new york's attorney general filed a lawsuit against General Electric Company (ge) to put pressure on the industrial giant to dredge parts of the Hudson River that has been contaminated with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (pcb). Environmental groups and industry have long been at odds over how to deal with the pcbs, which were released into the river by two ge plants more than 20 years ago.

The lawsuit argues that pcb contamination has restricted the use of the River as a commercial and recreational waterway, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. The river flows through the centre of the state. pcbs are compounds used for insulation and have been banned since 1977 because they are carcinogenic.

Sections of the canal cannot be dredged because it is shallow, he said. The suit will compel the multinational company to dredge parts of the Hudson's Champlain Canal, near the so-called pcb hot spots. "With this initiative, we intend to bring an end to more than a quarter century of delay in addressing pcb contamination of the Hudson River,' Spitzer said.