Dredge crew was in approved area when it ripped out fort beams, EPA says

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says crews removing PCB-contaminated sediment from the Hudson River were operating within the agency’s approved dredging plan when they mistakenly ripped out beams from a Colonial-era fort.

EPA officials said today that the dredge operator was working in a premapped dredging section when he encountered a beam buried under sediment and jutting into the river.

The beams were the last visible sections from Fort Edward, built in the 1750s. They were removed from private property on the river’s east bank Friday and are being saved for study by archaeologists.

General Electric is dredging the river in a $750 million project to remove PCBs it dumped from local factories decades ago.