“As dredging was completed, GE placed clean, locally sourced fill across the river bottom and planted 1.4 million new plants to restore wildlife habitat in dredged areas. EPA and other federal and state agencies, and carefully followed the plans they approved, to ensure the successful completion of the Hudson River dredging project,” said Mark Behan, a spokesman for GE on the cleanup. GE, in a press release, didn’t dispute the specific findings, but noted it worked closely with the EPA in developing the habitat restoration plan, and the EPA in 2015 termed the cleanup a “historic achievement.” “GE was not required to replace most of the trees and shrubs that were cut along the Hudson River shoreline, and many of these areas have reduced canopy cover compared to nearby uncut shorelines.”Ī future report will more fully quantify the damages, the trustees said. “Monitoring of the reconstructed habitats along the Hudson River indicates that many wetlands and aquatic vegetation beds are not recovering as planned,” the report said. While the dredging project required GE to replace or restore damaged river habitats, the trustees found that work hasn’t been entirely successful and GE is still liable for the harm done. “GE’s dredging harmed the natural resources of the Hudson River to varying degrees and the loss of these resources constitutes a natural resource injury under federal law and regulation,” the Hudson River Trustees said in releasing the report. Additionally, based upon mussel densities observed before and after dredging, the trustees preliminarily determined that the dredging destroyed more than 50 million freshwater mussels.
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