There's no reason to believe that agreeing to only pay for 10%-15% of the toxic environmental mess that General Electric caused is what is making CEO Jeff Immelt wet his pants on CNBC, but it might still be related.
WSJ.com - Regulators, GE Strike New Deal On Hudson River PCB Cleanup
Federal authorities and General Electric Co. struck a deal Thursday on dredging PCB-contaminated sediment from the Hudson River, a big step forward in the delayed Superfund cleanup plan.
Separately, the industrial, financial services and media conglomerate said it was inching up its forecast for third-quarter and full-year earnings, citing “solid growth” in orders for major equipment and services.
The cleanup deal was announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, which filed a consent decree in federal court in Albany, N.Y. (See the consent decree.)The Hudson River dredging project, estimated to cost some $500 million, had been delayed by the EPA, citing the complexity of the project to remove toxic PCBs from the riverbed. In recent months, environmental groups have accused GE of stalling on the plan to try to evade the high costs of the cleanup project.
The dredging is now scheduled to begin in spring 2007, and Thursday's pact calls for GE to pay the government up to $78 million for past and future costs. The company has already paid some $37 million.
“This is an historic agreement that commits GE to begin dredging the Hudson River,” said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.
In case you forgot about the Hudson River cleanup:
GE, which is based in Fairfield, Conn., dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs -- a viscous liquid coolant used in transformers -- into the river from its plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls before the federal government banned the substance in 1977. PCBs are classified as a probable cause of cancer. The EPA seeks to dredge some 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment.
But it seems to have helped GE's bottom line:
....
GE said it expects to post third-quarter earnings of 44 cents a share. That matches the high end of GE's previous forecast, for quarterly earnings of 43 to 44 cents a share.
“We're very bullish on the year and the third quarter,” Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said on CNBC
Tags: General Electric, /Superfund
