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...political dream couple hit the rocks last week when the Environmental Protection Agency ordered GE to begin a much debated dredging of the Hudson River for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), probable carcinogens whose removal will cost GE stockholders $460 million. For 20 years, GE, which dumped the toxins in the river in the first place, had ferociously fought the removal plan, arguing--with the help of up to $60 million worth of ads and political contributions--that doing nothing was the best course. Environmentalists--starved for a flicker of green from the White House--took the order as a sign that...
...turns out. The Hudson River announcement appears to have been the outcome of a political equation that added wobbly poll numbers, a New York Governor's bid for re-election and even a failed candidate for the post of ambassador to Italy--to come up with zero for GE...
...GE has had an uneasy relationship with the Hudson since the 1940s, when it began dumping PCBs--a practice it continued until 1977, when the chemical was banned. Since then, the river has rebounded, with PCB levels in fish falling 90%. Still, any PCBs can be dangerous, and many people--including EPA chief and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and New York Governor George Pataki--have argued for dredging a 40-mile stretch of the river north of Albany and sending GE the bill...
...from New York asked for a meeting with Whitman, and though she ultimately sat down with them in July, she made them wait five months--not a good sign. Two weeks ago, EPA floated a proposal that would mandate dredging but scale down the scope of the work. For GE, which met with Whitman sometime before that, the plan was a valentine. "GE thought it had a deal," says an industry lobbyist...
...GE We bring goo things to life! Loses war with EPA; must clean up Hudson River sludge