More than 50,000 samples of sediment were collected in the Upper Hudson for analysis.
About The Dredging Project
EPA selected dredging as its preferred remedy for PCBs in sediments in the Upper Hudson River in 2002, after a 12-year reassessment of its 1984 decision not to dredge.
GE is now performing the project, with the approval and oversight of EPA. Implementation of the project is described in a comprehensive agreement signed by GE and EPA, which was approved by U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd in November 2006. Under two prior agreements with EPA, GE designed the first phase of the dredging project, developed a community health and safety plan, collected 50,000 river sediment samples, mapped river habitat, and evaluated cultural resources.
How Will Dredging Progress?
The dredging project is structured in two phases. The first is a test phase and is designed to take one full dredging season May to October. (A dredging season is the roughly six-month period of the year in which the Champlain Canal is open. The canal is critical to the project because it is the route by which sediments removed from the river are transported to the Processing and Transportation Facility.)
During this part of the project, dredging will be conducted in two areas of the Upper Hudson: a two-and-a-half mile area from the northern end of Rogers Island near Fort Edward to where the Snook Kill joins the Hudson near Moreau; and, a half-mile area approximately two miles south of that near Griffin Island. More than 90 percent of the PCBs in 94 acres of river bottom will be removed. That means approximately 265,000 cubic yards of sediment, or nearly 400,000 tons, will come out. Phase 2 covers the remaining 40 miles of the project from Fort Edward to Troy.
Dredges will remove the sediment from the river and place it on barges. The barges will be pushed by tug boats to the Processing and Transportation Facility on the Champlain Canal. There, sediments will be dewatered and loaded onto railcars that will transport them to a permitted disposal facility outside New York State.
Barges, Tugs and Trains
GE designed the dredging project, under an agreement with EPA. EPA reviewed and approved the design after soliciting input from members of the public and federal, state and local regulatory agencies. The design was modified in important respects to address concerns expressed by the community. For example, the main entrance to the Processing and Transportation Facility was shifted to a state truck route (Route 196) in the nearby Town of Kingsbury to minimize the likelihood of heavy truck traffic in a residential section of Fort Edward. Construction hours were generally restricted to daylight, minimizing nighttime noise for nearby residents. A large berm or hill and additional vegetation have been planned to further shield the site from public view. During dredging, the work schedule was revised so that the Fort Edward Yacht Basin where recreational boats dock could be open for a short time each morning and evening to allow ingress and egress.
GE's goal is to conduct the project safely, to conduct it in accordance with the strict engineering and quality-of-life performance standards EPA established, and to minimize community disruptions.
Audible and Visible Impacts
Given the size and scope of the project, some impacts are unavoidable. In the river, dredging will cause PCBs to be resuspended into the water and will cause noise and interference with river traffic. At the Processing and Transportation Facility, equipment will be heard and the unloading of barges, the loading of trains and lighting will be visible.
While the performance standards should help mitigate these impacts, some cannot be eliminated. Some of these standards relate to in-river aspects of the work, such as the resuspension of PCBs during dredging, the level of PCBs left on the river bottom after dredging (residuals), and the rate at which dredging is conducted. The quality-of-life standards seek to reduce potential impacts on the community, including air quality, noise, lighting, odor, and river navigation.
During the first year of dredging, EPA and GE will assess the ability of the project to satisfy the performance standards. If EPA's standards are not met, there may be cases where project activities are temporarily halted or changes in equipment or operations are implemented.
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