I would like to respond to the letter submitted by Tom Reale in the January 24 issue of The Poly. I don’t know if Mr. Reale is from a community located on the Hudson, but I am from Hudson Falls, N.Y. and I don’t agree with his spin on the issue. Living in a community that contains more than one Superfund site that is PCB-related, I grew up knowing that the Hudson and various other sites in the area were toxic waste dumps. All of the other sites are landfills that have been capped. The PCBs are buried in clay liners similar to the mud covering the PCBs in the river. Even capped, the property values around the dumps have declined and there is some speculation that the capped sites are still leaking PCBs into the local water table. Unlike the river, the land-based waste sites aren’t stirred up every time there is a major storm, when bridges need to be replaced, or, infrequently, when new businesses try to use the river for power.
If you call the Hudson "a haven for summer enjoyment" in a conversation with someone from Warren, Washington, or Saratoga counties, that person will likely laugh in your face. Sure, it’s pretty to look at, but I can tell you without doubt that the people you see having fun, swimming, water skiing, and fishing in the Hudson at this time are in the minority. You couldn’t pay me, or a huge number of the people that I know in that area, to get into the Hudson River south of Glens Falls. It’s a toxic waste dump. No one can say for sure that PCBs cause cancer, but most people that are smart enough to wear sunblock are smart enough to stay away from them. The damage that they cause in the food chain has been documented, which is why the fish from the Hudson are not edible.
I have no delusions about dredging making the Hudson pristine. I doubt that the Hudson will be fit for full-scale recreation, including catching fish and being able to eat them, in my lifetime. However, I would like to think that if we tough it out now that someday, generations from now, the river will become the asset it once was to the community that raised me and PCBs will just be a bad memory.
I guess when all is said and done, GE’s failure to take full responsibility for the cleanup of the Hudson does not fit my belief system. My family raised me with the belief that I need to take responsibility for my actions, whether it’s right now and wrong later or not. If I do something wrong I need to make it right. It doesn’t matter when it happened—20 years ago or yesterday. GE did something wrong and they need to make it right.
If Mr. Reale thinks that everything is cool with the Hudson up north, and if he swims in the river and consumes fish from the river, then I certainly respect his opinion and bravery. I don’t think I’ll be joining him anytime soon though.
If you would like a front row seat to the debate as it unfolds in the towns and villages most affected, I encourage you to go to http://www.poststar.com/ regularly. This is the website for the local newspaper in the Hudson Falls/Fort Edward region and the local, regional, and opinion sections contain articles almost daily that are both pro and con. Mr. Reale and I are just scratching the surface of this issue.
Randy McDougall
M. Eng ’99
