General Electric Offers PCB Cleanup Plan

Date: April 4, 2002

Source: News Room

General Electric Co. met this Monday's deadline to file a "good faith offer" with the federal government on the cleanup of tons of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River, avoiding a potentially huge fine. Had GE missed the deadline, the company could have been hit with fines up to three times the cleanup's estimated $500 million price tag and forfeited the opportunity to help craft the cleanup proposal with the Environmental Protection Agency. GE dumped 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the river from its plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, N.Y., about 40 miles north of Albany, before the federal government banned the substance in 1977. The EPA in February ordered the dredging of a 40-mile stretch of the river, capping a decades-long struggle over the cleanup. The company had argued the river ecosystem has improved over time and argued dredging could stir up toxins, spreading the problem.

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