Notable case, Hudson Falls e Fort Edward, New York, United States
Hudson River PCBs
Two General Electric capacitor plants discharged about 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the river over thirty years. It became one of the largest environmental dredging projects ever carried out.
At a glance
- Status
- Remediation under way
- Activity
- 1947–1977
- Media
- sediment, surface water, living organisms, soil
- Kind of site
- chemical works, electrical manufacturing
- National list
- Listed 1984National Priorities List
- Area. About 200 miles (320 km) of river, from Hudson Falls to Battery Park in New York City, are classed as a Superfund site; dredging covered a 40-mile stretch between Fort Edward and Troy.
Contaminants
Organic compounds
National list
On the list (final)United States
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
- Listed
- 1984
- Official id
- NYD980763841 ↗
About this list
The list of contaminated sites that are national priorities for federal clean-up under CERCLA (Superfund, 1980), kept by EPA (40 CFR Part 300, Appendix B). Listing makes a site eligible for long-term remedial action paid by the Superfund; sites are proposed and then listed through Federal Register notices, and deleted when no further response is needed.
Includes federal facilities (Defense, Energy). Dates are the years of the Federal Register notices (final listing, deletion); 'listed' is empty for proposed sites. Some sites still on the list have had partial deletions. Contaminants and media: contaminants of concern from decision documents (RODs, ROD amendments, ESDs; EPA, fiscal years 1981-2024, SEMS document HQ/406315); for sites with no decision document (mostly proposed or recently listed) the contaminants are those EPA records for the site (FOIA-015, document HQ/406366), with no medium. 'Deleted' means EPA found no further response needed, which can include land-use controls still in force.
Status
Remediation under way
Dredging ended in 2015; the site is in a monitoring phase covering water, sediment, fish and habitat, while the study of floodplain contamination continues. Fish consumption restrictions, in force since 1976, remain.
Story
General Electric's plants at Fort Edward and Hudson Falls made electrical capacitors insulated with PCBs. For about thirty years, until 1977, they discharged roughly 1.3 million pounds (about 590 tonnes) of PCBs into the river, where they settled in the sediment and moved up the food chain. New York State has restricted the eating of Hudson fish since 1976.
In 1984 the contaminated stretch went on the National Priorities List. In 2002 EPA decided on targeted dredging of about 2.65 million cubic yards of sediment in the 40 miles between Fort Edward and Troy. The work ran in two phases from 2009 to 2015 and removed about 2.75 million cubic yards.
Timeline
- 1976New York restricts consumption of Hudson fish because of PCBs.
- 1977PCB discharges from the General Electric plants end.
- 1984Placed on the National Priorities List.
- 2002EPA decides to dredge the upper Hudson.
- 2009First dredging phase (May–November).
- 2015Second dredging phase ends.
Remediation
- 2015dredgingDredging of about 2.75 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment over six seasons (2009–2015).
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Cucurbita pepoZucchini, pumpkinPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Medicago sativaAlfalfa, lucernePolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Polychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Morus spp.MulberryPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
Fungi
- Irpex lacteusMilk-white toothed polyporePolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
- Phanerochaete chrysosporiumPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
- Phlebia brevisporaPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
- Pleurotus ostreatusOyster mushroomPolychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: laboratory
Nearby
Sources
- Hudson River Cleanup, US EPA, 2026
- Fort Edward (village), New York (coordinates), Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.