NY Times
Posted on 05/01/2007 9:02:24 PM PDT by neverdem
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — More than 30 years have passed since Congress banned a broad range of synthetic compounds called PCBs. Yet 2.65 million cubic yards of mud on the bottom of the Hudson River remain contaminated with the chemicals, which are considered neurotoxins and probable human carcinogens.
Since 2002, General Electric has been under federal order to clean approximately 40 miles of the Hudson where its factories discharged PCBs. Preliminary site clearing for the huge project began last week, but actual dredging will not start until 2009 at the earliest.
Here, on another PCB-contaminated river about 60 miles to the southeast in Massachusetts, G.E. has made more progress, albeit haltingly.
Working with the federal government, the company completed the cleanup of a two-mile stretch of the Housatonic River late last year, scooping out the heaviest concentrations of the industrial chemicals. While much remains to be done along the remaining 100 miles or more of the Housatonic, its most heavily contaminated section is now cleaner than it has been in a long time.
The two projects differ in scale and expense as much as the two rivers differ in depth and breadth, and each presents unique engineering challenges.
The Hudson project covers 40 miles of the broad river from which the 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment will have to be dredged, at an estimated cost of $700 million.
By contrast, the first phase of the cleanup of the Housatonic, a far gentler river, had a price tag of $250 million and involved 110,000 cubic yards of mud.
Still, the Housatonic cleanup dragged on for more than six years, twice the expected time. And there is no timetable or cost estimate yet for decontaminating the river’s lower reaches.
Based on their experience on the Housatonic, scientists, G.E. officials, government authorities...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
NY Times
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OK, so they dredge the river. Then what? What do they do with that much contaminated dirt? Where do you put it?
That's the last question, disposal. I'm wondering about the removal technique, "clam shell" dredging. I won't be surprised if the concentration of PCBs in the water spikes markedly because of the crude way the sediment is removed. It's completely different from diverting the Housatonic.
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