Gov. Cuomo, New York AG sue Trump administration over GE’s Hudson River cleanup

Aug. 21--The Trump administration let General Electric off the hook despite a botched cleanup of cancer-linked chemicals from the Hudson River, Gov. Cuomo and New York Attorney General Tish James charged Wednesday in a lawsuit.

Filed jointly in federal court in Albany, the suit alleges President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency improperly handed GE a certificate of completion in April that said the electric giant had successfully scrubbed the estimated 1.3 million pounds of polyclorinated biphenyls that it dumped into the river over decades of manufacturing along the waterway.

Cuomo and James contend data shows fish in the Hudson remain too toxic to eat because of the massive PCB spill. Additionally, they said the EPA issued a five-year review on the very day that it gave GE its certificate that found the Hudson cleanup was not "adequately protective of human health and the environment."

For those reasons, the elected New York officials said the certificate should be rescinded.

"Trump's EPA is failing New Yorkers and the environment by putting the priorities of polluters first," Cuomo said in a statement. "We have an obligation to protect the health and vitality of both the Hudson River and the communities along its banks for current and future generations. Since the EPA has failed to hold GE accountable for restoring the river, New York is taking action to demand a full and complete remediation."

James echoed the governor's sentiment.

"We will not allow the EPA to let big polluters like General Electric off the hook without a fight," the AG said.

GE, which has invested $1.7 billion in Hudson cleanup efforts since 2006, countered that it was given the certificate after EPA conducted a "comprehensive review" of the river.

"New York state's data showed that 99% of locations sampled in the Upper Hudson met the cleanup standard that EPA set," a spokesman for the company said. "Environmental conditions in the Hudson will continue to improve."

EPA did not return a request for comment.

PCBs have been linked to various types of cancer, and the New York State Department of Health still advises children and women under 50 to not eat fish from the 200-mile stretch near the since-shuttered GE plant because of the company's spill.

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