General Electric will be assuming the bulk of the cost in building a waterline from Troy to several communities along the Hudson River, where officials are worried that a dredging operation later this year could interrupt their supply of clean water.
Although it has been established that GE will pay a portion of the costs associated with dredging the Hudson for PCBs, carcinogens that the company dumped into the river for years until they were banned, it was revealed on Monday, Jan. 26, that the EPA will be ordering that the company pay $7 million toward an $8.2 million pipeline from Troy.
The pipeline will provide Troy water to the towns of Waterford, Halfmoon and Stillwater if and when the levels of PCBs in their drinking water rise above federal thresholds of 500 parts per trillion.
Leaders in those communities say that isn’t acceptable, and they want an alternate water source for the entirety of the dredging operations, not just when tests indicate that the water has become unsafe.
This doesn’t get Halfmoon to where it needs to be for safe, affordable drinking water for the town, said Halfmoon Supervisor Mindy Wormuth. `We didn’t pollute the river, so we shouldn’t be responsible for paying the costs.`
Halfmoon, along with the villages of Stillwater, Waterford, Mechanicville and Saratoga County will be filing a lawsuit against the EPA to get their alternate water source.
EPA Spokeswoman Kristen Skopeck said that the EPA’s hands are legally tied when it comes to providing water during the dredging.
`It would be inconsistent with the law for the EPA to pay for water when the levels are below the threshold,` she said. `We are taxpayer-funded, and there are laws dictating this.`
The Superfund Program, established in 1980 following the Love Canal incident in Niagara Falls, outlines how the EPA will respond to cleanup or prevent the release of hazardous wastes.
Wormuth said that there have been no studies on the effects of even low-level PCB exposure over a long period, and she doesn’t want her community to be the place where the EPA finds out about new risks associated with the banned chemical.
`My concern is that this is an eight or 10 year [dredging] project, so what are the cumulative effects?` she said. `I don’t want to be the guinea pig for that study.`
The standoff with the EPA wasn’t helped by the fact municipalities weren’t advised of the new agreement with GE directly.
Skopeck said that it was a technical error, and measures are being taken to ensure that future changes are properly communicated.
`From now on, I will make individual phone calls to supervisors,` she said. `We want to have open dialogues, not just with supervisors, but with everybody involved in this project.`
Halfmoon, Waterford and Stillwater have approached Saratoga County Water Authority officials about the possibility of extending the upcoming county water system to their communities. Usage fees would easily recoup the cost of extending the system, which is expected to come online this summer, said Water Authority Chairman John Lawler.
Since the arrangement with GE is a change to a 2006 consent decree, a public comment period is required before the changes take effect. The EPA will hold a public information and comment session Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Fort Edward Fire Station from 7 to 9 p.m. The project will also be discussed at a meeting of the Hudson River Community Advisory Group on Thursday, Feb. 5, at the William K. Sanford Library in Loudonville, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.“