WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) and Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today called on the General Electric (GE) Company to stop stalling the Hudson River PCB clean-up.  GE is once again challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over two important issues related to the design and implementation of the Hudson River PCB cleanup.  The latest dispute is likely to further delay the Hudson clean-up start date.

“It is time for GE to step up to the plate and accept its responsibility to all New Yorkers to clean up the Hudson River.  Instead of spending valuable time and resources on lawyers and further litigation, GE should focus on cleaning the Hudson River,” said Congresswoman Lowey.  “If GE wants to prove it is becoming a green company, it should use its ‘ecomagination’ to accept responsibility for cleaning up the environmental damage it has wrought on our communities.”

GE is disputing two issues with the EPA as part of a dispute-resolution process within the Agency.  First, GE does not want to pay for alternate water supplies for communities such as Waterford and Halfmoon should a PCB problem occur during dredging, and it refuses to restore the river bottom and shoreline with adequate amounts of clean sediment after dredging takes place.  Two years ago, GE disputed the criteria for determining what areas should be dredged, adding six to eight months delaying the start date for the project from 2006 to 2007.  These two new issues could further delay clean-up increasing PCB levels in the upper Hudson River floodplain.

“Once again, GE is showing its true colors.  In my view, this is not about what GE 'wants' to do, but what it 'must' do as a responsible corporate citizen.  Every time we turn around, GE is disputing nickels and dimes, and by doing so, they are obstructing progress on a crucial clean-up of the problems they caused in the Hudson.  They are also playing their cards pretty open when it comes to where they will likely stand when the big ticket items are on the table, such as Phase 2 of the clean-up project,” added Congressman Hinchey.  “Clearly, GE is testing the Environmental Protection Agency's will to require them to do what was set out in the consent decree.  EPA should flatly reject this latest attempt to stall the project, and require both the restoration of the river bottom and the supply of drinking water to residents if their water supplies are affected by the dredging.”