As Upstate residents are well-aware, the Hudson was heavily polluted by industry during the 20th century. Most notably, several factories that manufactured capacitors near the towns of Fort Edward and Hudson Falls dumped PCBs (which are not a healthy part of any balanced breakfast) directly into the river. What used to be a gorgeous area (and still is, in many ways) is now also a federal Superfund site. Rather than heading to the area on a vacation, I visited the Superfund site with numerous engineers, attorneys, scientists, and fellow interns from the Department of Environmental Conservation, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers two weeks ago.
Here is the very building where the PCBs that have polluted an entire river were dumped, in large part.
Until recently, the level of PCBs in the riverbed here was more than one hundred thousand times above the EPA's established limit, and there was as much as a 1:1 ratio of PCBs to riverbed material!
After much public debate, the dredging of this stretch of the Hudson River has begun in an attempt to remove some of the toxic material. Computer-controlled dredges work around the clock to remove the polluted sediment from the riverbed. Where people should be swimming happily in bathing suits, crewmen instead survey the work while wearing Hazmat suits. It is quite sobering, especially since we were told that 6-7 years of non-stop dredging will likely be required just to complete the initial phase.
After being removed from the riverbed, the material is shipped to the dewatering facility. Here, it is sorted and loaded onto bigger barges before being taken to railroad cars. From there, the material is being shipped to a toxic waste dump in Texas.
However, this isn't the end of the problem. For one thing, a town in Texas will now have, in perpetuity, toxic waste it didn't create as a blight on its landscape. Similarly, large portions of shoreline in the Fort Edward area (such as these) will be closed off in perpetuity.
It is a huge shame, and it must be bizarre to live in a town saddled with this sort of industrial baggage. However, you'd be surprised to know just how many Superfund sites there are nationwide-use this link to find the ones near your own home! It's really astonishing just how commonplace this sort of situation was before the advent of stricter environmental regulations came about. And, remember, these are just federal Superfund sites (the list doesn't include state-funded cleanups).
Anyway, after being reminded of the impacts that our consumerism has on the land we inhabit, I headed off (in my gasoline-powered car) for some fun in a generally unspoiled place, the one that rhymes with "Shermont." Look for a few pictures soon!
