DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Environmentalists Oppose Shift on Hudson Dredging By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE Hudson and one of those meeting today with agency officials, said the WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — A half­ agency, wanted to set specific stand­ dozen environmentalists told offi­ ards regarding the rate of progress cials at the Environmental Protec­ tion Agency here today that they and what was called resuspension — opposed altering the government’s that is, how much the dredging half-billion-dollar directive on how stirred up chemicals from the bot­ the General Electric Company tom of the river. should dredge the Hudson River of “This is setting up the project for poisonous chemicals. failure,” Mr. Sullivan said. “You can The agency is considering insert­ only make judgments about produc­ ing specific performance standards tion rate when you have a specific in its directive now rather than dur­ design. ing the next three years of analysis “We’re very concerned that these in the design phase of the project, as performance standards are G.E.is is customary. concerns, and the notion that there Environmentalists argued that could be significant ‘adjustments’ this change would allow G.E., which their word — in the remedy because has always resisted the cleanup plan, of a failure to achieve some kind of to scuttle it by setting standards too production rate in the first year high to meet. sends up red flags to us that these Tina Kreisher, a spokeswoman for reflect G.E.’s continued desire to see the agency, said the environmental­ this project fail.” ists had said bluntly that they be­ Environmentalists and supporters lieved that General Electric was be­ of the dredging project have criti­ hind the proposal to insert perform­ ance standards at this stage. cized the agency for meeting with She said that Eileen McGinnis, were General Electric, suggesting the two chief of staff to Christie Whitman, In cahoots to provide a bureau­ the agency’s administrator, had re­ cratic way to kill the project after sponded that it was Mrs. Whitman the agency announced in August that who had come up with the idea “to it would proceed. ensure this was done correctly and Gary Scheffer, chief spokesman have some accountability.” for G.E., said that company officials The environmentalists at the were furious at implications that meeting said Ms, McGinnis also told they have been using the cover of the them that because Mrs. Whitman terrorist attacks in New York, which deemed the project to be of such displaced the regional E.P.A. offices, national significance — it is at least to try to kill the dredging project. 10 times bigger than any other clean­ In fact, they were trying to klll.it up project in the nation’s history — before then, spending more than $60 she might want the project to be million on an intense anti-dredging. overseen by the agency’s Washing­ advertising and lobbying campaign. ton headquarters rather than its re­ Mr. Scheffer said General Elec­ gional office in New York. tric’s primary focus in the last three Andy Mele, executive director of weeks had been on helping New York the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater recover from the disaster. Inc., said after the meeting, “We are concerned that G.E. will exploit the “We had two people killed, one in fact that the E.P,A. staff in Washing­ an airplane and one in the trade ton hasn’t been following this issue.” center,” he said. “We have given $10 Ms. Kreisher said the agency was million to start the mayor’s Twin still exploring whether to incorpo­ Towers Fund, our employees gave rate the standards in the final record $1,5 million to the American Red of decision, which has been delayed Cross and we’re going to match that, by several weeks, in part because of for $3 million to the Red Cross.” ' the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and He said the company had also sup­ whether to move the project from plied equipment like power genera­ New York to Washington. “That’s tors and medical diagnostic ma­ what we’re listening about,” she chines in Lower Manhattan and the said. “We’re just taking informa­ personnel to run them, bringing tion.” G.E.’s total expenditures in the last Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic three weeks to nearly $20 million.

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