SCENIC HUDSON MARKS (FEB. 1) FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF HUDSON RIVER PCB DECISION

GROUP CALLS ON GE TO STOP THE STALL

(HUDSON VALLEY) - Tomorrow it will be five years ago that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Todd Whitman signed the decision to clean up PCBs from the Hudson River. In 2002 the EPA indicated that its decision would begin to be implemented in 2005. However, at the hands of the General Electric Co. the past five years have been riddled with debate and delay, and in 2007 the cleanup has yet to begin and the Hudson River remains one of the largest federal toxic waste sites in the nation. The cleanup, expected to last six years, was slated to begin in 2005 and has now been delayed until 2008. At this juncture GE has only agreed to conduct the first year of the cleanup.

"It's unfortunate for residents who love to use and enjoy the Hudson River that five years after deciding to remove PCBs, the EPA and GE have taken no action. Instead we're faced with continuing delays," said Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson. "We fully expect the EPA and GE to honor their latest commitment to get this cleanup started in 2007 without any further stalling."

Scenic Hudson hopes that newly elected Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Hudson Valley Congressional delegation will take a leadership role in pushing the federal government and GE to move the project forward.

"For the first time, we have a Hudson Valley delegation -- representation along all 200 miles of this Superfund site -- that is supportive of getting the river cleaned up," said Rich Schiafo, environmental project manager for Scenic Hudson. "This should be helpful in getting this great resource restored."

When EPA issued its final decision in February 2002, it determined that three years were needed to design the cleanup, which meant the cleanup should have started two years ago. In March 2003, once GE decided it would negotiate the cleanup decision, the EPA announced a delay indicating that "dredging will begin in late spring 2006." With apparent disregard for the public health and environmental implications that will occur as a result, in June 2005, the agency announced yet another delay, postponing the cleanup start date to spring 2007. And again in 2007, citing intervention in the courts approval of the PCB consent decree, the start date was put off once again until 2008.

DELAY POSES A HEALTH CONCERN
With the cleanup now proposed for sometime in 2008, we can only assume that further delays are imminent. These delays stand in stark contrast to EPA's charge under the law and to the actual environmental and public health impacts that can result as a consequence of doing nothing to physically remove PCBs from Hudson River sediment for additional three or more years.

GE also continues its attempt to undermine the federal Superfund program by challenging key provisions of the statute in federal court.

Scenic Hudson remains concerned about the ability of GE's design to meet the goals set forth in the 2002 decision, particularly regarding habitat replacement and restoration, residual PCBs and floodplain PCB contamination.

DRAFT CLEANUP AGREEMENT FALLS SHORT
Mr. Schiafo also indicated that Scenic Hudson remains concerned that the cleanup agreement that between the federal government and GE only covers the first phase, or about 10 percent of the cleanup. After the first phase or first year GE will decide whether or not they will proceed with he second phase of the cleanup -- slated to be a five-year project to remove the remaining 90 percent of contaminated sediment.

"We expect that the EPA will ultimately hold GE responsible for a full and comprehensive cleanup of the upper Hudson," said Mr. Schiafo, "while at the same time ensuring that public health and environmental quality are protected and enhanced during the project."

BACKGROUND
In February 2002, the EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) calling for the removal of 2.65 million cubic yards of sediment containing 150,000 pounds of PCBs from the upper Hudson. Under the law, GE is responsible for paying for the cleanup. The ROD broke the project down into two phases. Phase I would cover 10 percent of the cleanup or approximately 265,000 cubic yards and Phase II, the remainder -- 2.39 million cubic yards.

For decades the Hudson River has been plagued by GE's PCBs. As GE continues to dispute and debate the cleanup decision, PCBs in Hudson River sediment remain a public health and environmental threat. Fishing has been banned or severely restricted, the health of the people particularly those who subsistence fish -- is still at risk, the loss of a striped bass commercial fishery, increased costs to maintain the Port of NY/NJ, and immeasurable ecological impacts as wildlife all along this 200-mile Superfund site are continually exposed to PCBs. As each year passes, an estimated 500 pounds of PCBs wash over the Troy Dam continually re-contaminating one of the nations most vibrant and productive estuaries.