By now we all know how John G. Haggard, GE’s Hudson River Project Manager, was quoted as saying that there was no comparison between what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico and what he termed “the environmental rebirth of the Hudson River.”
Well, obviously the man had been under a lot of pressure (ya think?!). Perhaps some kind of a stroke or an allergic reaction to some meds (or reality) caused him to lose his grip?
Maybe he should have attended the yacht regatta a few weeks back with Mr. Hayward of BP oil spill fame to relax and get his mind right. REALITY ALERT! Hudson River PCBs will NOT go away on their own.
For interested hand puppets, Amazon has plenty of copies of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”. Don’t forget that these DVDs make fantastic gifts for friends and relatives in the PR and marketing industries as well as punters at large - Hudson.
From the National Resources Defense Council.
Polychlorinated biphenyls, the cancer-causing chemicals commonly known as PCBs, were used in a number of industrial processes until the federal government banned them in 1977. PCBs have been linked to reproductive problems and developmental disorders as well as cancer. Humans are exposed to PCBs primarily through eating contaminated fish. Once consumed, PCBs remain in the body, accumulating in fatty tissues.
From 1947 to 1977, GE dumped as many as 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson, turning a 197-mile stretch of the river into the nation’s largest Superfund site. Even today, PCBs still leak into the river from GE’s Hudson Falls plant.
Under Superfund law, polluters are responsible for cleaning up the messes they make. Yet for years, GE fought the development of a cleanup plan with every tool it could buy, lobbying Congress, attacking the Superfund law in court, and launching a media blitz to spread disinformation about the usefulness of the cleanup, claiming that dredging the river would actually stir up PCBs.
But advocates for the Hudson River stood firm, exposing the scientific holes in GE’s claims; the public relations campaign failed to sway residents of the valley, and GE’s lobbying efforts failed to move the EPA. The 2002 decision, which spurred GE to design a plan to remove 800 Olympic swimming pools worth of toxic muck from the river, was a landmark victory for the environment, and a blow to corporate polluters hoping to evade their cleanup responsibilities.
GE, however, has been dragging its feet on carrying out the cleanup. Dredging was slated to begin in 2005, but GE has repeatedly requested delays, pushing the start back to 2009. And in October of 2005, the EPA changed tack, rewarding GE’s foot-dragging by striking a backroom deal that allowed GE to commit only to completing the first phase of cleanup — a mere 10 percent of the job.
THE CLEANUP INDEX
- Year GE started dumping PCBs in the Hudson: 1947
- Year PCBs were banned by the U.S. government: 1977
- Miles of Hudson River contaminated by PCBs: 197
- Miles the EPA has determined must be cleaned up: 40
- Miles GE has agreed to clean up: less than 6
- Estimated cost of cleanup: about $500 million
- Amount that could fall to taxpayers: $350 to 400 million
Learn more here…
Visit the National Resources Defense Council
General Electric, Hudson River PCBs and… The Outlaw Josey Wales?
General Electric, PCBs and The Outlaw Josey Wales: Part Deux
General Electric’s Credibility Problem
Dredging Timeline (With a Dose of Crazy Talk)
PCBs and You - The Science Behind the Rhetoric
Related posts:
- General Electric, PCBs and The Outlaw Josey Wales: Part Deux
- General Electric, Hudson River PCBs and… The Outlaw Josey Wales?
- General Electric’s Challenge to Superfund Law Fails (Again)
- Florida Court Rules Polluters Can Be Sued By Fishermen
- Big Guns Support the EPA, Not General Electric, On Dredging