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EPA Responds To GE's Housatonic River Cleanup Opposition

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says General Electric is challenging its western Massachusetts river cleanup proposal only because it wants to reduce costs.

The EPA had proposed cleaning PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from more than 400 acres along a 10.5-mile stretch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield and Lenox. It includes dredging and trucking contaminated soil and sediment to an out-of-state facility.

GE had said in a letter to EPA officials that the estimated $613 million plan isn't a "common-sense solution." It proposed other measures that would save the company millions.

EPA officials responded this week, saying GE has challenged EPA's plan by arguing it "allegedly knows better" than the EPA on how to select a remedy in the public interest.

GE officials say they're reviewing the EPA's response.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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