focus areas: Water quality Habitat and wildlife

What we're doing

Riverkeeper has been instrumental in the fight to hold GE accountable for its decades-long contamination of the Hudson, as well as the subsequent push to restore the Superfund site to a point where the waters are safe to fish.

Our founder, Bob Boyle, was among the first to alert the general public to the presence of GE’s PCBs in the Hudson.

Since the river was first declared a Superfund site, Riverkeeper has worked diligently to not let GE off the hook for the cleanup of its extensive PCB contamination through numerous legal actions, obtaining and submitting public comments, gathering and analyzing data, as well as performing public outreach.

We helped form a coalition, Friends of a Clean Hudson, alongside regional and national partners, dedicated to the restoration of the Hudson River through the aggressive removal of PCB-contaminated sediments.

In addition, we are an active member of the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site Community Advisory Group, which offers EPA local community input on its cleanup plans.

History

The EPA releases the draft third cleanup review

The EPA releases the draft third five-year review of the cleanup of PCBs in the Upper Hudson River for public comment. The EPA concludes that it needs more years of fish data to determine if the cleanup is meeting the expectations of the original cleanup plan. The EPA will issue an addendum to the third five-year review report no later than the end of 2027.

EPA announces GE completed Upper Hudson dredging

The EPA issues a Certificate of Completion of the Remedial Action to GE for its cleanup of PCBs in the Upper Hudson River. In response, New York State sues the EPA, noting that PCB levels remain “dangerously high” in portions of the river. A federal judge later affirms that the EPA correctly received the Certificate of Completion for the dredging project.

GE begins dredging

GE begins work dredging sediment in the Upper Hudson River. The dredging project is completed in 2015.

EPA issues decision ordering remediation of the Hudson

In a new Record of Decision, the EPA selects dredging as the remedy to address PCB-contaminated sediments of the Upper Hudson River, as well as “monitored natural attenuation” of PCB contamination that remains in the Hudson River after dredging. The 2002 cleanup plan calls for dredging to remove PCB-contaminated sediment from a 40-mile section of the Upper Hudson River between Fort Edward, NY and Troy, NY.

State asks EPA to develop cleanup plan for Upper Hudson River sediments

The NYSDEC petitions the EPA to reconsider the “No Action” decision for PCB contaminated river sediments in the Upper Hudson. Thereafter, the EPA begins a reassessment of environmental conditions in the Hudson River, lasting 12 years.

EPA designates Hudson River Superfund site

The EPA classifies a 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River, from Hudson Falls to the Battery in New York City, as a federal Superfund site.

EPA makes interim “No-Action” decision, leaving the contaminated sediments in the Upper Hudson River

The EPA issues a Record of Decision identifying GE as the responsible party and calling for containment of remnant deposits. The 1984 Record of Decision calls for “No Action” regarding remediation of river bottom sediments.

U.S. bans manufacture of PCBs

Congress passes the Toxic Substances Control Act banning the manufacture of PCBs and prohibiting all uses except in totally enclosed systems.

New York state bans all fishing in the Upper Hudson and most commercial fishing in the Lower Hudson River

The NYSDEC makes it illegal to fish in the Upper Hudson from the Fort Edward Dam to the Federal Dam at Troy, closes Hudson River commercial fisheries, and warns people about the dangers of eating Hudson River fish.

Hudson River PCBs