Monday, May 18, 2009

Let Us Know When You Find Jimmy Hoffa


American authorities have started what will be a six-year project to dredge New York's Hudson River. From 1947 until 1977, General Electric dumped - wait for it - 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from its capacitor manufacturing plants.

The contaminated sludge will be loaded on rail cars and shipped to - where else? - Texas, the environmental cesspit of the United States.

4 comments:

Jennifer Smith said...

I hope they don't forget about GE's main plant in Schenectady on the Mohawk River, which also received a remediation order to clean up PCBs. My family was among the earliest settlers of Schenectady (Truaxs and Van Antwerps), so I have a very personal interest that poor, blighted town.

The Mound of Sound said...

Ah, a UEL perhaps? Truax, there's a name I haven't heard in a while. There were some of those in my mother's family line.

I wonder what surprises they'll discover in the much they dredge out over the next six years? River beds are such great places to dispose of things you really don't want left around.

Jennifer Smith said...

You betcha - UELAC Hamilton Branch newsletter editor and proven descendant of Walter Scott of Stillwater, NY (unproven descendant of John Freeman).

I'm also THE Truax Answer Lady and Keeper of The Big Tree. Let me know what your Truax connection is and I can probably trace you back to our common New Amsterdam ancestor before the day is through.

On the subject of dredging, you should see some of the stuff they hauled up when the dredged the Mill Pond here in Milton a few years ago. Very, very cool. And with a river that's been travelled as long as the Hudson, they should be able to fill a museum with the stuff. Once they wash off the PCBs, of course.

Later, cousin!

The Mound of Sound said...

I'll see what I can track down but the genealogy on my mother's side isn't great. Most of those who would know are now gone. I have one surviving aunt who may know so I'll check.

I was much luckier with my father's family. A retired US Army colonel made it his passion to trace all four branches of our family. He used all the latest and greatest stuff including DNA tracing and, voila, was able to spit out a complete line for my branch (the smallest) back to 1275 and the Baltic island of Gottland.

I went to your site and found it really interesting. You must have spent a great deal of time compiling that much information.