NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | October 2, 1997
The body of a young bald eagle killed along the upper Hudson River contained high concentrations of PCBs, a toxic industrial chemical that is the Hudson's last significant taint, New York state environmental scientists have reported.The finding, although limited to one eagle, is significant, the scientists said, because similar levels of PCBs in eagles or eagle eggs from polluted areas of the Great Lakes have been linked to reproductive problems and deformities in the birds. The scientists said they were concerned about PCB contamination of eagles because, after nearly a century in which the birds of prey were only rarely seen along the Hudson, eagles have begun nesting on its banks in the last few years.
NEWS
By New York Times News Service | December 9, 1999
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Pataki administration has ordered General Electric to clean 700,000 cubic feet of soil contaminated by PCBs at an old factory that dumped the chemicals in the Hudson River, a move that environmentalists lauded as a good, though limited, step.The cleanup order by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, which the department estimated would cost GE $28.4 million, applies only to the defunct plant in the village of Hudson Falls, 50 miles north of here. It does not address the far more contentious question of whether to dredge PCB-contaminated sediments in the river, a step long demanded by environmental groups, and resisted by GE.Lately, there has been a flurry of activity over PCBs in the upper Hudson, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepares to decide whether to order dredging, paid for by GE, which could cost the company more than $1 billion.
NEWS
By Frank D. Roylance and Frank D. Roylance,SUN STAFF | July 17, 1999
There's something lurking in Baltimore Harbor mud that seems to be chewing up the toxic PCBs left there by decades of industrial activity. If scientists can figure out what's going on, they might find ways to unleash the microbes on tainted waterways across the country.Kevin Sowers, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland's Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) has been pulling muck from the harbor slips around his laboratory at the Columbus Center, cultivating the microbes that live in it, and watching them slice up the PCB molecules.
NEWS
By Tricia Bishop and Tricia Bishop,SUN REPORTER | November 13, 2007
A former World War II hospital ship that has spent much of its retirement languishing in Baltimore will soon be towed to Greece, under a plan that's raising legal questions and pollution concerns from a Seattle environmental group. In a statement set to be released today, the Basel Action Network said it has contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, the Maryland Port Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency with allegations that the Sanctuary contains polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, thought to cause cancer.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan,SUN STAFF | December 30, 1997
Two days before a state inspector was due in for an announced spot check this summer, a north Anne Arundel County industrial construction company hurriedly disposed of waste materials, ordering a crew to dig a hole and bury them, current and former employees say.The Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are investigating McShane Inc., at 605 Pittman Road just south of Baltimore, for possible illegal storage of...
NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | September 12, 1996
Exposure before birth to relatively small amounts of PCBs, a kind of industrial pollutant, can result in long-lasting deficits in a child's intellectual development, a new study has shown.The researchers found higher than expected rates of "low normal" IQ scores, poor reading comprehension, memory problems and difficulty paying attention in 11-year-old children who had been prenatally exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in concentrations only slightly higher than those found in the general population.