GL: Hudson River realities

[fred]

Larry Z:

That General Electric plant that dumped the PCB's in the Hudson River was 
located right here in my adopted home town, Fort Edward, NY.  When I lived 
in this little village back in 1960, the Hudson was so polluted, that there 
was what looked like beer suds a foot thick on top of the water here.  Mom 
threatened me to make sure I never set foot in that water.  She was afraid 
of the suds from the pulp mill, now also gone, but the real danger was the 
unseen PCBs in the river bed.

Starting next month, 50+ years later, General Electric and the Fed's EPA 
will begin dredging, starting at Fort Edward (Champlain Lock 7) and 
continuing all the way down to the Federal Lock at Troy NY.  This project 
will take about 10 years to complete, so expect to see little tugs pushing 
massive mud barges up the Hudson River / Champlain Canal in this area.

The dredging is a major hot-button issue around here and emotions run high. 
 Some folks want the PCBs to stay undisturbed in the bottom of the river, 
and other realize currents dig them up sometimes and dredging is 
necessary.

I'm getting ready for 20 tugs a day to come pushing past my dock, and I'm 
planning on hanging a large sign for my new business, "Whiskey & Women".  I 
figger it's a sure thing, considering what tugboat people want, and then I 
can forget about this electrical equipment that I sell now!

Meanwhile, I just got permission to get into the staging yard for the 
dredging crew with my camera, where they have 4 shiny new tugs sitting on 
blocks, soon to be launched.  They're interesting boats, almost square 
blocks, only 26 feet long, and 600 horsepower!  Should be interesting.

Fred
Tug 44

----------------------------------------
From: "Lawrence Zeitlin" <lrzeitlin at aol.com>
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 1:17 PM
To: great-loop at lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: GL: Hudson River realities 

*snip*

River  fish are plentiful but only the adventurous eats them with impunity  

since the river still contains the residue of PCBs that the GE plant  
near Albany released a generation ago. The history and sights are  
still there and a Hudson cruise is a delightful experience. But the  
Hudson isn't always a rose garden.

Larry Z
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