During presentations Tuesday, engineers for General Electric (GE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented data to a panel of experts who will evaluate their competing claims regarding the first year of dredging for PCBs in the Hudson River.

PCB dreding halted in October 2009, to allow for the panel's reviewGE argues that the levels of the pollutants found in the river remain high even after dredging and also emphasize that the process can result in the re-suspension of PCBs.

The EPA claims that GE is using one-sided data of questionable reliability, that PCB levels released by dredging were never dangerous and that future dredging can be improved to reduce the amount of PCBs escaping into the river. The EPA also charges that GE failed to research the amount of PCBs that were in the water before dredging began and that they did not take into consideration other factors that could redistribute PCBs such as vessel traffic and incompletely closed dredge buckets.  

GE proposes dredging only in areas with higher PCB concentrations and in other places, testing for PCB contamination before dredging.

The EPA wants to remove more sediment from the bottom of the river such that their actions will not increase the concentrations of PCBs in the Hudson River.

The EPA also said that future dredging would not automatically stop if PCB levels exceeded the federal drinking water standards, now that they have agreed  to provide drinking water to the Saratoga County towns of Waterford and Halfmoon.

According to a 2002 cleanup pact with EPA, GE has the choice to abandon the project after the first year if it feels that it is not effective, however the EPA has promised dredging will go forward with or without GE. The cleanup started in May 2009 and is expected to be finished by 2015, although federal officials said Tuesday the project could take longer.