PCBs in the Hudson River

    Bopp, R.F. and Simpson, H.J. (1989) Contamination of the Hudson River - The sediment record. In: Continental marine sediments - Assessment and Remediation, 401-416.

    Revkin, Andrew C (1997) Babbitt Assails G.E. Over Delay In Ridding Hudson of Chemicals. New York TImes, A, 1:4, Sep 26, 1997.
    ABSTRACT: The Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, speaking from a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River, assailed the General Electric Company today as a corporate giant bent on delaying the restoration of the Hudson River and weakening a Federal program for cleaning toxic sites. Senior officials at General Electric, whose biggest research center is in Schenectady, just 40 miles north of here, criticized Mr. Babbitt for refusing to meet with them during his stop in New York. They added that the company had already spent more than $130 million to stanch the flow of PCB's, a harmful industrial chemical, from its factories. Mr. Babbitt spoke after listening to a series of presentations by commercial fishermen, Hudson Valley residents and Federal wildlife biologists who for years have pointed to problems resulting from industrial chemicals that escaped from two General Electric factories on the upper stretches of the river. The PCB problem, they said, is particularly glaring because so many of the river's other pollution problems have been reduced over the same period. The stain of PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls, now stretches along 200 miles of the river bottom and has ruined commercial fisheries, harmed wildlife and -- according to Government scientists -- poses a risk to people.

    Revkin, Andrew C (1997) New Studies Show PCB's Persist In Hudson, and Are Entering Air. New York Times 1, 1:2, Feb 22, 1997.
    ABSTRACT: New studies by Federal and New York State scientists have found that the coating of PCB's on the shores and bottom of the Hudson River is not being cleaned up by natural processes, as some industrial polluters have asserted, and that substantial amounts of these toxic compounds are evaporating from mud flats and wafting in the air. For General Electric, the company whose factories dumped the bulk of the PCB's into the river, the new studies constitute a sharp challenge to a long-held position that the Hudson's PCB's are best left buried in the mud, rather than removed through dredging. The company strongly criticized some of the new studies yesterday as ''unsupported speculation'' and said its own studies point to different conclusions. PCB's, polychlorinated biphenyls, are oily compounds that were used for decades to insulate electrical equipment but are now banned in this country because they may cause cancer in humans and can cause reproductive problems in wildlife. The Hudson River is one of the worst PCB pollution sites in the world, and its bottom was designated a Federal Superfund site in 1983.

    Revkin, Andrew C (1997) High PCB Level Is Found in a Hudson Bald Eagle. New York Times ,B, 4:4, Sep 17, 1997.
    ABSTRACT: The body of a young bald eagle killed along the upper Hudson River contained high concentrations of PCB's, toxic industrial chemicals that are the Hudson's last significant taint, New York State environmental scientists said yesterday. The finding, although limited to one eagle, is significant, the scientists said, because similar levels of PCB's in eagles or eagle eggs from polluted areas of the Great Lakes have been linked to reproductive problems and deformities in the birds.