The US EPA received a report from independent scientists reviewing phase 1 of dredging to remove PCBs from the upper Hudson River. www.epa.gov/hudson/draft_hudsonriver_pr_report.pdf

The panel agreed on the need for a second phase of the project, and made recommendations for improving the effectiveness of dredging operations to remove toxic polychlorinated biphenyls that were discharged into the river over a period of 30 years, up until the late 1970s.

The two factories responsible for the discharges are owned by General Electric. The EPA. expects to make a final decision by October on how the next phase of the cleanup will proceed. Walter Mugdan, the director of the agency's Superfund program, said the experts' recommendations were not expected to delay the resumption of dredging next spring. But he said the cleanup might take up to 10 years because of the complexity of the project, one of the largest environmental dredging operations ever attempted. The E.P.A. has designated nearly 200 miles of the river as a contaminated Superfund site. www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17hudson.html