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DREDGING THE HUDSON RIVER SET TO BEGIN
SPRING 2005
By Allison Keller
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces plans to delay the start date for dredging the Hudson River.
In February 2002, the EPA projected that a three-year period would be needed to design the cleanup project. With an estimated start date falling sometime in the summer of 2005, environmentalists and residents of the Hudson Valley region were excited to see the beginning of the long awaited project.
However, required negotiations with General Electric (GE) for more community involvement have forced the schedule to be adjusted. The expected start date for the dredging is anticipated to start in late spring 2006.
“It’s encouraging to hear that they’ve finally set a date,” Kelly Barnum, a Hudson Valley resident, said. “This is a long-awaited project, but I won’t be satisfied until it actually starts.”
For New Yorkers, the term polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) is a term known all too well. The decision to clean up the Hudson River has been a controversial topic since the contaminants were first found in the early 1990’s. However, it was not until February 2002 that the decision was finally made to remove the PCB’s from the river.
Public information sessions were held throughout the region in local high school auditoriums. Speakers representing the EPA informed the local communities of expected times when the dredging would take place as well as how it would effect their lives.
“I just want to get this whole process over with,” Barnum said. “It has been going on for far too long.”
“This is a milestone decision for the community,” Selin Avman, a chemistry major at Marist College said. “While doing something for the environment, the community is also standing up to a large corporation. It’s about time [General Electric] took responsibility for [it’s] actions.”
While the removal of the PCB’s comes as a large relief for some residents, others fear the enormous environmental and ecology impact the removal process could have on the river ecosystem.
Frank Setlock, a biology teacher at Pope John XXIII High School, sees the possibility of further contamination as a definite threat.
“The PCB’s are buried under years of sediments and natural river bed building,” Setlock said. “I respect the purpose behind their actions, but the digging up of the sediment will accomplish nothing. It will only exacerbate the situation. One can only hope they know exactly what they are doing.”