PESTICIDES AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANIC CHEMICALS - Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know - page 115

wastes. They can be carried long distances and have been
found in snow and seawater in areas far away from where they
were released, and therefore they are found all over the world.
In general, the lighter the PCB (the fewer chlorine atoms per
molecule), the further it can be transported. PCBs accumulate
in aquatic biota, including plankton and fish, and like chlo-
rinated pesticides and meHg, PCBs biomagnify. Thus, fishes
higher on the food chain have higher concentrations than
smaller ones (Figure 1.3).
General Electric plants in upstate New York dumped an
estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the upper Hudson
River over a 30-year period until they were ordered to stop in
1977. Since that time, the spread of PCBs throughout the river
created a widespread toxic waste problem. The contaminated
sediments have dispersed to cover a much larger stretch of
the river than they did originally, making the cleanup more
extensive and far more expensive. An approximately 200-mile
stretch of the river is designated a Superfund site. Though
required by the law to clean up the PCBs, General Electric
battled the EPA in the courts for decades until an agreement
was finally reached in 2005 and cleanup finally started in 2011.
The New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation initiated intensive monitoring of PCBs in fish
and banned commercial fishing for striped bass in the region
in 1976 following the discovery of high levels in this spe-
cies. Since then, the PCBs levels in the fish around New York
Harbor have dropped and then stabilized at an acceptable
level. PCBs in fish in the upper Hudson, however, still exceed
what is considered safe, according to a 2013 report by the
Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees (comprised of the
State of New York, Department of Commerce—NOAA, and
Department of Interior). Most of the PCBs in the lower Hudson
originate from the upper Hudson, but about 40% of the ele-
vated levels in the New York/New Jersey Harbor come from
local sources.