As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
Today
New Jersey community and labor leaders demanded that GE be held
accountable for its PCB contamination of the Hudson River. For 30
years, GE dumped over a million pounds of toxic PCB's into the water
surrounding its factories. Currently, up to 500 pounds of PCB's flow
downriver towards the New Jersey coastlines each year. PCB's have been
linked to cancer in humans and various illnesses in wildlife.
"Labor and environmentalists agree that PCB's must be removed from the
Hudson River," said Edward Pulver, President of the Hudson County
Central Labor Council and Vice President of the International
Seafarer's Union. "We've worked too hard to clean up our waterways here
in New Jersey to let GE's PCB's, coming from New York, set us back
again."
In
December, the EPA launched a plan to dredge a 40-mile long series of
locations near GE's factories in upstate New York. The public comment
period on EPA's plan ends April 17th.
"The
Acting Governor must come out in strong support of the river cleanup
and work closely with EPA to move it forward without delay," said
Hudson County Executive Director Robert Janiszewski. "This
contamination has led to significantly increased costs to maintain the
New York-New Jersey Harbor as an economically viable port."
Faced with the potential responsibility of cleaning up a 100,000 pounds
of PCB's, GE has launched a massive media and lobbying campaign to
convince the public and elected officials that the Hudson is "cleaning
itself." Last week, the president of General Electric-owned NBC lobbied
New York city council members against passing a bill to endorse
cleanup.
"We
cannot expect New York to fight this fight alone," said Andrew Willner,
NY/NJ Baykeeper. "Now is the moment for New Jersey policy makers to
join EPA in forcing GE to dredge PCB's from the riverbed."
Between
GE's high dollar campaign and the Bush administration's recent
anti-environmental decisions, the future of the EPA's plan is
uncertain. Concerned about the impact of Hudson River pollution on
human health, water quality and aquatic life, activists and
organizations are pushing for the plan to move ahead as scheduled.
"We
stand here today to say this is where the Bush war on the environment
stops," said Jeff Tittle, executive director of The Sierra Club's New
Jersey chapter. "If Superfund and toxic cleanup laws have any meaning,
the Hudson River cleanup has to move forward."
Currently,
the EPA warns that children under 15 and women of childbearing age
should not eat anything taken from the river's waters.
"GE
might have the money, but we have the facts," said Dena Mottola of New
Jersey Public Interest Research Group. "The PCB's they dumped cause
cancer and poison the water: the least GE can do is step up to the
plate and clean up their own mess."
Additional Contacts:
Clean Ocean Action, Cindy Zipf 732-872-0111
Andrew Willner, NY / NJ Baykeeper 732-291-0176
Jeff Tittel, Sierra Club - NJ 609-397-2506
Tom Fote, Jersey Coast Angler's Association, 732-270-9102
Pat Daley, Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, 973/ 579-1732, voice 973-579-9919
