Around-the-clock dredging operations on the Hudson River commenced yesterday, and will continue through November in a 14-mile section of the Upper Hudson between Schuylerville and Stillwater, Saratoga County.
Dredging began near Fort Edward, 40 miles north of Albany, in 2009, and GE’s contractors thus far have removed 70 percent of the total that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency targeted for removal. Once this season’s work is completed, dredging will continue for one more season in 2015.
Work on the river is scheduled to be completed in 2016 with habitat planting and reconstruction. Through the first four seasons of dredging, GE has invested more than $1 billion to remove nearly 2 million cubic yards of sediment.
The project is being undertaken by GE under an agreement with the EPA, which selected dredging as the remedial strategy to address PCBs in sediments in the river, and determined the size and scope of the project, after thoroughly evaluating a full range of options including more dredging.
EPA, which has repeatedly commended GE’s work as “extraordinary,” oversees every aspect of the dredging project. GE is paying for the project and conducting the work. The project is being undertaken under the federal Superfund law.
Last year, EPA completed a comprehensive, five-year review of the dredging project and concluded that it is meeting all of the Agency’s clean-up goals and is protective of human health and the environment.
GE’s goal is to conduct the project as safely and efficiently as possible, and with minimum impact on the river and local communities. The project is one of the largest environmental cleanups in U.S. history.
Dredging is occurring generally north to south from Fort Edward, N.Y., to Troy. Approximately 350 people work on the project, 24 hours a day, six days a week, for six months of the year. The river is open for all recreational and commercial activity during dredging.
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Press Release, May 8, 2014