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EPA Issues Decision on General Electric's Dispute over Hudson River Areas Delineated and Targeted for Dredging

Release Date: 07/22/2004
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(#04118) FORT EDWARD, New York -- Today EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny issued a final decision on issues that were disputed by the General Electric Company (GE) in its May 21, 2004 letter to EPA. The Administrative Order on Consent between EPA and GE, lays out a dispute resolution process that designates the Regional Administrator as the final decision maker when conflicts arise. GE raised numerous issues related to EPA's comments on GE's draft Phase 1 Dredge Area Delineation Report and draft Phase 1 Target Area Identification Report for the Hudson River PCBs dredging project. EPA today made the following determinations, consistent with the February 2002 Record of Decision: PCB concentrations in surface sediment are properly represented by the top 12 inches of sediment, not the top six inches as GE had asserted. In delineating dredge areas, GE will compare the PCB concentrations in surface sediment to the appropriate numerical criteria for surface sediments for the corresponding river section (i.e., 10 parts per million PCBs in River Section 1 and 30 parts per million PCBs in River Sections 2 and 3). Any location that meets or exceeds the 10 parts per million or 30 parts per million criteria will be a candidate for dredging unless it is otherwise eliminated from the delineated dredged areas based on other EPA approved criteria. EPA further defined the requirements that GE must meet in proposing areas for Phase 1 dredging (as outlined in the Target Area Identification Report). GE's dredge area delineation reports shall identify and provide technical justification for each area that it proposes to be excluded from dredging on the basis of the criteria established in the Record of Decision. EPA determined appropriate methodologies and approaches for GE to use in its analysis of the PCB data. Although there have been short-term impacts to the schedule as a result of the dispute resolution process, EPA anticipates that it can adjust for these impacts in other areas so that the 2006 dredging start date can still be met.