Hudson River Superfund Site

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decisionmaking process in cleaning up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in the Hudson River, focusing on: (1) EPA plans to evaluate the effect of permitted PCB releases in the Hudson River; and (2) federal permits for dredging PCB from the Hudson River and selecting a hazardous waste disposal site to hold PCB. GAO found that: (1) EPA has only completed one phase of its three-phase remedial and investigation study, and does not anticipate selecting a remedy for cleaning up the Hudson River until mid-1993; (2) although EPA plans to review the effect of PCB in the Hudson River, it does not intend to single out the effects of PCB releases from permitted facilities; and (3) although the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is required to have three federal permits to authorize the use of PCB disposal sites, it has not submitted the applications for those permits.