Getting Ready to Dredge

With the Hudson River dredging project scheduled to start in 2009, GE is now building the processing, treatment and transportation facilities that will be needed to conduct one of the largest environmental cleanups ever conducted in the United States.

The dredging project will be conducted in the Upper Hudson River in New York State north of Albany. Sediments in a 40-mile stretch of river bottom will be removed by dredges, then transported by barges to nearby processing and transportation facilities now under construction, and finally shipped by rail for disposal to a federally permitted facility in Texas. GE is conducting and paying for the work under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The processing and transportation facilities are being constructed on property in Fort Edward, N.Y., near the northern boundary of the dredging project. Prior to the start of construction in April 2007, the 110-acre property was vacant, agricultural land along the Champlain Canal.

During dredging, barges carrying sediment will travel from the Hudson River, through Lock 7 to the Champlain Canal. They will dock at a large wharf being constructed on the western side of the canal. Sediments will be removed from the barges, then conveyed to a sediment dewatering facility where river water will be squeezed out. The water will be captured, treated to remove PCBs and then returned to the canal. GE has chosen The Shaw Group Inc. to operate the processing facilities once dredging begins.

After processing, the dried sediments will be loaded onto rail cars that will be staged at a new rail yard already constructed on the site. MHF Logistical Solutions, Inc. has been selected by GE to operate the rail yard during dredging. Once full, the rail cars will leave Fort Edward for Andrews, Texas, where the processed sediments will be housed at a storage facility owned by Waste Control Specialists.

Work Begins to Install Mooring Posts in River

During the week of July 14, GE crews began constructing structures in the river necessary to support the dredging project: The installation of mooring posts in the river where barges will be able to tie up temporarily while waiting to navigate through Lock 7 of the Champlain Canal.

Four locations on the east side of the river -- about 900 feet south of Lock 7 -- were chosen for these posts. Workers are using a 60-ton crane to install the five steel piles that will secure each post. A total of 20 posts will be installed during the work.

Once dredging begins, barges filled with dredged sediment may be secured to the mooring posts temporarily in order to wait for Lock 7 to be available. Tugs and barges will need to pass through this lock to get to the project's sediment processing, water treatment and transportation facilities. Empty barges will also tie up at the mooring posts as they wait to be transported to dredge areas located between Locks 6 and 7.

Once the mooring posts are installed, a turning dolphin will be placed in the river off the tip of the south entrance to Lock 7. Tugs will use the dolphin to turn barges nearly 180-degrees into or out of the lock while dredging near Rogers Island

All of the work will be conducted over an eight-week period. Noise monitors have been placed on the east shore of the Hudson River to monitor the audible levels while the work is being completed. To ensure the safety of boaters, the work barge and the turning dolphin will have marker lights to make them visible from dusk to dawn.

Buildings Erected and Rail Yard in Place, Wharf Construction in Progress

Workers 40 feet in the air are finishing the steel roof of a 41,000-square-foot sediment dewatering plant. Later this year, 12 specially made filter presses will be installed on concrete pads inside the building. During dredging, dredged sediments will pass through this equipment where water will be pressed out of the material.

The exterior of a two-million-gallon-a-day water treatment plant also has been completed. Here, water removed from dredged sediments, along with storm water collected in storm basins constructed around the site, will be treated and discharged to the Champlain Canal, after testing to ensure it meets state water quality standards, or recycled for use on-site.

Once water is removed from dredged sediments, the resulting cake will be transported by truck for temporary storage in one of two twin structures, called the fine material staging areas. One of these 400-foot-long, 50-foot-high enclosed structures has been completed. A sister structure will be erected later this year.

Finishing touches are being made to a 750,000-gallon recycled water equalization tank that will hold water for recycling once the facility is operating. Thousands of fasteners were meticulously placed to connect panels on this and other large process tanks at the site.

A new rail yard has also been largely completed. Nearly seven miles of track have been installed. A 7,000-square-foot rail maintenance building has been erected and a scale to weigh rail cars has been installed. Now, crews are installing a 2,500-foot-long loading platform and a team from Canadian Pacific Railway will soon complete connection of the new rail lines to the existing CP main line.

Internal roads to facilitate travel around the large property have been constructed, as has a two-mile road from the existing truck route in the Town of Kingsbury to the site's entrance. The new road was constructed to minimize project-related traffic on narrow neighborhood streets. In addition, a bridge and culverts have been built and sewer, water and power lines have been installed.

At the wharf, GE's contractors have completed widening the Champlain Canal near the facility by 65 feet to ensure non-project related boats can pass through the channel when barges are being unloaded at the wharf during dredging. The soils that were removed were transported to the southern perimeter of the property where a 15-foot-high berm was constructed to shield nearby residents from project operations. The berm will be graded in the coming weeks and vegetated with a special wildflower mix to minimize dust and improve its appearance.

Along the shoreline, 100 steel pipe piles have been installed as well as 250 tons of structural steel to support wharf equipment. Mooring posts also have been installed in the water and concrete platforms placed on top. Work on steel and concrete of the wharf's decking is now under way. Meanwhile, the adjoining area is being graded to prepare the site for 33,000 square yards of pavement and installation of equipment that will separate sand, gravel and larger debris from dredged sediments.

More Than 100 Local Companies Assist on Project

GE selected three contractors to prepare the processing facility site and build the support facilities. The D.A. Collins Company, Inc. of Mechanicville, N.Y., performed civil construction work at the site and built roads, a bridge, culverts and storm water drainage basins. They are now working on constructing the 1,450-foot wharf. RailWorks Track Services, Inc., a subsidiary of RailWorks Corp. of New York City, constructed the rail yard. Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc., of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was selected to construct buildings on the site and install equipment inside. An average of 150 employees, mostly union workers, are on the job each day, and more than 100 local companies have been hired by GE and its contractors to help with the project. You can see the list of businesses here.

More than 365 Days of Safe Construction

GE, its construction manager Parsons, and its contractors have achieved a major accomplishment -- more than 365 days, involving more than 299,000 personnel hours, without a lost-time incident at the construction site. The safety program, developed by Parsons working with GE, requires considerable planning, attention and effort to be successful. Its focus involves constant attention to safety and prevention of risks, including the designation of a collaborative safety team; pre-work orientation and training for everyone working on the site; and regular updates, daily meetings and site reviews to ensure universal participation.

GE, EPA Reach Series of Project Agreements

To reach this point, GE and EPA have worked together to make sure the dredging project is implemented safely and to minimize disruption to local communities. EPA and GE have signed three major agreements for the project. The first called for the largest sediment sampling operation ever conducted in the United States. GE collected more than 50,000 sediment samples to map the location, depth and concentration of PCBs in the Upper Hudson as a precursor to developing the dredging plan. The second agreement provided for GE to design the two phases of the dredging project. GE's design of the first phase has been approved and EPA is reviewing the design of the second phase. Under the third agreement, GE will conduct the dredging project with -- as is the case in all phases of the project -- EPA's approval and oversight. The dredging project was designed to comply with the requirements established by EPA's Record of Decision and the strict engineering and quality-of-life performance standards that the Agency imposed to protect the environment and local communities during dredging.