Maurice Hinchey: “Mr. Chairman, I want to also draw the attention of the Members of this House to the Hudson River Superfund site. The…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to also draw the attention of the Members of this House to the Hudson River Superfund site. The Hudson River Superfund site is the largest Superfund site in the Nation. It runs for about 150 miles, from the Battery to the Federal dam at Troy. It is a Federal Superfund site and a State Superfund site, for that matter, in New York because of the fact that the General Electric Company, over a period of several decades, dumped hundreds of tons of polychlorinated biphenyls into the Upper Hudson River above that dam. Most of these PCBs are now still concentrated in so-called hot spots or concentrations of PCBs in this location around Fort Edward and a number of other localities up above that dam. This site is a hazardous waste site because PCBs are extraordinarily toxic. They are toxic in the sense that they are known to be cancerous in animals, and they are suspected to be and some would say known to be cancerous in humans, as well. PCBs cause cancer. They also attack the endocrine system. That is the natural defense system of the body. It protects us against the invasion of disease. That endocrine system is attacked by PCBs. It makes it much more difficult for people to defend themselves against ailments and causes a whole array of sicknesses to exist in bodies that are exposed to these very toxic chemicals.”