GE Submits Proposed Design for First Phase of Dredging

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

GE has submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency its final engineering design for the first phase of the dredging project that EPA has selected for the Upper Hudson River.

GE has designed the project to comply with EPA's Record of Decision for the Hudson River project and with the comprehensive agreement that GE and EPA signed in October.

We continue to demonstrate our commitment to cooperate with federal and state agencies to implement EPA's decision to dredge the Upper Hudson River and to work with local communities to try to minimize impacts from this project to the greatest practical extent, said Stephen D. Ramsey, GE's vice president of corporate environmental programs.

In response to comments and suggestions by the public and state and federal agencies on the intermediate design that GE submitted in August 2005, the Company made several significant design changes that are expected to reduce some impacts related to the project. These changes include:

Permitting recreational boat access to the Fort Edward Yacht Basin on a limited basis during dredging. The initial design submission proposed shutting down access to the Yacht Basin for the year needed to complete the significant dredging in that area. GE has modified the design to enable boaters to enter and leave the yacht basin during 30-minute periods each morning and evening. Buoys and signage will assist their safe passage through the area.
Proposing the establishment of a new, two-mile road to the processing facility site in Fort Edward. The new permanent road, running parallel to the Champlain Canal, would be connected to Route 196, the established truck route. This change is expected to sharply reduce the volume of project-related traffic moving through Village of Fort Edward neighborhoods to reach the processing facility.
Limiting to daylight hours, under normal conditions, the construction of the processing facility and the operation of the rail yard at the processing facility, rather than the round-the-clock schedules previously proposed.
Increasing boater safety and convenience by shifting a staging area for project-related boat traffic from a site where a public boat launch is proposed to nearby vacant land owned by New York State on West River Road in Moreau.
This will limit congestion and waiting times at the locks for recreational boaters.
Protecting a stand of trees on the south side of the processing facility site by moving a fence line and reducing visual and noise impacts on nearby neighbors by establishing a nine-foot soil berm between the fence and the facility.

GE also proposed a system to keep the public, including elected officials, local residents, boaters and businesses, informed of progress on the project. Information will be posted on a special dredging project web site and distributed in monthly progress reports. GE also plans to establish an informational phone line, which will be staffed 24/7 by project personnel, to answer community questions.

Now that the final design report has been submitted to EPA for review, GE will move forward with the process of selecting contractors to perform the work. Before dredging can begin, the processing facility and its infrastructure must be built. This facility will include: more than three miles of access and internal roads; a 25,500-square-foot building to house a two-million-gallon-per-day water treatment plant; a 41,000-square-foot, 40-foot-high building to house 12 filter presses; two enclosed buildings for temporary storage of processed sediment; more than five miles of new railroad track for the trains that will transport the sediment to a disposal facility(s) outside New York State; and a 1,500-foot-long wharf on the Champlain Canal where dredge material will be unloaded. More than 90,000 cubic yards of structural fill materials will be placed to support the rail yard and provide adequate drainage.

In October, GE and EPA signed a consent decree that sets forth a comprehensive framework for this project. Once the Federal Court issues a decision on the Consent Decree, EPA issues a decision on the final design, and negotiations for a full range of services, property and equipment have been concluded, construction of the processing facility could begin as early as September.