Hudson River PCB dredging winding down for year; Superfund project expected to finish in 2015

Federal regulators say PCB dredging in the upper Hudson River will finish for the year next week.

The Environmental Protection Agency says Thursday that about 2.5 million cubic yards of sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls have been removed from the upper river over five years of work.

Dredging for the $2 billion federal Superfund project is expected to finish next year, with an additional year of habitat planting and reconstruction.

General Electric Co. agreed with the EPA to remove PCBs from a 40-mile stretch of the river decades after discharging about 1.3 million pounds of PCBs, which were used as coolants in electrical equipment.

The EPA says about 575,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment were dredged from the bottom of the river this year, exceeding the annual goal.