New York,NY —

The EPA and General Electric have struck a new deal for the company to remove PCB's from the upper Hudson River. Environmentalists, though, say they are not happy with it. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports.

REPORTER: Three years ago, the epa ordered GE to clean up the hudson. But it took until yesterday to get the company to actually agree to begin the process. Under the terms of the consent decree, GE will remove about ten percent of the PCBs, and then, after a peer review, will decide whether to do the rest.

The EPA says if GE refuses to complete the process, it can go to court. But Rick Shiafo of Scenic Hudson says the agreement will only delay the clean up.

SHIAFO: 68 It's a small step forward, its a baby step and what we need to take in this process are big steps.

REPORTER: Under the EPA's most optimistic estimate, the clean up, costing close to $600 million could be complete by 2013. For WNYC, I'm Andrea Bernstein.