Clearwater issued a call to action to its 5,000 members, urging them to call out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allowing General Electric to quietly begin dismantling its PCB cleanup operation before the agency has even approved a decommisioning plan.
Members immediately began responding with letters and messages to the regional EPA administrator, Judith Enck, enck.judith@epa.gov and the U.S. EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, mccarthy.gina@epa.gov.
For example, Rockland County member Laurie Seeman wrote to Enck:
Dear Judith,
Your regulatory oversight is being called for.
As a resident of the Hudson River Valley, and an outdoor educator, one who takes children to the river for interactions with the river, I am asking that you stop GE staff from prematurely removing their PCB clean up equipment in advance of a study and finding from EPA.The issue of the handling of the river clean up matters a lot to me and to the children.
The impact of the GE PCB contamination is not only a health concern, it is also a psychological concern. The PCB contamination has been a major reason so many people view the river as being toxic. So many people will not even touch the water.
Careful oversight of the analysis of the clean up by our governmental regulator will go far towards reducing the people’s fear of the river by bringing an aspect of honesty and truth to the feared unknown.
Improving river relations is healthy for the Hudson Valley economy.
Please handle this matter with full seriousness; Analyze the clean up carefully, and stop the operations pull out.
Sincerely,
Laurie Seeman
New City, NY…
NOTE: The story regarding GE’s recent actions and possible behind-the-scenes political factors continues to develop. The International Business Times offered this analysis Wednesday, August 26.
This Associated Press story was picked up around the country.
