How We Got Here: Thirty Years of Study, Design

Dredging in the Hudson River required multiple agreements between GE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the project, the collection and analysis of 50,000 sediment samples, and years of careful planning and engineering design.

The project began when, in 2002, EPA issued a Record of Decision that called for, among other things, the removal of sediments containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from the river. GE used PCBs at its plant sites in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, N.Y., and legally discharged them to the river. You can see the innovative project completed near GE's former Hudson Falls manufacturing facility here.

Immediately following EPA's decision to dredge the Hudson, GE committed to cooperate with EPA on the cleanup. GE entered into a number of agreements with EPA that set forth a process for determining which specific areas would be dredged, how the design of the project would be completed, and how the dredging work would be performed.

As part of these agreements, EPA agreed to develop engineering and quality-of-life standards that the project would have to meet. In addition, EPA agreed to identify a location for the processing, transportation and treatment facilities needed to support the project.

To determine what specific areas would be dredged, GE conducted an extensive sediment sampling program during which more than 50,000 samples of river sediment were collected and analyzed. The multi-year program was the largest sediment sampling effort ever performed.

GE then selected the engineering firm Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc., to supervise a team of experts in engineering, dredging, railroad transport, water treatment and sediment processing. Months of research and detailed analyses followed, during which key technical decisions were made, such as the equipment to be used; the method for transporting dredged sediment for processing; what processing and treatment activities would be undertaken at the processing facility; and how processed material would be transported for final disposal.

At the same time, EPA began to identify and evaluate potential locations for the support facilities. Ultimately, EPA settled on 110 acres of vacant farmland in Fort Edward for a barge unloading facility, processing equipment and temporary staging areas. In addition, a rail yard was needed to support transportation of the sediments to a disposal facility, and a water treatment plant had to be constructed to treat the water removed from sediments during processing.

GE began construction of these facilities in 2007. Dredging activities were performed from May 15, 2009, to Oct. 27, 2009.

As envisioned in the consent decree governing the dredging project, GE and EPA each prepared draft reports evaluating data from the dredging activities.  These reports were exchanged and submitted to an independent technical peer review panel that met on Feb. 17-18. The panel met again in Glens Falls on May 4-6. After deliberations, it is expected that the peer review panel will send EPA a report in early fall that informs EPA of any changes it recommends to the next phase of the dredging project, set to begin in 2011. EPA then will decide whether to proceed with any of the peer review panel’s recommendations and inform GE, which is designing Phase 2. GE then will advise EPA of its decision whether to perform Phase 2.