EPA v. General Electric Company

Case summary

During an approximate 30-year period ending in 1977, manufacturing processes at two GE facilities, one in Fort Edward, New York, and the other in Hudson Falls, New York, used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the manufacture of electrical capacitors. PCBs from both facilities were discharged into the Hudson River. The Hudson River PCBs Site (Site) was placed on the National Priorities List in 1984. In September 1984, EPA issued a Record of Decision (the 1984 ROD) for the Site which included, among other things, an interim no action decision with regard to PCBs in the sediments of the Upper Hudson River. In 1989, EPA decided to reassess the interim no-action decision in the 1984 ROD with respect to PCB-contaminated Hudson River sediments. Beginning in 1990, EPA conducted a Reassessment Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study which included, inter alia, analyses of the fate, transport, and human health and environmental risks associated with PCB contamination at the Site. On February 1, 2002, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) in which EPA selected a remedial action for the Site. The remedy selected in the ROD includes, inter alia, the targeted dredging and off-site disposal of approximately 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the Upper Hudson River. On February 4, 2002, EPA sent a Special Notice Letter to GE asking the company to notify the Agency as to whether it would perform or fund the remedy selected by EPA in the ROD, and to reimburse approximately $37 million in EPA Site-related past costs. GE submitted its response to EPA's Special Notice Letter on April 8, 2002. In July 2002, EPA and GE signed an administrative order on consent under which GE is performing the extensive sediment sampling required to identify the areas to be dredged under EPA's remedy. The administrative order signed by EPA on August 13, 2003 (the Remedial Design AOC ) requires GE to perform the remedial design of the remedy selected in the ROD. The Remedial Design AOC also requires GE to reimburse EPA for $15 million of the Agency's site-related past response costs, and up to $13 million of EPA's costs of overseeing GE's work under the Remedial Design AOC, and of performing certain activities that EPA will perform itself (i.e., siting of sediment processing/transfer facilities, development of performance standards, and development of a community involvement program). EPA and GE will shortly begin negotiations regarding GE's reimbursement of EPA's outstanding past response costs for the Site (which exceed $20 million) and the company's implementation of the remedy.

Defendants (1)

• General Electric CompanyNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• HUDSON RIVER PCBS

  NO STREET APPLICABLE, GLENS FALLS, NY, 12801

  Registry ID: 110071100516

Statutes cited

• CERCLA 122A — Agreement to Perform Work Under 104B
• CERCLA 107A — Cost Recovery

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• General Electric Companyentered 2003-08-13

  Primary law: CERCLA

Timeline (3 milestones)

• 2003-08-13Final Order Issued
• 2003-08-13Enforcement Action Closed
• 2003-08-26Enforcement Action Data Entered