Contaminated Hudson River dredge spoil to be shipped to Texas
Dredge spoil from the Hudson River that is contaminated with PCBs will be shipped by train to a disposal site in Texas.
In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told General Electric Co. that it had to dredge 2.65 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments from the Upper Hudson River.
GE had used PCBs as an insulating fluid in making electrical capacitors at plants along the river from the 1940s until 1977. The PCBs were discharged into the river in the plants’ waste streams. GE said it had required permits for the discharges.
In 2009, GE plans to begin the first, test phase of the project, dredging three miles of river, removing 265,000 cubic yards or 400,000 tons or sediment from 94 acres of river bottom. Phase 2 will involve dredging an additional 40 miles of river.
The PCB contaminated spoil will be placed on barges, taken to a processing center on the Champlain Canal, dewatered, and loaded onto railcars.
The dredge spoils will be taken to a waste disposal facility owned by Waste Control Specialists located west of Andrews, Texas, near the Texas-New Mexico border.
The 1,340-acre facility holds federal and state permits for the disposal, processing, treatment and storage of a broad range of wastes, including PCBs.
Contaminated Hudson River dredge spoil to be shipped to Texas
