The Hudson River dredging project is one of the largest and most complex environmental cleanups in U.S. history.

The Hudson River dredging project is one of the largest and most complex environmental cleanups in U.S. history.

In 2011, the planned goal is for GE's dredging crews to remove 350,000 cubic yards of sediment, that will be processed through the Processing Facility on the Champlain Canal.

GE's crews will be working 24 hours a day, six days a week from now through November.

Between four and six dredges will be operating in the Hudson River at any time during dredging in 2011.

Getting the sediment from the area being dredged to the Processing Facility is done by shallow-draft tugboats pushing the hopper barges. Each barge can carry up to 700 cubic yards of dredged sediment, depending on draft.

Twelve filter presses at the Processing Facility squeeze the water out of the sediment. The presses were specially made for the Hudson River Dredging Project.

The water treatment plant at the Processing Facility is larger than some regional plants and can handle up to two million gallons of water a day.

Once the sediment is dewatered, it is temporarily staged in these two enclosed staging areas, waiting to be loaded onto railcars to be transported to a permitted hazardous waste disposal facility.

Crews use excavators to load the lined railcars with dewatered sediment at the Processing Facility's railyard.