I see people fishing and crabbing in the Hudson off of the waterfront walkway. I always wonder if those are the same crabs in the chinese food restaurants around here. Crabs are filter feeders so the bioconcentrate some pollutants to levels much above what it is in the river. I think that means a spoon full of sediment might be better than a spoon full of crab.

Hasnt there been a ban on eating anything caught in the lower Hudson river since the 70's?

I guess I won't be eating anything from the Hudson River. I had toyed with the idea of taking me laddie out fishing

It is going to take another hundred years to clean it up.

Hudson River more contaminated than expected

Friday, January 22, 2010
BY SCOTT FALLON
THE RECORD

The amount of dangerous PCBs that have polluted the Hudson River for decades is much greater than originally suspected, according to a federal report released Thursday.

"We just don't know how much there is," said Kristen Skopeck, an spokeswoman with the Environmental Protection Agency. "Our estimations weren't accurate."

Workers who were digging PCB contamination from the river this summer near Albany discovered that the contamination was deeper than expected.

Such debris as logs was blamed for the discrepancy. During sampling over the years, scientists believed they had reached the river bottom, when in fact they were hitting logs, which hid a layer of PCB-laden sediment below.

Officials do not believe there are significantly more PCBs in North Jersey's portion of the waterway. The extra amount had been entombed under a layer of river debris in upstate New York and did not migrate southward.

"Overall I don't think this speaks to greater [contamination] to the lower river," Skopeck said.

Scientists expected to dredge 245,000 cubic yards of contaminated river mud in an area 40 miles north of Albany during the summer and fall. But workers using large clamshell-shaped scoopers hauled out more than 273,000 cubic yards in only 10 of 18 dredging areas.

The PCBs, believed to cause cancer, originated from General Electric's two capacitor plants about 40 miles north of Albany, where the chemical was used as a lubricant for machine parts. In 1973, workers removed a decaying dam near the plants, which allowed large amounts of PCBs to flow downriver to New York Harbor. A 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River from upstate New York to Jersey City was named a Superfund site.

The report's findings will likely force the EPA to reevaluate the second phase of the massive project that called for the removal of 1.8 million cubic yards of river mud. "It changes just about everything," Skopeck said. "Our engineers will have to work out a new plan."