In the largest environmental dredging operation in US history, the US is
about to clean up the Hudson River. Over a period of 35 years, the General
Electric Company poured an estimated 500,000 kilograms of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) into the river before the chemicals were banned in 1977.
Residents living near the river bank claim to have suffered from a variety of
PCB-related illnesses, from cancer to physical deformities. The US Environmental
Protection Agency has decided it鈥檚 time to remove two million cubic metres of
contaminated sludge, and GEC will have to foot the $500 million bill. The
dredging could begin within a year.
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