The Hudson story Several decades ago, General Electric (GE) found that certain oily liquids were perfect insulation for the capacitors they made. The liquids were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and at the time they were thought harmless (shades of the aerosol spray story of Chapter 1). GE, beginning in 1946, manufactured capacitors at two factories in New York state, located along the Hudson River far above Albany. Under New York state permits (dumping of wastes was legal at the time), GE dumped around 30 pounds per day of PCBs into the Hudson, which over time led to the accumulation of between 500 and 1100 tonnes of PCBs in the river s sediments. (108,109) Eventually, PCBs were found to be connected to cancer in humans and reproductive failure in wildlife, (110) and the substance was banned in 1979. (See Extension 20.9, Linear nonthreshold dose for a discussion of collective dose and the linear dose hypothesis used in reaching the studies conclusions.) GE ceased using the PCBs in 1977. (111) David Higby, an environmentalist living along the Hudson, pointed out that PCBs from Hudson Falls have been found in polar bears in the Arctic. (112) One study by the Fish and Wildlife Service between Fort Edwards (site of the southern of the two GE factories) and Saratoga National Historic Park found PCB concentrations in tree swallow eggs between 5 and 42 parts per million. The highest previous level ever found had been 4 parts per million among bird eggs at Green Bay, Wisconsin. (110) The extent of the Hudson s contamination problem was first realized only in 1975, (109) and over 300 km of the river was declared a Superfund site in 1984. (109) (Superfund is the government program supported by taxes on polluters polluters pay to clean up toxic waste sites. For more details refer to Chapter 26.) Most of the PCBs were by that time lying under silt layers out of direct contact with flowing water.
Energy, Ch. 13, extension 3 The Hudson story 2 Since there was no scientific consensus in the 1980s on the best remediation measures, little was done to clean the silt under the river. Federal agencies and academics spent a lot of time studying the situation, learning more about risks. When GE s abandoned factory in Hudson Falls had an underground wood gate fail in 1991, a surge of PCBs overwhelmed the northern reaches of the Hudson River. In the ensuing bad publicity, GE made a commitment to clean the site as well as it could and has spent almost $200 million on the cleanup effort. (108) GE is recovering about 70 kg of PCBs a week by pumping on wells at the site. Apparently, GE has also spent over $60 million campaigning against the eventual expected EPA cleanup order. (112) Residents along the Hudson River are not of one mind, but have been influenced by the public relations campaign. (113) GE has also threatened to pick up and leave New York if the state adopted measures that GE deemed too tough. (109) GE has argued that disturbing the river bottom would release more PCBs and cause even more environmental problems. GE also argued that the riverbottom silt now in place will remain in place, especially because the most contaminated northern stretch of the river is heavily dammed. (109,114,115) GE sponsored research by J. Kimbrough that studied exposures to 7000 GE workers and found no increased cancer hazard. (109) However, the EPA found the greatest risk is to those who eat Hudson River fish, which the Kimbrough study did not address. The EPA determined that a person who ate fish from the affected part of the Hudson once a week for 40 years would have a one-in-a-thousand chance of contracting cancer, ten to one hundred times larger than the acceptable level. (114,116) EPA officials said the risk drops as
Energy, Ch. 13, extension 3 The Hudson story 3 the river travels southward; from Troy to Poughkeepsie, the risk of cancer is one in 2500. (116) The cancer risk from Troy south to Poughkeepsie is only about one-third of the risk estimated for people eating fish farther north, officials said. The risk from Troy to Poughkeepsie amounts to an additional 1-in-2,500 chance of developing cancer for someone who eats a weekly meal of Hudson River fish. But it is still 100 times higher than the agency finds acceptable. The EPA was concerned that the PCBs are a threat to wildlife and could cause a risk of cancer. The buried PCBs are seen to be the greatest risk. Research uncovered PCB releases into the air from the mud flats along the river, and experience with occasional floods, such as the Hoosic River flood of 1993, showed scouring of the river bottom that brought fresh releases of PCBs into the environment. (110) A Columbia University researcher concurred with GE s position that the silt remains in place for the most part, but can be disturbed by flood, earthquake, or other event, and there is plenty of evidence that such events have happened frequently. (117) In December, 2000, the EPA proposed an active cleanup, which would involve extensive dredging (675,000 cubic meters of river bottom mud, containing an estimated 50 tonnes of PCBs) and cost $490 million. (115,118) There are about 40 hot spots of PCBs between Hudson Falls and the dam on the Hudson at Troy, New York, and these are the focus of the cleanup plan. (116,119) The National Academy of Sciences released a report in late 2000 that said both that the PCBs are dangerous and that they represent a potent longterm poison in the environment. (120) But the recommended dredging was found to be possibly dangerous as well, because there is no way to assure that the pollutants dredged up would not leak back. GE characterized the EPA s proposed plan as reckless. (115)
Energy, Ch. 13, extension 3 The Hudson story 4 GE vowed to fight to prevent the plan from going forward. A GE spokesman said This is a dredging project that will devastate the ecosystem of the Hudson for a generation.... It would take ten to 20 years if not longer to do this project. It s 20 times larger than any environmental dredging project ever done anywhere. (121) Amazingly, striped bass have flourished more in the Hudson in the years since the PCB contamination took place, probably because of warnings to fishermen about the contamination in the fish. Other local fish, known as killfish, have evolved resistance to PCBs. (122) After the recommendation came a change of administration from Clinton to Bush, which has been less interested in the environment, dumping many Clinton rules. The matter was taken to a Federal court that ruled in December 2001 that GE s suit be dismissed, allowing the EPA-ordered cleanup to proceed. (123) However, on appeal, the ruling was vacated and the GE suit reinstated. (124) It appears the Hudson cleanup will happen, largely but not entirely paid for by GE because of its multiple negotiated settlements with the EPA, and the work will even involve the critics usefully. PCB contamination elsewhere It was not just the Hudson that was affected by release of PCBs, it was just that that was much larger than elsewhere because of the presence of the manufacturing plants. In other places it was leaky transformers and other mechanisms that gave rise to PCB release. An unfortunate side effect of PCB contamination in fish in American rivers is the presence of PCBs in farmed salmon. (125) It appears that the salmon are given feed made of ground up fish. Those small fish had apparently concentrated the PCBs.
Energy, Ch. 13, extension 3 The Hudson story 5 Meanwhile, PCBs were released in large quantities in other places. Monsanto released tons of PCBs from a plant in Anniston, Alabama. (126) The cleanup of Anniston is being battled out in the courts and the political process. A trial brought forth documents that suggested a companywide preoccupation with maintaining its $22-million-a-year PCB monopoly regardless of health or environmental risks. (126) Monsanto was convicted on all six counts it considered: negligence, wantonness, suppression of the truth, nuisance, trespass and outrage. (126) The Federal settlement that followed was attacked by local activists, and as of this writing, the issue will probably be back in the courts. (127) Solutia, the Monsanto spinoff that runs the Anniston plant, was sued by individuals who claimed damage, and lost the suit. (128) It agreed (along with Monsanto and Pfizer Inc.) to pay the residents of Anniston $600 million. (129) Solutia then filed suit to get local foundries to bear some costs of the settlement. Its settlement covered claims for heavy metal contamination that laced PCBs, lead, cadmium, and arsenic, which Solutia claimed came from sand used in operations at McWane, Halliburton, and Phelps Dodge Industries. The appearance of PCBs upstream from the Solutia plant could not have come from Solutia, the company claimed. (130)