Hudson River getting cleaner, say feds

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Federal regulators say a six-year cleanup of the Hudson River is working, although PCB levels in fish remain high.

The Environmental Protection Agency released a review of the $1.7 billion cleanup Thursday. The agency said the Superfund project's goal of protecting human health and the environment are expected to be reached in the future.

Boston-based General Electric removed 2.75 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from a 40-mile stretch of the upper Hudson through 2015. A number of New York elected officials and environmentalists have called for more dredging, saying the cleanup is incomplete.

Until the mid-1970s, GE factories discharged into the river more than 1 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, considered a probable carcinogen. Banned in 1977, the compounds were used widely as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment.