March 31, 2016 — FORT EDWARD, NY — Federal agencies are fighting over how quickly the PCB dredging project of the Hudson River by General Electric Co. might someday make the fish once again safe to eat.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is disputing a finding by two other agencies — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — that EPA seriously overestimated by “several decades” how quickly recently-concluded GE river dredging will reduce PCBs in fish to levels fit for human consumption.
On Tuesday, EPA issued a 110-page rebuttal to the NOAA and Fish and Wildlife findings, which were first reported in 2015 and this week published in a peer-reviewed national scientific journal. Last fall, GE wrapped up a six-year dredging project between Fort Edward and Troy, although a coalition of environmental groups and river advocates said too much toxic pollution remains left behind.
EPA claimed less optimistic conclusions on future PCB levels in fish by other federal scientists “are not supported by the full range of available evidence,” according to an EPA statement accompanying its rebuttal.