State workers have started placing a dam between the Hudson River and a former wire factory where the soil contains a 70-year buildup of pollution, Gov. George Pataki said Tuesday.
Nearly a third of the soil sampled at the former Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. in Hastings-on-Hudson is polluted with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Some of the pollution has already seeped into the riverbed.
"It's the highest concentrations of PCBs we've found in the state," said Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
PCB levels in soil at a depth of 12 to 14 feet were found as high as 381,000 parts per million (ppm), compared to the state subsurface limit of 10 ppm. PCB concentrations in the top two inches of soil were as high as 4,400 ppm, compared to the 1 ppm surface soil cleanup standard.
PCBs were used in making wire insulation. The plant was closed in 1974, and Anaconda was bought by the Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO).
"We are ready to put in place an aggressive plan to protect the Hudson River and its fish and wildlife from being further contaminated by PCBs,"said Pataki.
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