| « Previous | Home | Next » | Much Debate Tuesday, April 28, 2009 |
 I had been wondering why there was a flotilla of empty barges tied up along the waterfront in Troy for the past few weeks. Rather an unsightly addition to the riverwalk. Sunday while out for my morning stroll, I asked one of the fishermen lining the banks what they were for. 'For the dredging project,' I learned. As soon as the striped bass season has ended, the barges will be moved up river to Fort Edward where, after many years of debate and court challenges, GE will begin the controversial process of dredging the sediments from the upper Hudson River to remove years and years worth of PCB's that were released to the river. Billed as the largest environmental cleanup project in the history of the United States, it has been a seemingly never ending news item. The argument, as I recall, is that an original decision back in 1984 thought it best to leave the sediment undisturbed as it was apparently stable and the PCB contaminated sediment was now buried by later, uncontaminated sediment. But after a 12 year long study, EPA reversed the decision in 2002, and directed the removal of the material. And now, seven years later they finally begin to disturb the river bottom; we will learn whether or not the EPA decision to dredge was the right one. | |
|
Posted by forgingahead Archived under: Places |
Permalink | Comment (1) |
forgingahead
 |  |  |  |
