Editor’s note: This story was corrected at 11 a.m. on June 9. An earlier version included an incorrect email address for the submission of comments.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a meeting July 19 to get public feedback on its review of the Hudson River PCB dredging effort.
EPA officials announced Thursday that the public will have until Sept. 1 to comment on the conclusions of the five-year review of the river cleanup, with public meetings being held June 28 in Poughkeepsie and July 19 in Saratoga Springs. The Saratoga meeting will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Saratoga Hilton.
EPA Acting Regional Administrator Catherine McCabe said last week that the nearly year-long review has concluded that the $1.7 billion dredging project was successful, though it will still be more than 50 years before it will be safe to regularly eat fish caught in the Hudson River.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and Hudson River environmental groups strongly disagree, saying more work is needed to make the river safe.
The cleanup, funded by General Electric, removed 2.75 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment from a 40-mile stretch of the river between Hudson Falls and Troy.
The PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were released from GE capacitor plants in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward from 1946 to 1977, after which PCbs were banned as a suspected carcinogen. Dredging took place under an EPA Superfund cleanup order between 2009 and 2015.
People who want to write comments may submit them to [email protected], or write to Gary Klawinski, project director, EPA Region 1 Hudson River office, 187 Wolf Road, Suite 303, Albany NY 12205.
Categories: -News-, Schenectady County
