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