Toxic Hudson River sediment could poison Texas aquifer

Environment News Service: The long awaited dredging of the Upper Hudson River to remove sediment contaminated by PCBs from a General Electric factory began Friday near Roger’s Island in Fort Edward. The six-year dredging project will be conducted by General Electric under the terms of a November 2006 consent decree. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will oversee all aspects of the work; dredging will continue through October 2009, weather permitting.

…Sediment removed from the river will be carried by barge to a dewatering facility located on the Champlain Canal in Fort Edward. There water will be squeezed from the sediment and treated to drinking water standards before being returned to the canal. The remaining PCB-laden dirt will be loaded onto railcars for disposal at a permitted landfill facility in Andrews County, Texas.

The 1,338 acre treatment, storage and disposal facility operated by Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County is licensed for the processing, storage and disposal of a broad range of hazardous and toxic waste as well as low-level and mixed low-level radioactive waste.

But environmentalists in Texas are demanding an Environmental Impact Statement, saying that disposing of the PCBs at the Waste Control Specialists site could the poison the Ogallala aquifer. The vast underground water table underlies parts of eight states, including Texas, acting as a natural groundwater storage reservoir…..

Leon Dabo's "Evening on the Hudson," 1911