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In 2014, the EPA announced that General Electric Co. would conduct a comprehensive study of PCB contamination in shoreline areas of the Upper Hudson River.

Taking a soil sample is a simple and routine process. Samples are collected using hand tools, such as a hand auger, and result in a 2-inch diameter hole. After each sample is taken, the hole is filled in.

Where needed and approved by the landowner, short-term remediation measures are taken to address contamination. Here, geotextile cover is installed and soil is overlain on a portion of a floodplain along the River.

Workers use excavators with environmental clamshell buckets mounted on flat, anchored platforms to dredge the river. The PCB-contaminated sediment is emptied onto 35-foot-wide, 195-foot-long floating barges.

Using custom GPS guided software, dredge operators are able to precisely remove only material targeted by EPA for dredging.

After each dredge pass, sediment core samples are collected and analyzed to determine whether the contamination has been removed.

Tugboats are used to move barges of contaminated sediment to an upstream processing facility and clean backfill to the previously dredged areas.

The tugboat and barge must navigate through the lock system to get to the processing facility. The barges may make as many as 20 one-way trips to and from the processing facility during a 24-hour period

Oversight teams monitor dredging, processing and other project activities for the safety of crews on the River, and to ensure compliance with best management practices.

Once contaminated sediments and debris are removed from the river, they are taken to a processing facility on the Champlain Canal in Fort Edward

Workers at the processing facility use excavators with environmental clamshell buckets to load the contaminated sediment and debris onto a trommel which begins the process of separating the material.

Multiple size separation processes are sequenced to remove particles from 1/4 inches to 12 inches in diameter. The remaining sediment is pumped to the dewatering facility.

Water is squeezed out of the sediments in Plate and Frame presses, which drop the sediment into containers before being put into staging areas.

Granulated Activated Carbon is used to treat the water separated from the sediments at the processing facility. Following treatment, the water is discharged into the Champlain Canal.

Processed dredged material is stored at warrehouses at the processing facility until it is ready to be loaded onto lined rail cars and transported to a disposal facility. Larger, coarse material is also stored on site and transported by rail to approved d

Rail cars are loaded with dredged and processed materials for delivery to permitted, off-site disposal facilities.

After an area has been dredged of contaminated sediment to the EPA's standards, clean backfill is transported on a barge by a tug boat. The backfill replaces dredged sediment and maintains the natural contours of the riverbed.

Workers use excavators with environmental clamshell buckets mounted on flat, anchored platforms to place backfill on top of the previously dredged area, returning the riverbed to its natural state.

Quality of Life Performance Standards were designed for the dredging project to keep the impacts on people to a minimum. The project's effects on air quality are closely monitored. Air monitors have been placed around all of the dredge operations and in

The project's effect on water quality is closely monitored in accordance with Engineering Performance Standards. Water monitoring is done around and downstream of the dredges, to determine PCB resuspension levels. This water monitoring buoy is solar power

The project's effect on river navigation is closely monitored and reported daily, to ensure that there are minimal and/or short-term impacts on recreational boating.

This picture shows a riverine fringing wetland habitat reconstruction effort. These efforts occur after the dredging and backfilling processes.

Workers on Poseidon, the submerged aquatic vegetation barge, plant vegetation as part of the post-dredging habitat reconstruction effort. Individual plants are placed down the tubes, and divers plant them into the riverbed.

This picture shows a riverine fringing wetland habitat reconstruction effort. These efforts occur after the dredging and backfilling processes.

When historic items are discovered during the dredging process, archaeologists and divers conduct an investigation.

This picture shows a propeller which is from a late-18th or early-19th century boat submerged in the eastern channel of Rogers Island. Archaeologists found at least 10 sunken vessels during the first phase of the project.