OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 25, 1997

Stephanie Hanna (O) 202/208-6416

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said today that General Electric and other corporations who have polluted the Hudson and other rivers should “live up to their moral obligation toward these rivers and the communities that depend upon them” to clean up and restore damaged natural resources.

“We’ve made a lot of progress by plugging up the sources of the pollution,” said Babbitt. “But that is just the first step in cleaning up this river. Today we must shift our focus to restoration of damaged natural resources. We must reconnect the Hudson River with the communities of the Hudson River Valley. We have to return the river to the people.”

Babbitt said proposals advocated by Washington lobbyists from General Electric and other corporations would weaken the laws holding corporations liable for restoration of natural resources damaged by their pollution.

The focus of Babbitt’s remarks -- delivered at Olana, the home of Hudson River School painter Frederick Church -- was to warn against weakening the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRD) program of the Superfund law. The NRD program was responsible for the restoration of Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Currently, the state of New York and three federal agencies have joined as trustees in an NRD process for the Hudson River, which will determine whether polluters will be liable for restoration of the ecological damage caused by PCB’s dumped into the river between 1946 - 1977.

“In Alaska, the Exxon Valdez decimated Prince William Sound in a few hours. In New York, PCB’s from the General Electric Corporation (GE) harmed the Hudson River for more than 40 years. That is the only difference in these two acts: one disaster happened in a day, the other happened over two generations,” Babbitt said.

Babbitt said proposals advocated by industry would weaken the NRD program and make it difficult or impossible to protect and restore national treasures like the Hudson River. GE has advocated a proposal that would ban steps to protect natural resources once the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had conducted an initial cleanup -- even if PCBs generated by GE continued to damage natural resources.

GE also has supported proposals that would allow restoration only to the extent that a natural resource is subject to actual human use. The other damage to the ecosystem, like losses of habitat for wildlife and aquatic life, would be considered worthless. GE has also advocated proposals that would ensure that scientific decisions by trustees would be endlessly litigated in Court.

PCB contamination of the Hudson is universally considered severe and has negatively impacted the human use and enjoyment of the river.

There have been significant impacts to the river’s commercial and recreational anglers. PCB concentrations in fish frequently exceed the Food and Drug Administration’s Safe Consumption Level of two parts per million (ppm). PCB’s have also been linked with abnormal reproductive behavior, embryo mortality, and birth defects in a number of bird species.

The Secretary said many heavily polluted areas of the country have benefited from the NRD process.

For example, in Baytown, Texas, restoration is complete at the French Limited Superfund site. Contaminated groundwater and soils near the site had injured crabs, migratory birds and other wildlife. The animals are now coming back: local residents now use the restored marshland for nature walks and fishing.

In Tacoma, Washington, years of pollution in Commencement Bay had gutted the life out of that ecosystem. NRD trustees took action and five acres of industrial uplands has been converted to a clean habitat used by people and wildlife.

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