Hazards on the Hudson
Imagine, if you will, a sunny day. A boy and his father are fishing on the beautiful waters of the Hudson River. Excitedly, the boy yells, "I got a fish! I got a fish!" He reels it in and his father removes the hook from its mouth. Dad says, "That sure is nice one, son." He then tosses the fish back in the water. When the boy asks why, the father explains that the fish in these waters are dangerous to eat. They contain high levels of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Since the middle part of this decade, the GE Company used PCBs to pack and insulate their electrical components. During this manufacturing process they managed to dump millions of tons of dangerous chemicals into the Hudson River. Now the EPA has ordered GE to help clean up the mess they created. The legal battle has been ferocious. The media campaign launched by GE has been even more ferocious. Still the two sides battle it out in our courts. The two sides rage on, and the battle is as of yet, undecided. GE claims that it has done nothing illegal. The EPA and members of the public claim differently. For now, the verdict is still out.
History of the Problem
This issue has a long history, which is important in understanding the issues involved and the positions of both sides. In 1865 a material resembling PCBs was discovered. In 1929 the Monsanto Company began making PCBs. In 1936 the first study indicating that major health and safety problems were associated with PCBs was released. From the 1940s through the 1970s GE used PCBs to pack their products and released tons of the dangerous chemicals into U.S. rivers in various locations.1 During this time they either ignored or attempted to discredit studies linking the dangerous chemicals to health problems. In 1974, the U.S. EPA established a safety level of 5 parts per million (ppm) in fish intended for human consumption.
Contaminated fish exceeding safety levels were discovered in the Hudson River.2
In 1977 Monsanto stopped production of PCBs. In the same year, the EPA passed the Clean Water Act, making it illegal to discharge PCBs into navigable waters. In 1984, the U.S. EPA revised its PCB threshold to 2 ppm as a result of new risk data. In 1997, the EPA discovered that the problem was not only contained to the waters, but had spread to tree swallows and could be found in excessive levels in their body and eggs. Levels up to 55 ppm were found. This meant that the birds qualified to be classified as hazardous waste. That same year, an eagle was found to have 71 ppm in its body fat. Governor Pataki joined forces with the U.S. government and formed the Hudson River Natural Resource Trustee Council. This was the first step in determining of if a Natural Resources Damages claim could be filed.3
Although the legal battle has been going on for many years. The most significant events occurred in the 1970s. In 1976, GE attorney Jack Welch negotiated a settlement, which limited GEs liability in the clean up efforts to $3 million dollars.3 In the 1980s the Hudson River was established as one of the biggest Superfund sites in the United States. In December of 2000, the EPA announced a 5-year plan to clean up the Hudson River by dredging the most highly contaminated areas. It would involve removing 2.65 million cubic tons of PCB contaminated sludge at the bottom of the river. The EPA proposed that GE be responsible for $460 million dollars of the bill for the clean up.4
Footnotes
Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC). Healing the Hudson River. 2002. Retrieved at http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/hhudson.asp Accessed August 2002.
A more detailed listing of the historical events surrounding this issue can be found at http://www.clearwater.org/news/timeline.html.
Historical information was obtained from Clearwater.org. Fact Sheet 8: Hudson River PCB Pollution Timeline. News and Bulletins. 1997. Retrieved at http://www.clearwater.org/news/timeline.html Accessed August 2002.
CleanupGE.org. Toxics on the Hudson: The story of GE, PCBs and the Hudson River. Retrieved at http://www.cleanupge.org/pcbarticle.html Accessed August 2002.
The Issues
There are several complex issues surrounding the clean up which have divided the two sides. GE claims that scientific evidence that PCBs are dangerous is not credible and that it cannot be solidly proven that they are responsible for the health problems associated with them. The EPA disagrees and compares GEs argument to that of the tobacco...
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