Document QgO3e1b5wJXayoxrgJpa4RrLk

; ^CA DAILY PRESS WCA, H. Y. . 0-2V1? APR 20 1976 Albany Hearings begin GE May Have :>Clean Hudson ALBANY. N.Y. (AP)-Hearings that could lead to an order requiring the- General Electric Co. to spend thousands of dollars cleaning up the Hudson Kiver began Monday. nie hearings, at the order of the state Department of Environmental Conser vation. are being conducted to debide what penalty GE will pay for dumping PCBs into the Hudson. in February a hearing officer found that G's discharge of polychlorinated biphenyls. PCBs. violated two sections of the state s Environmental Conserva tion Law. The company had. and stil! has. federal permits authorizing the c:schJos from electiic capacitor plants at Hudson Falls and Fort Ed ward. Coiumbia University Law School Proi Aoranam Sotaer made the legal finding in February and is presiding apir at the penalty hearings While he declined to speculate Monday about his eventual ruling, ins February decision offered some clues. ` Sofaer criticized the state and federal governments for not tackling the prob lem of PCB pollution sooner, and noted that GE had "operated openly and neg ligently rather than in secret or in dis regard of PCB discharge limits set in its permits.** He wrote that his final recommenda tion would require GE to at least "dras tically" limit its-discharges, "and to rectify the effects of its prior violations where lawfully proper and economic ally and environmentally practicable.*' But he added that effective government action could have prevented much of the environmental damage and that his recommendation would take that into account. Once Sofaer has presented his final repori. winch will follow at least two .weens o: public hearings. Environm-ntai Conservation Commissioner Osdcn Reid will issue the final abatement' and ciean-up order. The department has not predicted what it would cost to purge the river of PCB pollution -- the current hearings u iH examine just bow possible that is -- but it has asked GE to post a $2 million cemDiiance bond. PCBs. which resist natural decompo sition much the way DDT does, are known to kill fiso eggs and may cause cancer in rats. The effect on humans is stil! under study. A medical team from Me. Sinai Hos pital in the Bronx has been conducting tests on GE workers to determine what continued contact with chemical has meant to their health. General Electric has acknowledged that some workers contracted skin rashes linked to PCB The department and GE have been negotiating or. and of: for montns. in an attempt to ::~s a reduced level of dumping agreeable ;o both side.-. Commissioner Re:d ui.ted that al! discharges stop this beoiemoer. but there may be room :or compromise be cause the federal government is consi dering a total ban for 1977. . Also, the state Commerce Depart ment has urged that the state not set tougher limits than the federal govern ment because single-state standards might cause industries to move to other states where regulation is not so strict. ^ . Th* Mnnear.tr rn the nation's only PCB-maker. nas announced plans to phase out production. , Reid's insistence on the penalty bear ings. and presumably on making G pav for some of the damage, is repor tedly a major stumbling block to the behind-tbe-scene negotiations. On Monday. Associated Industries of New York, a major lobbying group for industry, asked permission to join the hearings to support GE. A statement said the department's pursuit of penal ties is with "without legal authority and. if granted, will have farreaching and serious economic consequences to' the group's members. / 7 9 9 9 C 0 SNOW