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APRIL 9, 2001

Alleging years of inaction over a toxic waste dump, the state of New York and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe are threatening a lawsuit against General Motors.

In the 1950s, the company set up an engine parts factory next to the upstate reservation. The company shut down the site but it is now filled with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are considered carcinogenic.

The Environmental Protection Administration ordered GM to clean up the factory and it was declared a Superfund site in 1984. The state and the tribe, however, say the company has not done enough and that the site poses a threat to tribal members, the St. Lawrence River, and various endangered species.

GM calls the claims unfounded but says they are working to clean up the site. Meanwhile, the tribe says it has seen effects of the PCBs, from reduced IQ to abnormal growth to increases in thyroid diseases and diabetes.

Get the Story:
A Sick Tribe and a Dump as a Neighbor (The New York Times 4/7)
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Relevant Links:
Superfund, EPA - http://www.epa.gov/superfund