ALBANY, New York, April 11, 2002 (ENS) - General Electric (GE) has offered to devise and execute a cleanup plan for the upper Hudson River, hoping to avoid additional lawsuits over the polluted sediments for which the company is blamed.

General Electric's Hudson Falls Plant and Bakers Falls on the Hudson River (Two photos courtesy EPA)

GE filed what it called a "good faith offer" with the EPA, volunteering to design a dredging plan to remove sediments laden with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). About 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were deposited by two GE plants that manufactured electric capacitors in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York.

Use of PCBs in capacitor insulation was banned in 1977, but prior to that time, GE had been dumping the chemical for more than 35 years. The Hudson River was declared a Superfund site in 1983.

Two PCB deposits are shown here, one indicated by the trees in the river, and the second by the yellow area on the bank.

"GE has proposed a format and a process for implementing the dredging project EPA has selected,'' wrote Stephen Ramsey, GE's vice president of corporate environmental programs, in a prepared statement. "This is a major step toward what we hope will be a cooperative relationship for ensuring the implementation of the dredging project selected by [EPA Administrator Christie] Whitman.'

GE plans to negotiate with the EPA over its proposed cleanup settlement over the next 60 days, Ramsey said.

Last year, GE filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Superfund law, which requires polluters to pay for cleanups regardless of whether their releases of toxins were legal at the time. That suit is still pending.

The EPA issues a statement Tuesday, saying "we are having discussions with GE about their response and have asked the company to provide additional information and some clarifications," regarding potential loopholes in GE's proposed settlement.

Dredging contaminated river sediments (Photo courtesy GE)

"There is ample time to complete the remedial action negotiations while design is ongoing," GE argues in its letter. "This approach is consistent with EPA guidance and practice since it avoids delay and will enhance the prospects of reaching an agreement."

"GE will work constructively with EPA on this project and our offer reflects that commitment," wrote GE's Ramsey.