NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION FIRST-PLACE AWARD FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE , 2016
Vol . 29 , No 1 JANUARY 4 - 10 , 2017 3 3 ONE DOLLAR
MID
HUDSON
TIMES
Emerging artists
Page 12
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
DEC : Hudson River cleanup fails to protect human health Agency demands attention for lower Hudson
Holmes , City of Newburgh attempt to settle lawsuit
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
The state DEC says GE ’ s river cleanup needs to be extended to the Lower Hudson River , from Troy to New York City .
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
General Electric ’ s cleanup of the Hudson River is insufficient to protect human health , high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCBs ) remain in fish and more work is needed to determine the extent of PCB contamination of the river , including the Lower Hudson River .
That is the conclusion by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation , which outlined its findings on the cleanup in a report sent to the U . S . Environmental Protection Agency last month .
The Department of Environmental Conservation ( DEC ) concludes that the EPA must determine that the remedy is not protective of human health and the environment ,” wrote DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos to Judith Enck , the EPA ’ s regional administrator for Region 2 in December .
“ Before a protectiveness determination can be achieved , EPA must require General Electric to conduct additional
expedited investigations , sampling , and any necessary remedial work .”
The report was issued as the EPA carries out a five-year review of the river cleanup project , which saw the dredging of 2.65 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment from a 40-mile stretch of the Upper Hudson River , from Fort Edward , Washington County , to Troy , in Rensselaer County .
Over a period of 30 years , until the late 1970s , the EPA estimates approximately 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were
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Almost a year after City of Newburgh Councilwoman Cindy Holmes sued the City of Newburgh and City Manager Michael Ciaravino , the parties appear to be working toward a settlement . Meanwhile , Holmes has filed another lawsuit – this time against the retail giant Wal-Mart . It is at least the sixth lawsuit she has filed in the last decade .
Holmes , who represents Ward 4 on the Newburgh City Council , sued both Ciaravino and the City of Newburgh after some of her personal information was lost from a city-issued iPad following a cyber-security scare last January .
The councilwoman filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in March , claiming Ciaravino violated her 14th-Amendment right to due process in ordering several computers wiped clean of data that was later restored . Holmes claims some of her personal information - emails , documents
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