EJ leaders convene to demand EPA take action to address legacy toxic pollution in the Hudson River

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Today, statewide leaders in environmental justice gathered to demand the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) take action to address “forever chemical” polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination that continues to plague the Hudson River and severely impact disadvantaged communities along its shores. In April, the EPA is set to release its latest five-year review (FYR) to determine whether ongoing cleanup efforts have been effective in protecting public health and the environment, an assessment that will shape the future of the river and surrounding communities for generations to come.

The press conference, organized by Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Pete Harckham, Assembly Deputy Majority Leader and Chair of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Caucus Michaelle Solages, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, and the Friends of a Clean Hudson (FOCH) coalition, led by Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, calls on the EPA to protect the future of the Hudson by concluding in its FYR that ongoing cleanup efforts have failed to protect human and environmental health.

GE’s actions over the course of more than 30 years transformed a 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River into one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation. The pollution, primarily affecting subsistence anglers from communities of color, immigrants, and economically disadvantaged populations, has stunted the region’s fishing industry, compromised ecological health, and rendered the river’s fish unsafe for consumption.

From 1947 to 1977, GE dumped PCBs into the Hudson River from its manufacturing plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, N.Y. PCBs are man-made, persistent pollutants that accumulate in living organisms and have been linked to a wide variety of adverse health effects, including cancer. PCBs discharged by GE are still found at dangerous levels throughout the Hudson River ecosystem. Today, members of the State Senate and Assembly joined together to call on EPA to follow the science and issue a “not protective determination” in its upcoming FYR for the Hudson River Superfund site. In addition, more than two dozen Assemblymembers and 17 Senators signed on to a bipartisan letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, calling on the agency to issue a “not protective determination.”

Despite six years of dredging (2009-2015), significantly more PCBs remain in the river’s fish and sediment than was expected. An independent analysis by the FOCH released late last year indicates that neither fish nor sediment are recovering at the rates necessary to meet the goals for protecting human health and the environment. The human health and ecological risks remain well in excess of EPA’s acceptable risk ranges, and based on current trends in fish and sediment, PCB levels will not be in the acceptable range for the foreseeable future.

Elected U.S., state, and local officials, environmental organizations, and members of the public are joining together to fight for the Hudson River and demand EPA acknowledge the failure of the Upper Hudson River remedy to meet the goals and objectives of the cleanup.”