Boyd too quick to let GE off cleanup hook

Daily Gazette, The (Schenectady, NY)

October 18, 2000
Section: Opinion
Edition: Schenectady Albany; Final
Page: B-10
Column: Letters to the Editor

Boyd too quick to let GE off cleanup hook
BERNIE McCUE
It continues to amaze me how some people feel they have to help defend big business when it comes to environmental problems they created. I am referring to a column Aug. 27 by Gordon Boyd and the TV commercials opposing the dredging of the upper Hudson River.

First of all, Mr. Boyd makes it sound not so bad that you shouldn't eat more than one fish a year caught out of the Hudson River. After all, who would eat fish from the river every day, anyway? Well, Mr. Boyd, the point is that before GE and other industries started knowingly dumping PCB-containing effluent into the river, you could eat the fish whenever you wanted to. Try telling your children why they can't take home the first fish they catch from the river and eat it.
Boyd then goes into this long-winded diatribe about how the Environmental Protection Agency hasn't come up with an acceptable plan on the dredging and disposal of the river bottom material - when and if the dredging takes place.
Once again, the EPA didn't put the PCBs into the river; it's GE's responsibility to clean it up. You are saying that if the EPA presented a firm plan that GE would just come running and say, "please let us now take care of our mess"? I think not.
The bottom line is, and I do mean the bottom line, most companies do not willingly spend money on effluent treatment within their own facility because those operations are cost centers, not profit centers. They take the gamble that it will be next to impossible to prove that their negligence resulted in either health or environmental damage. Every company knows what they are discharging and they accept that risk.
Boyd asked for suggestions on where the waste material should be cleaned and disposed of. How about a certain CEO's front lawn, or for that matter your yard, Mr. Boyd? if PCBs are nothing to worry about.
As for these TV ads, I would suggest that GE find out where these people live before they ask them to comment on the cleanliness of the river. The last I knew, Middle Grove and Porter Corners are about eight miles from the Hudson River. GE should fire all the in-house scientists and consultants they have working on this issue, because these people are able to tell the river has cleaned itself just by "looking at it."
BERNIE McCUE
Saratoga Springs

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