
(AGENPARL) – gio 16 gennaio 2025 Issued: Jan 16, 2025 (3:29pm EST)
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EPA Finalizes Review of Upper Hudson PCB Cleanup after Considering Public
Comment; Agency Will Issue Report Addendum by 2027
NEW YORK (January 16, 2025) – After carefully considering public comment, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its third periodic review
of the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Upper Hudson River.
The EPA looked at all the project data for water, fish and sediment collected
between 2016-2021, and the fish data from 2022. The EPA’s review concludes
that the levels of PCBs in water and fish are going down overall, but more
fish data is needed. The agency needs at least eight years of data after
dredging to draw science-based conclusions about the rate of recovery in the
fish. The eighth year of fish data was collected in 2024. The results of that
sampling will be available in 2025. The EPA will release an addendum to the
report when enough fish data is available, as soon as this year but no later
than 2027.
The EPA released the draft version of its review in early July 2024 for public
comment. The 120-day public comment period ended on November 7.
Some commenters asked the EPA to conclude that the cleanup is not protective
of people’s health and the environment. However, the EPA is not making a
decision about protectiveness at this time. The EPA addendum will include a
protectiveness determination.
“In issuing this final report today, we want to express how much EPA
appreciates hearing from Hudson River communities for the past few months,”
said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “While the science tells us
that we can’t make a final determination yet about how well the cleanup is
working, we will make a determination as soon as we can. Many of the comments
we received talked about people’s personal connection to the river and
reflect the passion that so many people have for this iconic river and this
will drive our effort to continue to clean up and protect the Hudson River.”
The EPA prepared a separate document that responds to the variety of comments
received.
As the EPA continues to collect and evaluate data, it is also enhancing the
monitoring program to get a better understanding of the river’s recovery.
This includes a series of special studies that will be looking more closely at
water, fish and sediment in specific areas of the river. Several of these
studies are already underway.
Fish consumption restrictions and advisories will continue to be necessary to
protect people’s health. The primary risk to people at the site is from
eating fish they catch that contains unsafe levels of PCBs. The cleanup plan
that the EPA selected in 2002 for the Upper Hudson River called for dredging
followed by an extended period of natural recovery – a gradual period of
improvement in water, fish and sediment that the EPA projected would occur
over a more than 50-year timeframe.
The fishing restrictions in the Upper Hudson River will need to remain in
place until PCB levels in fish are reduced and New York State determines that
changes can be made. In the Lower Hudson River, the general population can
eat some types of fish that they catch, based on the New York State advice.
However, anyone who can get pregnant and children under 15 should not eat any
fish or crabs from the Hudson River. The EPA is working closely with the New
York State Department of Health to support their education and outreach
program to inform area newcomers and others who may be looking to the river as
a food source.
The EPA is also committed to ensuring that General Electric Company (GE)
remains accountable for the PCBs that came from its former manufacturing
plants in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward and is actively working throughout the
Upper and Lower Hudson River to study and address PCBs. An extensive
floodplain study is underway in the Upper Hudson River to evaluate PCB
contamination in soil in shoreline areas along a 43-mile stretch of river
between Hudson Falls and Troy, New York. The EPA is also overseeing the
deconstruction of the Powerhouse and Allen Mill in Hudson Falls, New York –
two structures located adjacent to the former GE Hudson Falls plant. Under the
latest agreement with GE, the EPA began an investigation in the Lower Hudson
River in 2023 which includes extensive fish, water and sediment sampling
between Troy and the Battery in New York City.
For more information about the EPA’s ongoing work in the Hudson River, visit
the EPA’s Hudson River PCBs site webpage.