Scenic Hudson has commended 15 members of New York State’s Congressional delegation who signed a letter urging the U.S. EPA to declare that the Superfund cleanup of Hudson River PCBs has failed to meet the project’s standards to restore public and environmental health.
Specifically, the letter asks the EPA to expedite its Five Year Review of the cleanup so the agency can determine the need for additional remediation prior to the administration’s changeover in January.
The letter, sent to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on December 2 acknowledges the agency’s diligence in overseeing the cleanup of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that General Electric (GE) dumped in the river from 1947 to 1977.
Stating that “current data suggests more work must be done to reduce PCBs to acceptable levels and protect the environmental health of the river and the public health of millions of people who live along it,” the letter calls on the EPA “to expeditiously determine through its ongoing five year review that the existing remedy is insufficient and that additional cleanup is required, before the change in Administration.”
U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey took the lead in drafting the letter and soliciting fellow Congressional members to sign on.
The letter was signed by Representatives Nita Lowey, Sean Patrick Maloney, Yvette Clarke, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, Steve Israel, Hakeem Jeffries, Carolyn Maloney, Grace Meng, Jerrold Nadler, Kathleen Rice, Jose Serrano, Louise Slaughter, Nydia Velazquez and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.