Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Chemical pollution · United States · 2009–2015

GE ran a 'Let Nature Clean Up the Hudson' campaign against EPA dredging

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

General Electric discharged about 1 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River, and dredging removed contaminated sediment from 2009 to 2015. Fish advisories remain, so the stake for nature is the river's fish and sediment recovery.

What?
GE opposed EPA's plan to dredge PCB-contaminated sediment from the Hudson, and dredging went ahead from 2009 to 2015 under a federal Superfund decision.
Where?
Hudson River, New York State, United States; dredging took place in the upper river.
When?
Discharges from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s; EPA decision in February 2002; dredging 2009 to 2015; New York lawsuit in 2019.
Who?
Gained
  • General Electric — Its lobbying team included former Senate majority leader George Mitchell and former congressman Gerald Solomon. NBC president and GE vice-chair Robert Wright met New York city council members about a dredging bill. The Nation
Lost
  • Residents and anglers who eat Hudson fish — Fish consumption advisories remain in place after the dredging.
Harmed
None on record
Why?
GE's deputy argued that dredging would not produce better results for fish than natural recovery (KR3-74).
How?
A federal Superfund process, with GE's advertising and lobbying against dredging. Dredging was carried out from 2009 to 2015, and New York State sued EPA in 2019. WAMC
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The sources record that General Electric released about 1 million pounds (450 tons) of PCBs into the Hudson River from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s.

While EPA debated dredging, GE ran advertising on Albany bus shelters and highway billboards reading 'Let Nature Clean Up the Hudson, Not the EPA'. Its deputy argued that dredging would not help fish more than natural recovery.

Dredging from 2009 to 2015 removed 2.75 million cubic yards of sediment and 310,000 pounds of PCBs, which the sources describe as twice the expected amount.

New York State sued EPA in 2019 after EPA gave GE a completion certificate, saying the fish had not recovered as the 2002 decision predicted (WAMC, 21 August 2019).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: EPA's 2024 five-year review said reaching the fish target would take more than 50 years of natural recovery after dredging.
    • None on record Not in sources reviewed: the total cost of the Hudson cleanup.
    • None on record Not in sources reviewed: how often the natural-recovery remedy is chosen nationally. The EPA Superfund Remedy Report data set could not be opened.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Science and environment

    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.