Settlements

Court Approves Hudson River Settlement
November 2, 2006 - Statement by Alan J. Steinberg, U.S. EPA Regional Administrator "The United States is pleased to announce that today, the landmark settlement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the General Electric Company (GE) for the Hudson River PCBs site was approved by Federal District Court Judge David N. Hurd. This allows the cleanup of the Hudson River to proceed. Under the approved Consent Decree, GE will construct a sediment transfer/processing facility in Fort Edward, NY and perform the first phase of the dredging of the PCB-contaminated river sediments, and may perform the second phase of the dredging as well. Now that the court has approved the Consent Decree, we can all look forward to seeing the benefits of cleaning up the Hudson River. EPA will continue to work with the affected communities and other stakeholders as the implementation of the remedy proceeds."

U.S. Seeks Court Approval on Dredging Agreement with GE

The Department of Justice and EPA asked the U.S. District Court in Albany, New York to approve the October 2005 consent decree with the General Electric Company for the river dredging called for in EPA's 2002 Record of Decision for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund site.

News Release | Submission Requesting Entry of Consent Decree and Related Documents

The responses to the public comments received on the Consent Decree can be viewed by clicking here: http://www.hudsoncag.ene.com/approval.htm

U.S. Seeks Court Approval on Dredging Agreement with GE

On May 16, 2006, the Department of Justice and EPA asked the U.S. District Court in Albany, New York to approve the October 2005 consent decree with the General Electric Company for the river dredging called for in EPA's 2002 Record of Decision for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund site. News Release

Plantiff's Submission Requesting Entry of Consent Decree [PDF 10 KB, 3 pp]
Plaintiff's Memorandum In Support of Submission Requesting Entry of Consent Decree [PDF 2.5 MB, 59 pp]

Exhibits to Plaintiff's Memorandum In Support of Submission Requesting Entry of Consent Decree
Exhibit 1 - Comment of U.S. Rep. Sue W. Kelly
Exhibit 2 - Comment of U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey and Maurice D. Hinchey
Exhibit 3 - Comment of Eliot Spitzer. Attorney General of the State of New York
Exhibit 4 - Comment of Denise M. Sheehan, Commissioner, State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation
Exhibit 5 - Comment of Town of Fort Edward (and associated entities)
Exhibit 6 - Comment of Friends of a Clean Hudson
Exhibit 7 - Comment of Scenic Hudson, Inc.
Exhibit 8 - Representative samples of letter Comments
Exhibit 9 - Executive Summary, Facility Siting Report (December, 2004) [PDF 2.5 MB, 24 pp]
Exhibit 10 - ROD White Paper - Socioeconomics, Page 1 [PDF 1.2 MB, 395 pp]
Exhibit 11 - The Times Union (Albany, NY) (February 15, 2006)

Certificate of Service [PDF 7 KB, 1 pp]

Appendix A [Technical Responses to Comments]

Appendix A Exhibits 1 through 22
Appendix A Exhibits 1-3

Exhibit 1 Pages 5-8 of Responsiveness Summary, Book 2 of 3, White Paper: Relationship Between Tri+ and Total PCBs
Exhibit 2 Map illustrating the three Hudson River Sections
Exhibit 3 EPA Memorandum to the File (October 21, 2005)
Appendix A Exhibit 4 - Mulligan, John B., P.E., “Response to NOAA Comment Letter of October 18, 2005" (“Mulligan Memo”).
Appendix A Exhibit 5 - Comments of EPA on the Intermediate Design Report (“IDR”) (November 1, 2005)
Appendix A Exhibit 6-1 - GE’s Response to EPA comments on the IDR (December 26, 2005)
Appendix A Exhibit 6-2 - GE’s Response to EPA comments on the IDR (December 26, 2005)
Appendix A Exhibit 7 - Trends in Upper Hudson River Sediment PCB Contamination Toward the Shoreline” (December 2005) (“GE Trends Report”)
Appendix A Exhibits 8-11:

Appendix A Exhibits 12-14

Appendix A Exhibit 15-1 - GE’s March 21, 2006 draft Remedial Action Community Health and Safety Plan (“CHASP”)
Appendix A Exhibit 15-2 - GE’s March 21, 2006 draft Remedial Action Community Health and Safety Plan (“CHASP”)
Appendix A Exhibits 16-22

DOJ, EPA Reach Agreement With General Electric to Conduct Hudson River Dredging (October 2005)

Taking another significant step toward cleaning up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in the Hudson River, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reached an agreement with the General Electric Company (GE), requiring it to begin the dredging called for in EPA's 2002 Record of Decision for the Hudson River PCB's Superfund site. Under the terms of the consent decree lodged in federal district court in Albany, New York, GE will construct the sediment transfer/processing facility needed for the project and perform the first phase of the dredging according to design plans being developed under a prior agreement. The dredging is scheduled for the 2007 spring through fall dredging season. The agreement also calls for GE to pay EPA up to $78 million for the Agency's past and future costs. EPA has already collected $37 million from GE through past settlements.

The public comment period for the consent decree closed on December 14. As required by law, EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will carefully consider all public comments received on the consent decree, and will then make a decision about whether to ask the court to approve (enter) it. EPA and DOJ can elect not to seek entry of the decree if, based on the public comments, they determine that the proposed settlement is inappropriate, improper or inadequate. If the agencies make that determination and decide that changes to the consent decree are needed, the government would need to seek GE's agreement to those changes.

EPA will continue to keep the public fully informed at each step in the process as we move toward the dredging of the Hudson River.

News Release | Consent decree and its appendices | Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree

Design AOC (August 2003)

EPA has signed an agreement with General Electric Company (GE) to perform the project design work for the cleanup of PCB-contaminated sediment in the Hudson River. Under the agreement, embodied in an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC), GE will develop detailed approaches to removing sediment from the river bottom, transporting and disposing of the material, and replacing the habitat in dredged areas. The company will also pay up to $28 million in partial reimbursement of EPA’s past and future costs associated with the dredging project. The AOC was signed by EPA on August 13 and becomes effective on August 18, 2003.

The AOC covers the detailed design of the dredging project. It does not cover the performance of the actual dredging work itself. The AOC includes work plans for the design of the dredging work, baseline monitoring, cultural and archeological resources assessment, and habitat delineation and assessment.

EPA negotiates with potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to get them to address, in whole or in part, the PRPs' responsibility for a Superfund site. The large majority of Superfund disputes with the government are resolved through negotiated settlements, which may be written in the form of an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) or a judicial Consent Decree (CD).
News Release (09/2003)

Sampling AOC (July 2002)

General Electric Company (GE), the potentially responsible party at the Hudson River PCBs Superfund site, signed an AOC with EPA in July 2002 (referred to as the Sampling AOC) to fund and perform sediment sampling as the initial step in the design of the site cleanup (dredging project)....News Release (07/2002)

For information about this page, contact: kluesner.dave@epa.gov

Settlements

U.S. Seeks Court Approval on Dredging Agreement with GE

U.S. Seeks Court Approval on Dredging Agreement with GE

DOJ, EPA Reach Agreement With General Electric to Conduct Hudson River Dredging (October 2005)

Design AOC (August 2003)

Sampling AOC (July 2002)

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